"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Most of us can recall deflating into a chair across from our high school counselors, that incessant question relentlessly pressed into our brains.
Despite the weight of that decision is given, many counselors keep the solution quite short: college. But between its cost and shifting value in providing job prospects, that isn't always the answer. And it leaves a lot of viable jobs off the list, particularly trade jobs thanks to the lingering stigmas surrounding vocational schooling.
Welding, plumbing and electrician work may be the first trades that may come to mind. But our reliance on digital connections has turned the internet into a household commodity — and the skill of servicing the internet into a new trade.
Here are the top five jobs servicing the internet that your high school counselor likely never mentioned:
Broadband (fiber-optic) technician
The word technician may sound daunting — and terms like broadband and fiber don't help. But it all really boils down to helping people and businesses connect and stay connected to the internet.
While being a broadband technician can mean working with older technology like copper, a growing majority of it deals with fiber optics — which has become the backbone of how data and high-speed internet connection is possible.
Broadly speaking, fiber technicians work on the installation, maintenance and repair of fiber-optic communication systems. Their primary focus is ensuring that these systems and the supporting equipment are properly functioning to facilitate high-speed data transmission.
Along with laying and installing new fiber networks, technicians work with existing customer networks, running diagnostics to troubleshoot issues, perform fixes and maintenance on those systems.
In 2024, the average salary for a fiber technician is $55,428 per year as well as an estimated $2,599 in additional pay, according to Glassdoor. More advanced roles like Telecom Technician III and Lead Telecom Technicians are reported to make upwards of $65,000 and $70,000 per year, respectively. Plenty pay higher, varying state to state. AT&T — as an example — is currently hiring Fiber Optic Technicians at $67,666 per year, and pay ranges up to $85,000.
Fiber splicer
Within the world of fiber optics there are a lot of different directions to advance to or specialize in — one is fiber splicing.
What exactly is fiber splicing? It describes joining (or splicing) optical fibers together to create continuous communication channels in fiber-optic networks, which serve as the central spine for broadband connections throughout the world.
Splicing is a very precision-focused area of the field. The process requires a meticulous alignment of fiber optic strands (at even microscopic levels) to minimize signal loss — aided by specialized equipment and alignment technology.
The specialty of splicing can also be especially lucrative.
Average salaries for splicers range greatly depending on the state you’re in. For example, while the average national salary reported by Comparably is $74,020, that average jumps to $112,955 in Boston Massachusetts. And the job can also compensate well in states like Texas, where the basic minimum wage of $7.25 is still adopted; splicers in Houston make 15% over the national average with a $84,941 annual salary.
Cell tower technician
For many, the idea of scaling a 500-foot tower may onset some intense heebie-jeebies, but for others — it’s freedom.
“There’s nothing like being in the air,” one tower climber told us in an interview.
Cell tower technicians scale telecommunication towers to install, repair, test and remove various equipment pieces installed on the tower to maintain and advance their functionality.
According to statistics from Glassdoor, the estimated annual pay for a cell tower technician is $51,053 — including an average salary of $48,585 and an estimated additional pay of $2,468 per year. With top-earning foremen making nearly $80k a year, according to ZipRecruiter, the pay range can vary greatly depending on the state, job title, years of experience and specific company.
It may come as no surprise that considering this job means considering safety. You will regularly work from 50 feet to over 1000 in all types of weather, so it is particularly important in this sector to assess that the company you are interested in working for is seriously investing in employee training and safety.
Network technician
While many technician roles are often centered around physical, outdoor tasks, network technicians get to dig into the digital details of the network — they get to see it “from the inside out,” as one technician described.
Typical core responsibilities of working as a technician on broadband networks include installing, repairing and updating different computer network systems. This means configuring and managing devices like routers, switches and firewalls of different client organizations’ networks.
Similarly to the broadband technicians working on equipment, network technicians must often troubleshoot, diagnose and resolve connectivity issues for different organizations and provide technical support to clients, other IT workers and end users.
While the average yearly pay for being a network technician in the United States reported by Glassdoor is $64,972 per year, larger companies like Google, Cisco, Microsoft and more are frequently offering six-figure wages. Cisco, for instance, has a median total pay of $124,000 for the role.
Broadband support representative
Oftentimes, before a technician is ever called to service an internet connection issue, customers — whether they’re a homeowner or a small-business owner — will call representatives to report it. Broadband support representatives are the ones to work through that first level of diagnostics.
Unlike a lot of call-center jobs, this role within broadband — particularly fiber — doesn't mean dealing with cranky customers 24/7.
One rep named Ginger Lane described it as “a breath of fresh air” compared to previous customer-service roles, and a big part of that is the technology.
“I've discovered what a quality product fiber is. Seriously, even though I’m trouble shooting, 95% of the time, I’m like, ‘Have you tried rebooting the modem?’” she explained laughing. “Because it is such a great product."
Because the job title can range, average pay may vary from around $63k to medians of $71k — and can range higher. Lane explained that the role is more than just a job for getting by:
“A lot of people don't realize a lot of broadband companies are unionized, and that there's really good pay. It’s not just, 'This will do for now until I can find something better.' This is a place you can come and stay. It's a place where you can stay and have roots and start building a life.”