If you heard about a job labelled “television installer,” you might think that you had found the easiest job in the world, just putting a television in its place and then plugging it in. However, working as a television installer can be much more complicated than that and require very special skills. If you like solving problems, especially with electronics, this might be the right job for you.

In high school, you can already begin to prepare for this job through technology courses or even physics, mathematics, or business classes. These courses can teach you some of the theory behind what you do and help you to become more knowledgeable about the kinds of problems you might encounter.

Sometimes, being a television installer can be fairly simple, even if customers ask the installer to connect extra equipment like DVD players to the television. This requires some knowledge of different electronic systems and how they work together, but generally, these tasks are not very difficult. The problems come when customers have special requirements, such as connecting several televisions in a home or office that lacks the right wiring. In that case, the television installer might need to put new cables in place or to find ways of joining the old ones to connect new televisions.

Troubleshooting, or finding solutions to problems, is often part of a television installer’s job. If the picture on a customer’s television is fuzzy or if it suddenly works in black and white instead of color, the television installer might need to check cables and connections in the building or elsewhere. Sometimes, television installers might need help from other tradespeople such as electricians and carpenters to complete their work.

Being able to deal with customers is an important part of being a television installer. Many people in this trade work for large companies and likely have little to do with sending bills and collecting payments. Still, they have to meet with customers and ask questions about where to install the television and find out about any other requirements the customers might have.

Work as a television installer requires some physical strength to be able to lift televisions into place, and it can involve crawling into small spaces to check on wires and connections. Otherwise, the job is not very physically demanding. Almost any city or town is likely to have work for television installers, although big cities have more people who need these services.

Wages for television installers start at just over $15 per hour or over $28,000 per year and can rise to about $21 per hour or over $63,000 per year. Employers generally require at least a high school education or the equivalent, and some might want their workers to have an Electronics Technician Certificate or Diploma from a trade school or career college. Learning about fibre-optic cables and other technology through workshops or special courses is also an option.

You might love to watch television, but you might never have considered television installation as a career. If you enjoy working with your hands and solving problems, you could train for this useful trade.

Bibliography:

Emigrate Canada. “Immigrate to Canada as a Cable TV Service Technician.” http://www.emigratecanada.com/immigrate-to-canada-as-a-cable-tv-service-technician/.

Live Career. “Satellite TV Installer Samples.” https://www.livecareer.com/resumes/samples/installer/satellite-tv-installer.

Neuvoo. “Installer Salary in Canada.” https://neuvoo.ca/salary/?job=Installer.

Payscale.com. “Cable Television Installer Hourly Rate.” https://www.payscale.com/research/CA/Job=Cable_Television_Installer/Hourly_Rate.