Outside plant technician vs technician

The differences between outside plant technicians and technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an outside plant technician has an average salary of $42,451, which is higher than the $38,045 average annual salary of a technician.

The top three skills for an outside plant technician include ladders, outside plant and CDL. The most important skills for a technician are patients, customer service, and patient care.

Outside plant technician vs technician overview

	Outside Plant Technician	Technician
Yearly salary	$42,451	$38,045
Hourly rate	$20.41	$18.29
Growth rate	8%	1%
Number of jobs	67,234	596,842
Job satisfaction	-	2
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 38%	Bachelor's Degree, 32%
Average age	45	40
Years of experience	-	2

Outside plant technician vs technician salary

Outside plant technicians and technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Outside Plant Technician	Technician
Average salary	$42,451	$38,045
Salary range	Between $29,000 And $61,000	Between $24,000 And $58,000
Highest paying City	-	San Jose, CA
Highest paying state	-	Hawaii
Best paying company	-	Microsoft
Best paying industry	-	Telecommunication

Differences between outside plant technician and technician education

There are a few differences between an outside plant technician and a technician in terms of educational background:

	Outside Plant Technician	Technician
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 38%	Bachelor's Degree, 32%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Business
Most common college	Stanford University	-

Outside plant technician vs technician demographics

Here are the differences between outside plant technicians' and technicians' demographics:

	Outside Plant Technician	Technician
Average age	45	40
Gender ratio	Male, 96.8% Female, 3.2%	Male, 75.2% Female, 24.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 14.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 6.2% White, 56.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 19.4% Asian, 4.9% White, 61.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	6%	2%

Differences between outside plant technician and technician duties and responsibilities

Outside plant technician example responsibilities.

Manage and administer documentation of OSP fiber optic plant in support of customer projects, network planning, and municipality requirements.
Move and/or lift items such as ladders, tools, air tanks, cable reels, and test equipment
Install residential and business telephone lines, including premise CAT5 wiring and jack work.
Perform construction work such as digging holes, installing inner duct in various types of conduit systems and open excavations.
Organize projects that include open excavations, placing cables, air pipes and inner duct in various types of conduit systems.
Install and repair T1 and T3 systems.

Technician example responsibilities.

Achieve multiple ASE certifications within first year of employment.
Implement and manage UHF radio base stations, repeaters, and command network, effectively linking all regional headquarters.
Manage telecommunications installation and repair for hospital Nortel network.
Maintain numerous automate scripts to assist in managing Linux systems.
Manage, troubleshot and repair multiple wireless technologies including fiber optic transmission switches.
Install peripherals including printers, fax machines, scanners, and smartphones.

Outside plant technician vs technician skills

Common outside plant technician skills

Ladders, 10%
Outside Plant, 10%
CDL, 8%
Test Equipment, 6%
Safety Procedures, 6%
OSHA, 5%

Common technician skills

Patients, 16%
Customer Service, 14%
Patient Care, 8%
Hand Tools, 6%
Diagnosis, 5%
Preventative Maintenance, 4%

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Installation, Maintenance and Repair Industry
Outside Plant Technician
Outside Plant Technician vs Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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