How to Become a Telecommunications Engineer

A telecommunications engineer is a professional who works on the proper maintenance and functionality of a telecommunications network, both satellite and land-based systems. These professionals design complex electronic communications and broadcasting systems, and various electronic services and products such as telephones, fiber optics, radio-frequency systems, modems, fax machines, multimedia systems, and data communication networks. Most of these products are used by people nowadays, considering the need of communications networks for a variety of purposes, one of which is communication.


Telecommunications engineers not only design these products and systems but are also tasked in these products’ installation and maintenance. They are also responsible for performing system upgrades on these systems, as well as estimating the longevity of these products, ensuring that these products have good performance for their specific purposes.

Becoming a telecommunications engineer requires complete training which usually starts in school. As early as high school, skills in line with electronics and computer technology must be well developed. Telecommunications engineering is not offered by most universities and schools as a bachelor’s degree program and for this, people who can pursue the telecommunications engineering career are the ones who have at least a bachelor’s degree in broadcast engineering, civil engineering, electronics engineering and computer engineering.

However, some schools do offer bachelor’s degree in telecommunications engineering technology, and also provide continuous training program through their offered master’s degree which focuses on telecommunications. These educational programs are good training grounds for anyone who wishes to have a career in telecommunications, as these involve initial training in the design and development of systems as well as technical, management and business studies, giving students clear idea on all the aspects of the design processes in telecommunications.

While most telecommunication engineers depend on their academic qualifications and training after school, a certification is a viable qualification of anyone who wants to land a job in the telecommunications industry. These certifications, which are usually required of someone applying for a telecommunications engineer position, include Professional Engineer certificate, Project Management Professional certificate, Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certificate, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) certificate, and the International Association for Radio, Telecommunications and Electromagnetics (iNARTE) telecommunications certification. These certifications help telecommunications engineers enhance their design capabilities and are good ways to advance their career.

Presently, global telecommunications systems are rapidly changing, thus, the job of telecommunications engineers are also in a state of change from time to time. A lot of things are learned while at work, while certifications and additional training may also be of great help to learn more in the telecommunications industry.