Soccernut said:
How long it would take to get all of these certifications (I have limited knowledge of computers), and what are the wages and benefits for cable installers in the left coast?
SBCA I&II are a single day affair. If you've done about ten installs of either Dish or Direct and read these boards with attention to detail, you can pass the training and test pretty quickly. Eat, drink, and sleep this stuff and you'll be among the first five out of the room finished with their test.
SBCA III is a two day bang usually with about the same difficulty if you've ever done any cable and paid attention to system distribution concepts such as taps, amps, etc.
ETA Certified Satellite Installer(CSI) is only slightly harder to pass but it is on your own and not in a class. There are endorsements that tack on and if you find that few in DBS even know what SBCA NSTP means, you'll find only a tenth of a percent of them know what this one is.
NCTI certs are much more involved and cover basic electronics, radio and microwave basics, etc., etc., ad nauseam. In cable it is the signal transmission and NOT the variety of BS box that matters. So people who have memorized every Dish receiver are going to be a little taken aback by how techie this is. With approval to take it and a good proctor giving the tests and overseeing your studying, and good studying discipline, you can go through the whole thing in a year or so.
SCTE certs are even more prestigious in a bucking for notice from senior management sort of way and look nice after your name at the bottom of an article you've gotten published in a trade mag. Did I forget that cable has a huge pile of trade mags and DBS doesn't? The kind that executives in ancillary industries read? SCTE isn't that long if you're NCTI Master Installer.
Of course there's the very nice and very applicable BICSI and CEDIA certs as well. If you aspire to impress well-read and very wealthy people looking for qualified custom installation wizards, those look good on your showroom wall near the front door.
State licenses are going to be requiring classroom and/or OJT so you can assume to be working while studying and getting certifications.
If you're one of the few, the proud, no... not the Marines, you might get through with it all. Otherwise, count on wanting desperately to switch careers to anything that doesn't involve coaxial cable. Like naked karaoke or stunt hang-glider pilot. Why? When you take the rules and law seriously and take pride in your work, you will be stressed out daily by the crud you have to put up with from 99% of your coworkers who could care less about doing their jobs right and a management that actually desires the rank and file to be and remain as stupid as possible.