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The differences between tower climbers and telecommunications technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a telecommunications technician has an average salary of $41,935, which is higher than the $41,248 average annual salary of a tower climber.
The top three skills for a tower climber include CPR, RF and OSHA. The most important skills for a telecommunications technician are broadband, customer service, and fiber optic cables.
| Tower Climber | Telecommunications Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $41,248 | $41,935 |
| Hourly rate | $19.83 | $20.16 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 18,165 | 70,494 |
| Job satisfaction | 3 | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 49% | Associate Degree, 35% |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
Tower Climbers are professionals who are responsible for performing comprehensive installations, inspections, and maintenance on cell towers, self-supporting towers, and other tower transmitter systems. These climbers are required to complete tower safety courses so that they can climb communication towers to assist crews in repairing and inspecting communication boxes. They must operate heavy equipment to prepare sites for the construction and erection of communication towers. Tower Climbers should also guarantee the safety of their crews during extreme weather conditions by following company policies and procedures.
A telecommunications technician is responsible for maintaining the company's telecommunication networks, including communication systems and installation of internet lines and cables. Telecommunications technicians inspect the efficiency of the organization's communication networks, ensuring its optimal performance to support the business' operations. They also upgrade the systems, run diagnostic tests for newly installed cables, and create detailed reports of preventive maintenance processes for reference. A telecommunications technician must have excellent knowledge of the technological industry, including the end-users' and clients' needs to determine the best procedures to maintain the reliability of existing systems.
Tower climbers and telecommunications technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Tower Climber | Telecommunications Technician | |
| Average salary | $41,248 | $41,935 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $59,000 | Between $31,000 And $55,000 |
| Highest paying City | Sacramento, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | California | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | General Dynamics Mission Systems | Nebraska Public Power District |
| Best paying industry | Telecommunication | Technology |
There are a few differences between a tower climber and a telecommunications technician in terms of educational background:
| Tower Climber | Telecommunications Technician | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 49% | Associate Degree, 35% |
| Most common major | Business | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | New York University | Inter American University of Puerto Rico Bayamon |
Here are the differences between tower climbers' and telecommunications technicians' demographics:
| Tower Climber | Telecommunications Technician | |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 95.7% Female, 4.3% | Male, 89.8% Female, 10.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 18.1% Asian, 6.6% White, 57.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% | Black or African American, 13.0% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.1% Asian, 6.2% White, 57.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |