Welcome to the CCTV Industry

I would first like to welcome you to 2Mcctv and introduce myself. I would like to share some of my experience, and knowledge with those who are interested. I am in my late 30's and have been in the low voltage industry since 1993. My schooling consisted of high school, and military electrical training. After the military I settled down with my wife in an agricultural part of the nation, where technical employment was not readily available. I was fortunate to find employment with a security company that put me on the road to where I am today. I started at 5.50 an hour. I was hungry.

The company was a small family run unit that handled security, telephones, cctv, cable tv, access, audio, video, and in wall vacuum systems. I started of in the morning stocking the three techs vehicles and after their morning meeting, I was then assigned to one of them, and I loaded up the gear for the day. One tech ran service, the other two covered installs. We were on the road by 7:00 am. At the end of the day, I cleaned the site, including vacuuming, loaded the truck, and documented the progress for the day. I was reviewed monthly on memorizing the equipment, manuals and specifications. The company's goal was to train me to be self sufficient, and capable of being on call. On call involved sitting at home by my phone. I talked to the customer, and analyzed the situation. If I did not answer the phone my boss was called next. I was to be clean shaven, professional haircut, clean uniform, no exposed tattoos, and definitely no piercing.

The service technician carried the pager, and a pocket full of quarters. All of our equipment was programmed by hand, and the most common way of arming and disarming the systems was with a key from the exterior of the building. I was taught the proper way to foil and varnish a window, and locating pressure pads under carpet. Regardless of what the salesman sold, motion detectors were not installed very often because the lead technician was not satisfied by their performance, and was not going to install equipment in a situation that could cause a false alarm. We received the calls at night. We were the ones to service the systems at night. We installed every system as if it was our own, so we could get a full night of sleep.

The CCTV systems involved cameras, a manual switcher, sometimes a time lapse VCR, and small monitor with a guard watching it. The systems we serviced dated back to the 60's from when the lead tech installed them. The installations for the CCTV systems I had always felt were the most involved. They not only involved wiring, and configuring, but also an imagination. Security systems only tell what was triggered and when. CCTV documents what exactly happened, when it exactly happened, and what exactly was said (depending on the laws of your state). Think of all of the possibilities.

The industry after years of technological leaps and bounds has expanded into so many technological fields that the knowledge and skill required for mastering this trade is limitless. Trying to stay on top of all new products released will tire even the most seasoned veteran technician. My days of running wire are behind me now, best left to the younger tech. I am now in the position of mentoring the new technicians, one of the technical 'go to guys' for a supplier of CCTV equipment. I spend my days helping technicians and salesmen through problems they run into. And yes, every day I still run into something new.

Looking back, sure the industry was about profit, it was also about pride in your product. My goal is to combine the skills of the past and the technology of today, so we may all profit, and have systems we can be proud of years down the road. If there are any subjects you would like me to cover please send me an e-mail.