What is an Installation Technician?

Installation technicians answer service calls and travel to the customers' location to fix, install, troubleshoot, or do maintenance work on computers in people's homes or at business venues.

This job is for people who do not like to spend their days in a chair and know how to optimally organize the logistics of a job that requires traveling from one client to the next, all day.

You need to be able to maintain a good relationship with customers, so you will be the one they call next time, too. And you need to log and document the services, so you will need some administrative skills as well. And, it goes without saying, analytical thinking and diligent maintenance of working equipment are a must.

What Does an Installation Technician Do

There are certain skills that many 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 mechanical skills.

Learn more about what an Installation Technician does

How To Become an Installation Technician

If you're interested in becoming an installation technician, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 21.5% of installation technicians have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.4% of installation technicians have master's degrees. Even though some installation technicians have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become an Installation Technician

Installation Technician Job Description

An installation technician is an individual usually working on the field responsible for the installation and repair of company hardware and software in clients' homes or places of business. Their duties include keeping up to date with company products, demonstrating features, and answering customer questions.

Learn more about Installation Technician Job Description
Top Installation Technician Jobs Near You

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, an 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 service manager.

Installation Technician

Top Careers Before Installation Technician

Technician(596,842 Jobs)
11.7 %
Installer(30,303 Jobs)
7.5 %
Service Technician(254,533 Jobs)
7.2 %

Top Careers After Installation Technician

Technician(596,842 Jobs)
12.7 %
Service Technician(254,533 Jobs)
9.7 %
Maintenance Technician(178,450 Jobs)
9.3 %

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Average Salary for an Installation Technician

Installation Technicians in America make an average salary of $38,043 per year or $18 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $49,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $29,000 per year.
Average Installation Technician Salary
$38,043 Yearly
$18.29 hourly
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Roles and Types of Installation Technician

The role of an installation technician includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general installation technician responsibilities:

  • Installs appropriate devices; dismantles and reconstructs equipment as required. Works safely
  • Will make travel arrangements for self
  • Serve existing accounts by analyzing work orders; planning daily travel schedules; investigate complaints; conduct tests; resolve problems. Establish service by studying system requirements; order

There are several types of installation technician, including:

Technician

Role:

To be a technician, you have to know your stuff. Some may refer to you as an expert in your field or maybe people will know you as skilled in an art or craft. Then again, you may just be needed to look after technical equipment.

Your workload as a technician will vary, depending on what you're trained in. You may be needed to set up a new computer system or maybe you'll need to fix an electricity problem. Either way, you'll probably only need to work 40 hours a week.

The degree of education required for this job depends on what you're specific skillset is. Some technicians only need a high school diploma, others may want to complete an associate's program or earn a certificate to help their employment opportunities. There's definitely something for everyone in the field of technicians.
  • Average Salary: $38,045
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Service Technician

Role:

As a service technician, you'll be coming home with a lot of grease on your hands. Unless, of course, you wash your hands before leaving work. Guess where all that grease comes from. Vehicles! That's right, you'll be inspecting and repairing cars, left and right.

Generally, you'll be working in a well-ventilated, well-lit garage of some sort. You'll need to be familiar with automotive issues in a car's computer system, such as figuring out why the check engine light is on. And you'll probably need to know how to change a tire or change the oil. But we're not telling you how to do your job.

Instead of getting your training from us, you should complete a program from a postsecondary institution. Again, not telling you what to do but rather what employers like to see. Once you have the job, you may need to go a step further by becoming certified.

  • Average Salary: $40,379
  • Degree: Associate Degree

Field Technician

Role:

If you are not the kind of person who enjoys sitting around all day in an office, you might want to consider being a field technician.

Field technicians respond to customer requests and travel to the location of the client to install equipment, repair or install machinery, or do maintenance work. They advise customers on how to correctly handle and look after the machines, and in the meantime, effortlessly create great relationships with the clients.

Thumbing their nose at regular working hours, field technicians do not make a fuss about unpredictable schedules. They are available around the clock, often even on weekends, and do not shy away from physically demanding work, either.
  • Average Salary: $37,520
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree
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States With The Most Installation Technician Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active installation technician jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where installation technicians earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Installation Technician Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California3,640$41,013
2Texas2,621$37,015
3Florida2,573$33,755
4Georgia1,917$34,886
5Illinois1,711$39,448
6New York1,570$38,627
7North Carolina1,459$36,488
8Virginia1,317$36,867
9Pennsylvania1,247$37,857
10Massachusetts1,219$40,659
11Ohio1,091$37,506
12Colorado1,071$39,381
13Indiana1,069$34,942
14Tennessee1,063$34,843
15Minnesota1,051$34,948
16Michigan1,018$38,122
17New Jersey982$40,247
18Missouri976$37,040
19Arizona964$33,124
20Iowa941$36,256
21Maryland845$38,338
22Washington814$44,833
23Wisconsin741$37,091
24South Carolina706$34,812
25Alabama652$38,382
26Connecticut577$39,528
27Oregon557$40,598
28Louisiana531$38,816
29Mississippi498$34,429
30Utah488$34,677
31Kentucky469$37,262
32Oklahoma427$35,399
33Kansas407$37,167
34Arkansas403$31,109
35Nebraska352$34,256
36Maine342$35,581
37Nevada289$37,615
38New Mexico238$33,354
39New Hampshire217$39,534
40West Virginia216$34,318
41Idaho203$37,985
42Montana195$33,896
43Delaware183$33,224
44North Dakota163$38,843
45South Dakota141$41,827
46Alaska133$41,461
47Vermont116$38,144
48Hawaii106$37,912
49Wyoming81$38,876
50Rhode Island80$33,372

Installation Technician Education

Installation Technician Majors

Electrical Engineering
14.4 %
Business
14.1 %
Electrical Engineering Technology
9.2 %

Installation Technician Degrees

High School Diploma

31.6 %

Associate

29.4 %

Bachelors

21.5 %

Top Colleges for Installation Technicians

1. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Liberal Arts
Business
Education
Psychology
Computer Information Systems

2. Inter American University of Puerto Rico Ponce

Mercedita, PR • Private

In-State Tuition

$5,914

Enrollment

4,155

Admissions

3. Ferris State University

Big Rapids, MI • Private

In-State Tuition

$11,788

Enrollment

11,008

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Criminal Justice
Business
Liberal Arts
Industrial Technology
Graphic Design

4. Inter American University of Puerto Rico Bayamon

Bayamon, PR • Private

In-State Tuition

$5,940

Enrollment

4,169

Admissions

Top Skills For an 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, 19.2% of installation technicians listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as color vision and dexterity are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Installation Technician Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Installation Technician templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Installation Technician resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

Installation Technician Resume
Installation Technician Resume
Installation Technician Resume
Installation Technician Resume
Installation Technician Resume
Installation Technician Resume
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Installation Technician Resume
Installation Technician Resume
Installation Technician Resume
Installation Technician Resume
Installation Technician Resume
Installation Technician Resume
Installation Technician Resume

Installation Technician Demographics

Installation Technician Gender Distribution

Male
Male
96%
Female
Female
4%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among installation technicians, 4.4% of them are women, while 95.6% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among installation technicians is White, which makes up 57.8% of all installation technicians.

  • The most common foreign language among installation technicians is Spanish at 66.2%.

Online Courses For Installation Technician That You May Like

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1. Design of High-Performance Optical Systems

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This course can also be taken for academic credit as ECEA 5602, part of CU Boulder’s Master of Science in Electrical Engineering degree. Optical instruments are how we see the world, from corrective eyewear to medical endoscopes to cell phone cameras to orbiting telescopes. This course extends what you have learned about first-order, paraxial system design and optical resolution and efficiency with the introduction to real lenses and their imperfections. We begin with a description of how...

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2. Design and Analyze Secure Networked Systems

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In this MOOC, we will learn the basic cyber security concepts, how to identify vulnerabilities/threat in a network system. We will apply CIA basic security services in the triage of recent cyberattack incidents, such as OPM data breach. We will learn the risk management framework for analyzing the risks in a network system, and apply the basic security design principles to protect the data and secure computer systems. We will examine the trustworthiness of programs and data installed in our...

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3. Introduction To Fiber Optic Cabling

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4.4
(1,243)

Welcome! This course is designed to give you a good understand of fiber optics and fiber data transmission...

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Best States For an Installation Technician

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an installation technician. The best states for people in this position are Washington, South Dakota, Alaska, and California. Installation technicians make the most in Washington with an average salary of $44,833. Whereas in South Dakota and Alaska, they would average $41,827 and $41,461, respectively. While installation technicians would only make an average of $41,013 in California, 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. North Dakota

Total Installation Technician Jobs: 163
Highest 10% Earn:
$49,000
Location Quotient:
1.23

$38,843

Avg. Salary

View 163 Installation Technician Jobs In ND

2. Louisiana

Total Installation Technician Jobs: 531
Highest 10% Earn:
$49,000
Location Quotient:
1.16

$38,816

Avg. Salary

View 531 Installation Technician Jobs In LA

3. South Dakota

Total Installation Technician Jobs: 141
Highest 10% Earn:
$54,000
Location Quotient:
0.92

$41,827

Avg. Salary

View 141 Installation Technician Jobs In SD
Full List Of Best States For Installation Technicians

How Do Installation Technician Rate Their Jobs?

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Top Installation Technician Employers

We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ installation technicians and discovered their number of installation technician opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that DISH Network was the best, especially with an average salary of $37,022. AT&T; follows up with an average salary of $42,216, and then comes Comcast with an average of $37,421. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as an installation technician. The employers include Altice USA, Analogic, and CLEAResult

Most Common Employers For Installation Technician

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Lucent$45,822$22.0385
2AT&T$42,216$20.30600
3Mediacom Communications$39,928$19.2057
4MasTec$39,779$19.12287
5Best Buy$39,312$18.90154
6Brinks Home$39,161$18.8375
7Tektronix$38,979$18.7480
8Prince Telecom$37,795$18.17127
9FTS International$37,475$18.0261
10Comcast Technology Solutions$37,431$18.0096
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Installation Technician Videos

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Becoming an Installation Technician FAQs

How Long Does It Take To Become An Installation Technician?

It takes 4 years of professional experience to become an installation technician. That is the time it takes to learn specific installation technician skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education. If you include the normal education requirements to complete a college degree, then it takes 7 to 9 years years to become an installation technician.

Do You Need A Degree To Be A Technician?

No, you do not need a degree to be a technician. The qualifications needed to become a technician are a high school diploma or GED and a willingness to learn. However, earning an associate's or bachelor's degree can help you land a technician position and help you advance in your career.

How Much Do Installation Technicians Make?

Installation technicians make $34,203 per year, on average ($16.44 per hour). The range in how much an installation technician can make starts from as little as $26,000 to as much as $43,000 a year. Factors such as location and industry type all impact how much an installation technician can make.

What Qualifications Do You Need To Be A Technician?

The qualifications needed to become a technician are, at minimum, a high school diploma or equivalent and certification. Additional education and experience may be required and are typically desirable.

Have more questions? See all answers to common installation, maintenance and repair questions.

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Updated February 6, 2023