How To Become A First Leveler: What It Is and Career Path

What is a first leveler and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a first leveler. For example, did you know that they make an average of $63.41 an hour? That's $131,902 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -45,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreFirst LevelerUS Average

Salary

8.4

Avg. Salary $131,902

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.6

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.77%

Asian 2.31%

Black or African American 9.74%

Hispanic or Latino 12.05%

Unknown 2.82%

White 72.31%

Gender

female 26.36%

male 73.64%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress level

7.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.5

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a first leveler

Explore first leveler education requirements

Most common first leveler degrees

Bachelor's

50.0 %

Associate

20.8 %

High School Diploma

9.7 %

Start to develop specific first leveler skills

Skills	Percentages
Level Support	25.51%
Troubleshoot	12.34%
Technical Support	8.37%
Printers	8.24%
Escalate	6.94%

Complete relevant first leveler training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New first levelers 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 first leveler based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real first leveler resumes.

Research first leveler duties and responsibilities

Design, implement, manage and document network security configurations for firewalls.
Reset or respool network and mainframe printers.
Save cost of mainframe maintenance.
Assist in deploying Cisco VPN to user.

Prepare your first leveler resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable first leveler resume templates

Build a professional first leveler 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 first leveler resume.