How To Become A Field Installation Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a field installation engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Alison Graettinger

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a field installation engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $31.84 an hour? That's $66,232 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 2% and produce 6,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a field installation engineer?

Dr. Alison Graettinger

Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Missouri - Kansas City

Some common challenges for field based positions is the amount of travel involved or working in extreme weather conditions.

ScoreField Installation EngineerUS Average

Salary

5.2

Avg. Salary $66,232

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.4

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.11%

Asian 10.23%

Black or African American 3.47%

Hispanic or Latino 9.65%

Unknown 4.62%

White 71.93%

Gender

female 3.35%

male 96.65%

Age - 39

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 - 39

Stress level

7.4

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a field installation engineer

Explore field installation engineer education requirements

Most common field installation engineer degrees

Bachelor's

41.7 %

Associate

35.2 %

High School Diploma

10.2 %

Start to develop specific field installation engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Technical Support	25.19%
Installation Projects	19.14%
Equipment Installation	16.59%
Installation Supervision	10.63%
Fiber Optic	4.83%

Complete relevant field installation engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New field installation engineers 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 field installation engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real field installation engineer resumes.

Research field installation engineer duties and responsibilities

Promote from original position as a staff engineer managing a variety of geotechnical engineering activities to a field engineer inspector position.
Install DUL, OVP, SAU and GPS antenna.
Add, moves, and changes services on PBX and key systems.
Install VoIP telephones in numerous retail stores on a national scale.

Prepare your field installation engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your field installation engineer 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 field installation engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable field installation engineer resume templates

Build a professional field installation engineer 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 field installation engineer resume.