I have always been interested in the custom installation profession. I have looked around and there really aren't any big or well advertised companies in Tucson. I love technology and I am really good with figuring things out and retaining information about this topic. I am currently a police officer and 7 years ago I was a medic/nurse. I love my job but would be interested in learning more about this field.

How do you get into it?
Where can you get training, certification, etc.?
How much training do you need before you start?
How expensive is the training?
If you are good, is it lucrative?

Anyone who wants to give me information, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

Take a look at CEDIA.org, they have certification classes for CIs. At the CEDIA convention each September(this year in Denver) they have over 300 classes in everything from accounting, advertising to speaker selection and projector alignment as well as booths displaying products from most of the manufacurers in the industry. I think EHX expo is comming up, similar but not as extensive. AVAD, a distributor offers some of the CEDIA certification classes. Starting pay with no experience is pretty low as you will basically be a gopher for a while. Long term the bennies from your current job are much more attractive than any in this industry could ever hope to be. As the prices for these products continue to drop it becomes harder to make a living, the high end guys will hold out the longest. I figure in 3-4 years most of us in this business will be looking to get our real estate liscenses.

Does that help?

P.S. Do a search for this topic in the custom installers lounge.

Mouretsu,

I'm not sure how much time you spent researching AV Install Companies in the Tucson area, but I can tell you that there are a few here in town. I believe that my company is the only one in town that carries the Nevo. You'll find that most of the high-end custom companies don't advertise a lot.

The only two methods to be truly successful in this field are to focus on either mass quantity or completely custom installations. Here in town, there are quite a few smaller companies that focus on the "quantity" aspect of low voltage. There are also a few of the high-end custom stores (we focus specifically on the million-dollar market, and also travel out-of-state on many of our installs).

A quick search on the CEDIA site will give you a list of some of the install companies here in Tucson.