Printer Friendly Forum Posts - Mobile Electronic Installer as a career?

First off, im new to the forums, so hello all!
Im a 17 year old soon to be 18 on may 20th. I have a interview at Best Buy on the 8th of May for a job in mobile installation and I'm on my way to get MECP certified. Hopefully I get the job because this is something I'd be interested in.

Well anyway, I was considering doing mobile installation for a living. I know there are many people here that are installers, so I was wondering what you guys like and dislike about the job.
Some more questions that I would be grateful if were answered:
1. How is the pay?
2. Advancement opprotunities? (lead installer, manager)
3. Is the schooling such as Mobile Dynamics or Ritop really that beneficial?
4. Owning an installation business profitable?
5. Future outlook of mobile installers?

If someone can IM me on aim (sn - RuffNight911) and help answer my question(s), it would be greatly appreciated.

1. Pay is not great but if your learning consider part of your potential wages as a learning fee

2. If you apply yourself, you will work yourself up in most places. You need to learn as much as possible and the best thing to do is job shadowing with another senior installer ( if they want to show you the tricks of the trade. )

3. Only if the place of employment requires you to have MECP certification. I myself do not hold this certification in high regards.

4. You only make as much as you put into it. Long hours, hard work & no life ............ what do you think ? It's worth it to me to know that at the end of the day, all that hard work goes back into my business and it's something that I can call my own.

5. If you like the job and continue to learn and progress in your career, the satisfaction of installing will never stop. I've been installing for over 10 years now and I still love it because it challenges me.

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Jeff
Velocity Custom Home Theater
Mobile Audio/Video Specialist
Morden, Manitoba CANADA

Thanks for the much needed information VM. Anyone else have some input?

dont do it man the pay sucks part time is cool stay in school be an engineer like myself

Im going to try out the mobile installation path, but after high school I'm def. going to New England Tech to get my assosciates in Electronics, just as a back up. Installation is just a job that I think I would have fun doing, and I dont think the pay sucks, just depends on where you work. (Ex. Tweeter has base hourly pay plus commission.)

Well if your looking to stay at best buy, don't plan on installing, I believe installers for best buy get capped at 15 or 16 an hour. First thing you should do is make good friends with one of the managers. Plan on moving up but it will take time. If you plan to stay with best buy, i would take a course during collage to take business management. You can make a lot of money working for best buy but plan on being stressed most of the time.

15-16 an hour sounds good to me. About going to college for business management, wouldn't that just be kind of a waste of money? because Best Buy have their own manager training classes or whatever their called.

15-16 an hour may sound good to you now, but if you're starting at like 10 or so it will take years to get it. As an installer you won't get a 90 day raise, and when you get a yearly raise it will be a 5% increase at most. Expect 3%

You can make some good maney at best buy, but not as an installer.

Installers and Geek Squad have a higher pay grade than other depts, but unless you came with experience straight from Alpine or Microsoft, don't expect them to pay you well.

Stick with part time and keep your options open

Jeff hit the nail on the head. Only thing I'm going to add is if you chose something for just monetary reasons you will more than likely burn out at it. I was doing a job I didn't like but the money was real nice. It is now the opposite for me money isn't flowing in but I enjoy what I am doing. That is just my opinion. Also wages fall were you rank with ability and time served as with they will with most companies.

Good luck and don't let others make your decision it is an important one posted_image

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https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=70114&PN=1

read through that if you have some time. my 4 yr at best buy is in july and i currently make $15.37 as install senior. if you wanna install, you won't go any higher than install senior. it's not bad, but not nearly as good as it used to be. best buy is stuffing themselves down the crapper and it's about to flush. my $.02 anyway

installing car audio was my favorite job. i did it for about 8 years. then i realized that there wasnt any money in it unless you were the owner of the shop. I moved into Marine Electronics. Its very comparable to car audio as far as wiring/fabrication are concerned. But after 3 years in the field, i am making almost double what i did in car audio.

Car audio is a great hobby and might get you through college, but i wouldnt try to make a career out of it.

15 an hour is doodie pay. I just started a job at a produce distributor and I make 13.75. After 90 days I get 15 an hour and every ninety days I get a buck raise until I cap out at 18. And that is for completely unskilled labor. I wouldn't say it is worth it to work at best buy unless it is part time. Do it while you go to college and get a career that you will enjoy AND that pays good. Unless of course you want to open up your own shop, then you are into some better money possibly and you will need all the experience you can get. Think about it. If you like mobile electronics then you probably like electronics in general. Why not go to college for electronics engineering and make upwards of 60k a year.

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fiberglass reminds me of peanut brittle... but fiberglass tastes better!

Whatever you decide make sure that you choose the job that makes you happy. Take it from me..........money isn't everything.

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Jeff
Velocity Custom Home Theater
Mobile Audio/Video Specialist
Morden, Manitoba CANADA

I work for a Big Box store and make 16.50 an hour plus 10% of what my bay does. The cap is at about 20 bones an hour and to me its good money. But much more important to me is that I look forward to going to work EVERYDAY. Thats why I work for weeks strait at a time. Last fall I did 48 days strait and it didnt bother me, I just got done doing april and didnt take a day off that month either. I have a blast at my job and the day I stop having fun is the same day I give my 2 weeks. I refuse to do a job I dont enjoy but after 5 years I enjoy it more now than the day I started.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

Become a Fireman. Good pay and benefits. Lots of time off to install. posted_image

OK this was great to know, but what if you do it as your own thing like me, I dont work at a shop. I get things close to wholesale and turn around and can still sell them cheaper than best buy and most shops in the surrounding areas, and can definitely do a good if not a great job installing and cheaper than the shops. So who wins there??

Here's my $.02....

As someone who has been at this for close to 15 years now, here is what I've learned.

1) It can be a fun job
2) It is usually pretty interesting, as you generally don't do the same thing for 2 days in a row.
3) I wouldn't think of this as a career.

After you have spent a few years twisting up under dashes, your knees and lower back really begin to hate you a lot. Your hands will take a pretty good beating (my career as a hand model is pretty much over....) Customers WILL start to get to you after a while..... you begin to rally question your sanity after a few years. You begin to ask them "You want to do what? In your 1994 Sunfire?" I mean it really is cool when you are young. It is a dream job for most 18 year old kids that like cars and stereos...... really. Once you get over 30, you start to really not enjoy audio at all, and really look forward to starter season (where the real money is).

Hell, after this many years in this industry, the only next step for me is to be a rep or to be a shop owner. Either that, or go get my CGA......

Like I said, this is a neat JOB, but I wouldn't think of it as a CAREER.

Gus

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Wherever I go, that is where I end up......

I am actually a Mobile Install Lead for Best Buy currently.

But the pay isn't bad after years of experience, also after you get you MECP certifications you can make more money. But if you really want to make a career out of it you need to be into doing any and all custom work. thats where the money is. but you have to be in the right location. not everyone wants to spend $400 an a fiberglass box..but since most best buys don't do custom work the pay isn't the best out there. but for a little inside some stores, like mine, do custom work. between the 3 of us we have almost 30 years experience. Some best buy stores will be allowed to do it but most won't. good luck with the job interview and if you need anything you can e-mail me.