Telecommunications Equipment Installers & Repairers

Also Called:

Central Office Technician,

Install and Repair Technician,

Service Technician,

Telecommunications Technician

What they do: Install, set up, rearrange, or remove switching, distribution, routing, and dialing equipment used in central offices or headends. Service or repair telephone, cable television, Internet, and other communications equipment on customers' property. May install communications equipment or communications wiring in buildings.

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Energy & Natural Resources

Career Cluster

What do they typically do on the job?

  • Demonstrate equipment to customers and explain its use, responding to any inquiries or complaints.
  • Test circuits and components of malfunctioning telecommunications equipment to isolate sources of malfunctions, using test meters, circuit diagrams, polarity probes, and other hand tools.
  • Test repaired, newly installed, or updated equipment to ensure that it functions properly and conforms to specifications, using test equipment and observation.

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.

Attention to Detail

Dependability

Cautiousness

Perseverance

Cooperation

Integrity

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

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Realistic

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Conventional

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Investigative

Abilities

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

Hand and Finger Use

  • Keep your arm or hand steady

  • Hold or move items with your hands

Ideas and Logic

  • Notice when problems happen

  • Make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information

Verbal

  • Listen and understand what people say

  • Communicate by speaking

Visual Understanding

  • See hidden patterns

Skills

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

Basic Skills

  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem

  • 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

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 Telecommunications Equipment Installers & Repairers 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