Hello

I am Currently an Installation and Programming tech for a company in Washington State and have been for a year and a half now. Prior to this I was in telecom, installing backbone wiring for telecom and data applications, so I know the right way of wiring not only for performance but also aesthetics. I was also programming and trouble shooting key-system phone systems and I now program Pronto and Universal Remote Products and have had the week training with Lutron back east for Homeworks programming. I am currently working on enough hours to get my low volt card. I am the main tech, doing component installation and configuration at the end of the project. I think of myself as being very courteous as well as mindful of the type of customers we deal with, so my questions are as follows:

1. Wage or salary what is the going rate for someone with my qualifications (I am in a smaller city then Seattle and do not know the market)

2. Expectations for employer sponsored training and certification (Because through training I improve in efficiency and quality)

3. Long Term devotion to this line of work where is it going? (I feel that along with telecom this industry is becoming more involved with IT Based technologies and am wondering if training in that direction is necessary to future proof my skills)



Well thank you for your time reading this post any and all replies will be appreciated especially from long time business owners and techs in this field.

Hmm

Well i was hoping for more experiance in this forum then there must be or maybe you just dont want to give your own installers any bad ideas well if any of you have a kernel of wisdom or experiance please reply

TY

Well,
Let me offer some advice to you regarding your career path. Ask yourself these very important questions.
1. Where do you see yourself in ten years? What are your career aspirations?
2. Why do you not know your market? Are you unable to make connections with businesses in your area that do this type of work? Perhaps you just had not considered your responsibility to yourself to do the research.
3. What is your level of comfort with being on the brink of bankruptcy? Be honest with yourself on this one, and do not forget to consider your family's comfort level.
As far as the IT integration education, we are all fooling ourselves if we do not plan for how we are going to address this eventuality.

This message was edited by PennyG on 09/30/04 19:43 ET.

With my previous post, I took the position that you were asking those of us in the custom a/v design and installation industry what you needed to know to run your own a/v business. If I misunderstood, I apologize. If your questions were based on your desire to be the best you can for your current company, you should be asking these questions of your employer.

I pay my guys based on how they impact my bottom line. I am in this business to be profitable. I do not like putting up money for training just to have the employee jump ship. I do, however, reward those who show me dedication.

Geez, you don't have to get an attitude about it. let's see if I can help you out.

You said that you have approximately a year and a half of experience. You do programming and installation. (I've never met someone who does programming and installing before).

YOU think of yourself as being courteous, But how do YOUR customers think of you?

let me type these into the MAGIC EMPLOYEE DATABASE and see what we come up with for you.

Here are the answers to your questions:

1. Wage. I don't know, I don't know where you live, I don't know who you work for, I didn't know there was a place called Washington State or Seattle for that matter.

2. Employer sponsored training. I don't know, I don't know who you work for, I don't know where you live I don't know if CEDIA knows if there is a place called Washington State or Seatle.

3. Long term devotion. I don't know, I don't know where you live, I don't know who you work for. I don't engineer products.

I hope this helps you out. and Good Luck!

In the immortal words of Hillstreet Blues "Let's do it to them before they do it to us."

Go get'em Tiger.

Skybird,
That sounded sarcastic...then I read the rest of your post and find you to just be hostile. I haven't seen that from you before. What bothered you THAT much?

* * * * *

TheCraft,
I took the time to look up this thread because, and I am NOT being sarcastic here, you seemed to be whining in another thread about nobody helping you here on the site. People were correcting my grammar in the thread where you complained. I found that funny because I am such a stickler for grammar and spelling (note: your clients will feel more comfortable with you if you communicate well in writing; now go back with a red pencil and look at your original post) and I had two or three errors in just as many lines where I was actually discussing correct grammar.
Anyway, I just had to see what you were talking about. At that moment, you had only posted three times, and I think that is just a tad early to get a true impression of how people on this site will treat you.

As for wondering why nobody was responding, I wonder if maybe the title of the thread was so vague that few people looked at it. I don't know; it's just a guess. As you become more familiar with this site (I assume you are not as you have posted very little so far), you will find that thread titles can really affect the success of the threads.

The responses you have gotten above DO point out some questions to ask yourself and apparent problems with your attitude. If you wanted to work with me, and all I had seen was your posts so far, I would politely find a way to make it not happen. Now that you have been advised to think about whether your customers think you are polite, it is time to do the same with fellow workers and possible employers.
And just so we won't have to go off topic again with a discussion of politeness, I know I am NOT being polite. I am trying to get you to examine what others have already pointed out could be some problems for you.