Media Technical Directors/Managers

Also Called:

News Technical Director,

Production Director,

Production Manager,

Technical Director

What they do: Coordinate activities of technical departments, such as taping, editing, engineering, and maintenance, to produce radio or television programs.

What do they typically do on the job?

  • Switch between video sources in a studio or on multi-camera remotes, using equipment such as switchers, video slide projectors, and video effects generators.
  • Observe pictures through monitors and direct camera and video staff concerning shading and composition.
  • Supervise and assign duties to workers engaged in technical control and production of radio and television programs.

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include leading, making decisions, and business.

Interests

Career interests describe the perspectives and interests of people who enjoy the type of work involved in this career.

Discover what your interests are by taking the Interest Profiler Quiz

Knowledge

People who want to pursue this career have knowledge in these areas.

Communications
  • Multimedia

  • Telecommunications

Engineering and Technology
  • Computers and electronics

  • Product and service development

Arts and Humanities
  • English language

Business
  • Management

Abilities

Whether you have received formal training or not, these types of abilities are helpful in this career.

Verbal
  • Communicate by speaking

  • Listen and understand what people say

Ideas and Logic
  • Notice when problems happen

  • Use rules to solve problems

Attention
  • Pay attention to something without being distracted

  • Do two or more things at the same time

Visual Understanding
  • Quickly compare groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things

Skills

People who want to pursue this career have skills in these areas.

Basic Skills
  • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements

  • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions

Problem Solving
  • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

People and Technology Systems
  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one

  • Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it

Work Values

Work values describe how your core beliefs align with those commonly needed for this career.

Independence

Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.

Support

Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical.

Working Conditions

Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions. Corresponding needs are Activity, Compensation, Independence, Security, Variety and Working Conditions.

Does this sound like something you'd like to do?

1. Do some research
  • Identify how your interests, values, and strengths match this occupation
  • Talk to someone who works in this field or spend a day job shadowing
  • Use the colleges and training directory to explore programs related to this career
2. Plan your next move
  • Talk to your college and career counselor or school admissions staff
  • Visit Idaho Launch
  • Search for available Media Technical Directors/Managers jobs on Idaho Works

Data for NSI career cards comes from the following: Idaho Department of Labor, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, O*NET, MyNextMove, and Career OneStop