Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers
(Except Line Installers)

Moderate Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (5)

Lower estimated automation risk

Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Industrial Equipment
31% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better Higher growth
11.9 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Electronics troubleshooting, test equipment, wiring diagrams, and component repair transfer well.

Radio, Cellular, and Tower Equipment Installers and Repairers
25% automation risk | Low Risk
Higher growth
17.4 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Telecom equipment, signal paths, testing, and field repair overlap strongly with wireless systems.

Audio and Video Technicians
34% automation risk | Low Risk
Higher growth
8.9 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Cabling, signal routing, equipment setup, and customer installation overlap with AV technical work.

Computer Network Support Specialists
36% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better Higher growth
6.6 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Routers, connectivity, cabling, diagnostics, and customer troubleshooting transfer to network support.

Network and Computer Systems Administrators
29% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better More jobs
13.3 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Network hardware, uptime, access, configuration, and troubleshooting provide a base for systems administration.

Compare this job with others
or search for another job
Share your results with friends and family.

Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
4.9/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

43% (Moderate Risk)

Moderate Risk (41-60%): This occupation may be meaningfully affected by automation. Some parts of the role may be suitable for AI, software, or robotics, while others still rely on human skill, judgement, trust, or real-world context. People in this range may benefit from building skills that complement automation and reduce replacement risk.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Working directly with the public

Quite important
Why this matters
The job involves face-to-face interaction with customers, clients, or guests—answering questions, handling requests, and managing service situations in real time. Roles with frequent public interaction are harder to replace end-to-end because they rely on trust, communication, and adapting to unpredictable human needs.
Jobs that also use this strength

Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
Jobs that also use this strength

Decision-making and problem solving

Quite important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
Jobs that also use this strength

Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
Jobs that also use this strength

Education and training expertise

Quite important
Why this matters
Designing and delivering instruction—adapting lessons to different learners and measuring whether training actually works.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 52 votes

36% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 43% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers was $62,630 ($30 per hour).

The median annual wage for Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers was 26.5% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Very slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers' job openings is expected to decline 4.2% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 153,890 people employed as 'Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers' within the United States.

This represents around 0.10% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 1 thousand people are employed as 'Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers'.

People also viewed

Computer Programmers Actors Lawyers Commercial Pilots Electricians

What people are saying (2)

fimgus (Uncertain)
23 Dec 2023 03:47
i'm not sure but f these guys. they come in, plug in a router, give a thumbs up, then charge you $150.
Philip
23 Oct 2025 19:01
And what you didn't see is the connections they made at the central switching office, climbing the power poles to connect your address to the outside distribution lines. They did all this before they even walked in your door.
Leave a reply about this occupation
0/8000

Job description

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.

O*NET-SOC code: 49-2022.00