How To Become An Outside Plant Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is an outside plant engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Philipp Zerbe

An outside plant engineer doesn't work with the green, leafy kind of plant. Although they spend a lot of time outdoors, outside plant engineers work with telecommunications plants. In fact, any time someone picks up their phone or connects to the Internet, they can thank a team of outside plant engineers.

Outside plant engineers are the backbone of the telecommunications industry. They help design and maintain plants and fiber cables. Working as an outside plant engineer requires a lot of technical knowledge, such as understanding CAD and fiber cables, and many have bachelor's or master's degrees.

Outside plant engineers need to be ready for any kind of working condition since they spend so much time outside. Often, they get called during a weather emergency to make sure that the installations will withstand the conditions. Sometimes, being an outside plant engineer may mean working through a hurricane.

What general advice would you give to an outside plant engineer?

Philipp Zerbe

Associate Professor, University of California - Davis

While most career sectors have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, job opportunities in botany, plant biology and biology in general have been affected comparatively less. Therefore, do not be discouraged; explore the many career possibilities in plant biology and find something that truly speaks to your personality and your career dreams and pursue opportunities in this direction. At the same time be flexible and open-minded toward new opportunities. Botany/Plant Biology is a diverse and international field with many different career possibilities. Be open to exploring different fields and to relocate nationally or internationally for internships or job opportunities.

ScoreOutside Plant EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.7

Avg. Salary $85,603

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.7

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.18%

Asian 14.46%

Black or African American 4.80%

Hispanic or Latino 11.11%

Unknown 4.70%

White 64.75%

Gender

female 14.46%

male 85.54%

Age - 44

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 - 44

Stress level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an outside plant engineer

Explore outside plant engineer education requirements

Most common outside plant engineer degrees

Bachelor's

69.9 %

Associate

16.1 %

Master's

6.3 %

Start to develop specific outside plant engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
CAD	14.69%
Outside Plant	10.84%
OSP	10.11%
Fiber Optic	7.16%
Plant Engineering	5.22%

Complete relevant outside plant engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New outside plant 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 an outside plant engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real outside plant engineer resumes.

Research outside plant engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage many key projects providing DS1, DS3 and SONET facilities for customers.
Train new techs on how to pull, repair and manage new and existing copper and fiber cabling systems.
Manage and provide training to a multicultural maintenance team using TPM principles and following standards such as AIB and BRC.
Determine and upgrade MDF and IDF layout in communications cabinets.

Prepare your outside plant engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your outside plant engineer resume.

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