As a cable installation technician, your job duties involve installation and repair tasks related to consumer cable services. You travel to customers' homes to install new lines, including drilling holes, climbing onto roofs, running wires in the house, and ensuring the services work once installed. You are responsible for the company vehicle, which includes keeping it clean and driving safely.
Your job also includes offering customer service. You may have to demonstrate the equipment you have installed and answer questions about operating the equipment. You keep logs of the work you have done and gather customer signatures to verify you have completed the job. You may also be responsible for collecting money for the services you provide.
Some employers require no formal education beyond a high school diploma and provide their own training on-the-job. However, many employers prefer some formal training, such as an associate's degree in electronics or telecommunications technology.
The current median pay for these technicians ranges from $47,080 to $68,000 in the U.S. However, this figure can vary significantly depending upon your experience and skills.
Cable Installation Technician Overview
Cable Installation Technician Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a cable installation technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.0 an hour? That's $35,367 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -6% and produce -13,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Cable Installation Technician Do
There are certain skills that many cable installation technicians have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed color vision, dexterity and customer-service skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a cable installation technician, we found that a lot of resumes listed 19.7% of cable installation technicians included customer service, while 18.9% of resumes included hand tools, and 14.3% of resumes included company vehicle. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the cable installation technician job title. But what industry to start with? Most cable installation technicians actually find jobs in the technology and telecommunication industries.
How To Become a Cable Installation Technician
If you're interested in becoming a cable installation technician, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 12.0% of cable installation technicians have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.4% of cable installation technicians have master's degrees. Even though some cable installation technicians have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a cable installation technician. When we researched the most common majors for a cable installation technician, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on cable installation technician resumes include bachelor's degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a cable installation technician. In fact, many cable installation technician jobs require experience in a role such as cable technician. Meanwhile, many cable installation technicians also have previous career experience in roles such as technician or cashier.
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Cable Installation Technician Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a cable installation technician can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as technician, progress to a title such as team leader and then eventually end up with the title owner.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Cable Installation Technician
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Creative Communications Cable, Internet and Phone Installer Technician Cable, Internet and Phone Installer Technician | Creative Communications Creative Communications | 03/30/2021 03/30/2021 | $40,00003/30/2021 $40,000 |
Creative Communications Cable, Internet and Phone Installer Technician Cable, Internet and Phone Installer Technician | Creative Communications Creative Communications | 03/30/2021 03/30/2021 | $40,00003/30/2021 $40,000 |
Creative Communications Cable, Internet and Phone Installer Technician Cable, Internet and Phone Installer Technician | Creative Communications Creative Communications | 03/30/2021 03/30/2021 | $40,00003/30/2021 $40,000 |
Jobs In Cable Cable TV Installer/Technician Cable TV Installer/Technician | Jobs In Cable Jobs In Cable | 03/24/2021 03/24/2021 | $41,74003/24/2021 $41,740 |
Kanaan Communications, LLC Cable Installation Technician Cable Installation Technician | Kanaan Communications, LLC Kanaan Communications, LLC | 03/19/2021 03/19/2021 | $39,13103/19/2021 $39,131 |
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Cable Installation Technician Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Cable Installation Technician. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Cable Installation Technician Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Cable Installation Technician resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Cable Installation Technicians
1. New York University
New York, NY • Private
2. Inter American University of Puerto Rico Ponce
Mercedita, PR • Private
3. Ferris State University
Big Rapids, MI • Public
4. Inter American University of Puerto Rico Bayamon
Bayamon, PR • Private
Top Skills For a Cable Installation Technician
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 19.7% of cable installation technicians listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as color vision and dexterity are important as well.
- Customer Service, 19.7%
- Hand Tools, 18.9%
- Company Vehicle, 14.3%
- TV, 11.5%
- Osha, 5.8%
- Other Skills, 29.8% See All Cable Installation Technician Skills
Best States For a Cable Installation Technician
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a cable installation technician. The best states for people in this position are Illinois, Iowa, Hawaii, and Alaska. Cable installation technicians make the most in Illinois with an average salary of $44,240. Whereas in Iowa and Hawaii, they would average $43,416 and $43,318, respectively. While cable installation technicians would only make an average of $42,806 in Alaska, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Iowa
$43,416
Avg. Salary
2. Illinois
$44,240
Avg. Salary
3. Alaska
$42,806
Avg. Salary
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