How To Become A Fiber Optic Central Office Installer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a fiber optic central office installer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a fiber optic central office installer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.64 an hour? That's $40,855 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 14,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreFiber Optic Central Office InstallerUS Average

Salary

3.2

Avg. Salary $40,855

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.5

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.63%

Asian 6.31%

Black or African American 12.81%

Hispanic or Latino 18.60%

Unknown 4.77%

White 56.88%

Gender

female 2.41%

male 97.59%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

7.5

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.7

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.5

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a fiber optic central office installer

Explore fiber optic central office installer education requirements

Most common fiber optic central office installer degrees

High School Diploma

37.9 %

Associate

24.2 %

Bachelor's

15.8 %

Start to develop specific fiber optic central office installer skills

Skills	Percentages
Fiber Optic Cables	34.59%
Test Equipment	28.93%
Install Fiber	10.19%
Cable Lines	10.02%
CAT5	9.11%

Complete relevant fiber optic central office installer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New fiber optic central office installers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a fiber optic central office installer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real fiber optic central office installer resumes.

Research fiber optic central office installer duties and responsibilities

Wire and test RJ45, both in UTP and STP as well as CAT5/5E and CAT6.
Help linemen with the installation of underground and ariel fiber optics.
Repair and install business and residential FiOS digital telephone, broadband internet, and high-definition television service.
Configure Cat6 cabling/wall jack terminations, testing voice/data line activity to confirm connections.

Prepare your fiber optic central office installer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your fiber optic central office installer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a fiber optic central office installer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable fiber optic central office installer resume templates

Build a professional fiber optic central office installer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your fiber optic central office installer resume.