How to become Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer in 2024

Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer Install, program, maintain, and repair security and fire alarm wiring and equipment. Ensure that work is in accordance with relevant codes.

Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer is Also Know as

In different settings, Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer is titled as

  • Alarm Technician
  • Fire Alarm Technician
  • Home Security Alarm Installer
  • Install Technician
  • Installation Technician
  • Installer
  • Security Installation Technician
  • Security Installer
  • Security Technician
  • Service Technician

Education and Training of Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer

Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Education Required for Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Degrees Related to Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer

Training Required for Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer in different industries are

What Do Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer do?

  • Examine systems to locate problems, such as loose connections or broken insulation.
  • Mount and fasten control panels, door and window contacts, sensors, or video cameras, and attach electrical and telephone wiring to connect components.
  • Install, maintain, or repair security systems, alarm devices, or related equipment, following blueprints of electrical layouts and building plans.
  • Inspect installation sites and study work orders, building plans, and installation manuals to determine materials requirements and installation procedures.
  • Adjust sensitivity of units, based on room structures and manufacturers' recommendations, using programming keypads.
  • Test and repair circuits and sensors, following wiring and system specifications.
  • Drill holes for wiring in wall studs, joists, ceilings, or floors.
  • Demonstrate systems for customers and explain details, such as the causes and consequences of false alarms.
  • Consult with clients to assess risks and to determine security requirements.
  • Keep informed of new products and developments.
  • Mount raceways and conduits and fasten wires to wood framing, using staplers.
  • Provide customers with cost estimates for equipment installation.
  • Prepare documents, such as invoices or warranties.
  • Order replacement parts.
  • Feed cables through access holes, roof spaces, or cavity walls to reach fixture outlets, positioning and terminating cables, wires, or strapping.
  • Test backup batteries, keypad programming, sirens, or other security features to ensure proper functioning or to diagnose malfunctions.

Qualities of Good Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer

  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer

  • Adjustable widemouth pliers
  • Battery analyzers
  • Bayonet Neill-Concelman BNC cable strippers
  • Bayonet Neill-Concelman BNC crimpers
  • Bubble levels
  • Butane soldering irons
  • Channel lock pliers
  • Claw hammers
  • Color bar generators
  • Cordless drills
  • Crimping lugs
  • Decibel meters
  • Digital multimeters
  • Digital ohmmeters
  • Digital oscilloscopes
  • Digital voltmeters DVM
  • Electric soldering irons
  • Electrical frequency meters
  • Extension ladders
  • Fiber optics testers
  • Field strength meters
  • Flat blade screwdrivers
  • Flexible wire pullers
  • Hammer drills
  • Inductive probes
  • Jeweler's flat blade screwdrivers
  • Jeweler's Phillips screwdrivers
  • Laptop computers
  • Needlenose pliers
  • Offset socket wrench sets
  • Optical time domain reflectometers OTDR
  • Personal digital assistants PDA
  • Personnel lifts
  • Phillips head screwdrivers
  • Portable video monitors
  • Precision phasemeters
  • Razor knives
  • Rolling scaffolds
  • Spade lugs
  • Staple guns
  • Telephone test sets
  • Tone generators
  • Vectorscopes
  • Volt-ohm meters VOM
  • Wire cutting tools
  • Wire pullers

Technology Skills required for Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer

  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • Exacq Technologies software
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Hyperterminal
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft operating system
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Windows
  • Microsoft Word
  • Operating system software
  • Traceroute
  • Word processing software