Keeping buildings alive
Fire & Security Systems
You install and service the systems that tell people to get out of a building. Alarms, sprinkler monitoring, access control, cameras. Low voltage work, mostly clean, and it is the one trade where the thing you installed only matters on the worst day the building ever has.
A day in it
- Pull cable through a new office build all morning — ceiling grid, J-hooks, home runs to the panel.
- Terminate devices after lunch. Smokes, pulls, horns, strobes.
- Program the panel and start the walk test with the fire marshal.
- Every device gets triggered and verified. Every one.
- One zone doesn't report. Trace it back to a bad splice above the ceiling.
- Fix it, retest, get the sign-off.
- Service calls fill the days you're not on a build.
What it pays
- Starting out
- $38,410
- Median
- $59,300
- Experienced
- $81,980
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024 (national). Starting out = 10th percentile. Median = 50th. Experienced = 90th. Annual. Georgia figures to be added alongside national. SOC 49-2098. Real numbers only — never estimated, never rounded up.
How you get in
- —On-the-job training with a low voltage contractor. Many hire with no experience.
- —NICET certification is the credential that moves your pay, in levels.
- —Georgia requires a low voltage license for contractors, not for technicians starting out.
- —The Mustard Seed covers NICET study materials, exam fees, and tools.
What you need before you start
- —Ladders, ceilings, and attic spaces.
- —Documentation discipline. Fire work is inspected and your paperwork is part of it.
- —A clean background — you'll be in banks, schools, and hospitals.
Someone doing it
Photograph, first name, age, and three or four sentences in their own words — to be supplied.
What it turns into
NICET III and IV inspectors, then project management or your own low voltage company. Access control and networked systems pay above straight alarm work.
Want to talk to somebody doing this?
Two fields. A person reads it and texts you back.