pushing buttons and pulling levers

A way of describing a job that is mechanical literally like a factory worker or figuratively but still much like a flow chart. The antithesis of this is anything that requires highly specialized skill and intuition.

After pushing buttons and pulling levers for 40 years at the wooden toy factory, Leroy had a knack for fitting square pegs in round holes as evidence by the collections of rasps and files he had in his pocket.