Hello everyone out there,

I just passed my CEDIA Level 1 exam wahoo, had nothing to do with home theatre installs i can tell you that much, it was more electrical stuff than anything. That being said now i found myself done that with no real jobs to gain experience. I live in the Toronto Area and am wondering if anyone could give me a hand in where to look or might have some contacts. I know Futureshop and Bestbuy are hiring like crazy but i dont want to just go into peoples homes an slap a tv on the wall and call that a custom install.

thanks any help would be appreciated.

Sorry forgot to mention that im willing to relocate. Canada, USA, even UK if need be
thanks again

In Canada Future Shop and Best Buy outsource their install work to some cable installer company. None of it is done in house and the quality of the install, on a good day, is acceptable.

However, other than passing your Level 1 Installer, what other experience do you have? Have you talked to some of the custom install shops in TO? Do you think you will be doing something other than cable pulling/pre-wire in your first job? You will have to prove yourself! If so, what do you expect to be working on?

I presently work in the IT field doing network and desktop support so that i think helps play a part in my desire to want to move into this field.
Im willing to do whatever it takes on any job im confident that there isnt much i cant do it might take me a little longer then someone with experience, but im ready to bust my a** to prove myself.

Im hoping to land a job with someone who does complete custom installs and gain as much experience and knowledge as i can from it. Hopefully one day down the road i want to open up my own install company just driving around and setting peoples homes up. As i said i dont want to do the Futureshop stick a tv on the wall and call it a custom home theatre install.



On 1184079793, FRR said...

How illustrative is it that some one who has never done an install in his life gets CEDIA certified. And on top of it, he discloses it covered little about installing products. Amazing.

I'm printing this out to show prospects that ask if we're CEDIA ceritfied.

wow i dont know if i should take offense to that or what. Hey i did 3 week hands on course i know it isnt the same as the real world but its something man, I know i could go into any home and wire , setup and have it humming no problem. CEDIA is just a piece of paper just like Microsoft certifications, thats all it is. Like anything else experience rules out over everything else.

No offense to you personally man. All I'm saying is that you only have a thumbnail sample of what you're going to come up against "out there". I've been doing this for years and we run into challenges all the time.

It's a knock on CEDIA. In reality your certification doesn't make you a better installer than me or my guys, you just have a piece of paper. But that paper should be considered by consumers only as a small piece of the puzzle, not the end all.

CEDIA ceritification gives the impression one is qualified to do anything. When in reality, you're a newbie qualified to be a helper.

Again no disrepsect to you. I applaud your goals and determination. I started in the same place 24 some odd years ago. We all start from the beginning

Ok so you are some IT kid who thinks he can do custom. You will do more harm to this industry than good.




If your serious you will have to start as a wire monkey




I would never hire you. You state that you want to leach and mooch of someone til you think your ready to start your own company.


|just driving around and setting peoples homes up. As i said i dont want to

Is that what you think we do? We dont drive around just setting up peoples equipment.....

Frankley you piss me off. Because you are a clueless IT hack that thinks he knows all the answers.

Please stay in Canada because America has enough of your kind.


Oh and CEDIA, what a crock of crap that place is. All they do is suck money from the dealers and give little back.

clark,

why are you being such a dick to this kid? i agree with you but you could be nicer.....

hire a pro.

ed

because Ed since your divorce you've been little pussy boy around here. So i have to do the heavy work now..... Calling things the way You see it........... I hate picking up your slack because your depressed.

When will the real Ed come back and little pussy boy go away?

See you tonight for drinks.

Clark

yeah ed, usually you're the dick and Clark is the comedian. What gives clark?

Just some poor schlump who thinks cause he can set up your desk top he can do what we do. He'll find out soon enough.

I like his comment "it was just a bunch of electrical stuff". Like that stuff doesn't matter.

Because Ed is best with his short, pithy, and rude answers............

This nice guy act he's putting on is driving me nuts. I miss the old Ed, so I figured I'd pick up the slack a bit, until Ed gets his balls back from his ex.

Then i will continue to be the lovable fuzzy furball that makes people laugh.

Clark

ya'll can bite me, i'm triing to be a nicer person....its tough and stressfull to be a nice guy.....but im turning over a new leaf.

but until the day i get my balls back....this is the best i can do


HIRE A PRO!!!!!!

Ok, not wanting to beat on you too much, but what makes you think that the grass is greener on this side of the technology fence. Having come from the IT/Telecommunications world, myself, I can say that after 4 1/2 years it's no easy pickings on this side of the technology field. Sure we're seeing an increase in the convergence of technologies and your back ground is very applicable to the technology convergence, but what may have seemed like a neat industry to work in actually has less career opportunities than the IT industry. It's the truth!

I applaud you for choosing to do something with your life and make some positive changes and learn new things, but unless you have a real strong technical background, with the resume/work experience to support your claims, you're going to be doing mostly pre-wires and pulling cable for the first while anywhere you work until you prove yourself regardless of the certification. Especially in the residential side of the industry. Is that the kind of job you're looking for?

I'm willing to bet the answer is probably NO.

If you're still interested start calling local firms in the GTA area (include commercial AV companies in your call list). Even, if they're not hiring see if you can get sometime to talk about what kind of skills sets they're looking for and salary expectations. The other problem that you're fighting against is that one of the community colleges in southern Ontario was offering a 2 year program in home automation/integration (I can't remember exactly what the course was called) where they learned about all of the home automation technologies/aspects from cable pulling through to and including some Crestron programming. They too are in your market and the training that they received far exceeds a Cedia Level 1 Installer certificate. In addition, they have come to the job market expecting that they're going to be cable pulling monkeys until they can prove themselves (I spoke to one individual from this program).

Regardless, best of luck.

Cheers

Ignorance is bliss, but I'd take a clueless IT hack over a clueless electrician or security system guy. Something about the IT mentality makes them easier to train than someone from one of the other crossover industries.

PS: Frankley is spelled "Frankly"

|

Clark, I wish we could say that to some of the clueless American companies that have come to Canada, but that' wouldn't be very nice.