Interested in pursuing a telecommunication engineering career?
You have much to gain in learning where you can work and what kinds of jobs you can acquire with a telecommunication engineering degree.
In this short guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about working as a telecommunication engineer.
Where Can Telecommunication Engineers Work?
Telecommunication engineers have skills in designing, building, implementing, managing, assessing, and fixing telecommunication networks.
Since they have such a wide breadth of expertise, they can work for many different companies.
For example, many telecommunication engineers work for telephone network providers, mobile phone companies, and cable and satellite companies.
They also work for select government agencies, such as the army, the navy, the police, and emergency services.
What Kind Of Jobs Can You Get With A Telecommunications Degree?
When you graduate with a telecommunication engineering degree, you open the door to many job opportunities.
The most common jobs for someone with a telecommunications degree include:
- Engineer: An engineer works on many different areas of networks, mainly mobile networks.
- Data Analyst: A data analyst or data scientist develops and manages systems that process and analyze network data.
- Equipment Technician: An equipment technician installs and repairs equipment to support telecommunication networks.
- Line Installer: A line installer builds, installs, and repairs lines and cables used in physical networks. They may also work on the infrastructure required to place the wires.
- Project Manager: A project manager oversees teams designing, building, and implementing networks or developing new network concepts.
- Network Designer: A network designer researches, visualizes, designs, and works with teams to build a network or parts of a network.
- Specialist: A telecommunication specialist may have knowledge of many telecommunication networks, maintain systems, assess and solve issues that arise within a network, and implement and manage solutions.
Is Telecommunications A Good Career?
Telecommunication engineering is an excellent career in terms of opportunity, entry-level job prospects, salary, and stability.
Many agencies and companies accept graduates right from a bachelor’s degree. The entry-level salary is lucrative, averaging $90,000-$100,000.
And if you pursue higher academic or further certifications, you may receive a higher base salary and more specialized work.
Furthermore, the telecommunication engineering sector typically offers high job security.
As technology continues to boom, telecommunication jobs will probably remain in-demand for a long period of time.
On this note, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 7% growth in electrical engineering until 2030.
What Does A Telecommunication Engineer Do?
One of the primary tasks of a telecommunication engineer is to design and build an efficient telecommunication network.
Primarily, they assess the needs of the business or their consumer to develop a goal for the network project.
They also analyze relevant information such as the environment, the available infrastructure, among other details, to determine how to best accomplish that goal.
When designing the network, these professionals will implement effective equipment and infrastructure.
Telecommunications engineers may oversee network implementation and test the network to make sure it runs effectively.
After they develop the network, they may survey, manage, and fix any problems that occur with the network.
Likewise, if a client presents them with an issue within a network, these engineers will design and implement solutions.
Is Telecommunications A Hard Job?
When pursuing telecommunications, you may consider the academic program challenging.
Since you’re learning a wide variety of new information and acquiring new skills, you may find it difficult.
It also requires an affinity and talent for mathemathetics.
That said, once you have learned the elements of telecommunications, you may not consider your career difficult.
Because this career does not require a Master’s or PhD, you can begin working at a competitive salary almost immediately after graduation.
Learn more: Can System Engineers Work From Home?
Which University Is Best For Telecommunication Engineering?
While many universities offer an engineering degree, some do not offer specialized courses in telecommunication engineering.
Fortunately, you may find the following list of the top-rated universities for telecommunication programs helpful:
- University of Southern California
- University of Maryland
- George Washington University
- Florida International University
- University of Colorado
- Louisiana Tech University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Stanford University
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- California Institute of Technology
- Purdue University
- Cornell University
- Carnegie Mellon University
What Do Telecom Engineers Study?
When looking for telecommunications studies at a bachelor’s level, universities may offer this program as a telecommunications program, a telecommunication engineering program, an electrical and telecommunications engineering program, or a telecommunications and network engineering program.
Most of these programs are around four years, however, the total length depends on the number of courses you take each semester.
Telecommunications courses have a heavy math component requiring calculus, physicals, trigonometry, differential equations, and more.
Apart from math, students must take courses such as network management, network design, computer networking, programming languages (especially C programming), technical writing, and courses on how networks transmit signals.
How To Get Into Telecommunications?
To get into telecommunications, you must acquire the proper qualifications by getting a bachelor’s program in telecommunication engineering.
Additionally, if your academic program does not involve field experience, you should apply for internships or field work in telecommunications in order to gain experience.
You can also take courses to further your expertise or pursue specialized jobs.
A few of the most popular telecommunications certificates include:
- Registered Communications Distribution Designer (RCDD)
- Internet Protocol Engineering Professional (IPEP)
- Certified Telecommunications Network Specialist (CTNS)
- Certified Telecommunications Analyst (CTA)
- Certified Convergent Networking Technologies
- Certified Telecommunications Subject Matter Expert
Certain mobile network providers also offer certificates you can take.
Of course, you can also continue with your education and gain a master’s degree or PhD in the field.
When you graduate, you can obtain any certifications and licenses you may need for your job.
In terms of licensing, the required licenses vary by state.
Some employers require specific licenses, and in other cases, they can help you increase your job prospects and salary.
Final Thoughts
Telecommunication engineering can be an excellent academic program and career choice.
Now that you have a better understanding of the important aspects of this career, you may find your decision easier.
