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Why It Pays—Literally—For Integrators to Know IT
Wages for CE pros with IT skills have risen a staggering 12 percent since 2006.
If you want to make more money in the custom electronics industry, you might think about becoming an installation or service technician with IT skills. Not a programmer, not a designer, and certainly not a salesperson.
Indeed, over the past five years, the only employee group in the custom electronics industry that has seen an increase is installers. Heck, even being a company owner the past few years has not been a walk in the park. CE Pro well documented what happened to owners of integration companies last year during our 2010 State of the Industry report. To refresh your memory, the average owner had a revenue decline of 51 percent in 2009.
Devastating.
Analyzing the exclusive employee compensation data collected by CE Pro over the past five years is a bit eye-opening. According to the 2010 CE Pro Electronic Installation Business (EIB) Study, the average wage paid to an entry level electronic systems technician is $12.93 per hour. That represents a remarkable 12 percent increase since 2006.
Even more amazing, the increase has occurred in the midst of the Great Recession. The data is similarly good, though not near as strong, for experienced electronic systems technicians. Their average wage is up 2.2 percent over the past five years to $19.16 per hour.
On the flip side, every other position held at an integration company has experienced a deterioration of their wages … some more than others. Entry-level systems designers/programmers earn about the same as they did five years ago. Experienced systems designers/programmers make 7 percent less. Entry-level sales associates at integration firms make 10 percent less than they would have in 2006, while experienced salespeople earn 3 percent less.
Of course, as you would expect, the statistics change based on the geographic location of the integration company. The data is broken down in seven regions (New England, Middle Atlantic, Florida, South {excluding Florida}, Midwest, California, and West {excluding California}). The study, which is available for purchase from EH Research (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)), offers a solid national and regional benchmark for you to use when compensating your staff.
So is there logic in fact that technicians are making headway in their wage growth while everyone else is sliding downward? Yes. Certainly, sales staffs are going to be earning less simply because there are fewer systems being sold. There was a 42 percent drop last year in the average number of installations (from 134 per company in 2008 to 78 in 2009).
At the system designer/programmer level, the drop in income also makes sense as systems are becoming less complicated, plug-and-play and IP-based in many cases.
So why are wages up at the installer level? The big reason is also related to IP-based systems that require IT training. Simply, today’s technicians are more highly skilled in the field of IT. The wage boost is a sign that employers are shedding “analog” technicians for “digital” ones. The proliferation of IT networked systems makes today’s technicians more of a computer specialist than a wire puller. When you peel back the onion on wage trends, it is clear that IT is the future and integrators have figured that out in their hiring and payroll practices.
Do the wages you pay these days mirror this CE Pro data and IT growth?
Indeed, over the past five years, the only employee group in the custom electronics industry that has seen an increase is installers. Heck, even being a company owner the past few years has not been a walk in the park. CE Pro well documented what happened to owners of integration companies last year during our 2010 State of the Industry report. To refresh your memory, the average owner had a revenue decline of 51 percent in 2009.
Devastating.
Analyzing the exclusive employee compensation data collected by CE Pro over the past five years is a bit eye-opening. According to the 2010 CE Pro Electronic Installation Business (EIB) Study, the average wage paid to an entry level electronic systems technician is $12.93 per hour. That represents a remarkable 12 percent increase since 2006.
Even more amazing, the increase has occurred in the midst of the Great Recession. The data is similarly good, though not near as strong, for experienced electronic systems technicians. Their average wage is up 2.2 percent over the past five years to $19.16 per hour.
On the flip side, every other position held at an integration company has experienced a deterioration of their wages … some more than others. Entry-level systems designers/programmers earn about the same as they did five years ago. Experienced systems designers/programmers make 7 percent less. Entry-level sales associates at integration firms make 10 percent less than they would have in 2006, while experienced salespeople earn 3 percent less.
Of course, as you would expect, the statistics change based on the geographic location of the integration company. The data is broken down in seven regions (New England, Middle Atlantic, Florida, South {excluding Florida}, Midwest, California, and West {excluding California}). The study, which is available for purchase from EH Research (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)), offers a solid national and regional benchmark for you to use when compensating your staff.
Why It's Justified
So is there logic in fact that technicians are making headway in their wage growth while everyone else is sliding downward? Yes. Certainly, sales staffs are going to be earning less simply because there are fewer systems being sold. There was a 42 percent drop last year in the average number of installations (from 134 per company in 2008 to 78 in 2009).
At the system designer/programmer level, the drop in income also makes sense as systems are becoming less complicated, plug-and-play and IP-based in many cases.
So why are wages up at the installer level? The big reason is also related to IP-based systems that require IT training. Simply, today’s technicians are more highly skilled in the field of IT. The wage boost is a sign that employers are shedding “analog” technicians for “digital” ones. The proliferation of IT networked systems makes today’s technicians more of a computer specialist than a wire puller. When you peel back the onion on wage trends, it is clear that IT is the future and integrators have figured that out in their hiring and payroll practices.
Do the wages you pay these days mirror this CE Pro data and IT growth?
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Blogs · Research · Convergence · Research · Business Tips · Business · Convergence ·About the Author
Jason Knott, Editor, CE Pro
Jason has covered low-voltage electronics as an editor since 1990. He joined EH Publishing in 2000, and before that served as publisher and editor of Security Sales, a leading magazine for the security industry. He served as chairman of the Security Industry Association’s Education Committee from 2000-2004 and sat on the board of that association from 1998-2002. He is also a former board member of the Alarm Industry Research and Educational Foundation. He is currently a member of the CEDIA Education Action Team for Electronic Systems Business. Jason graduated from the University of Southern California.
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