How To Become A Tower Hand: What It Is and Career Path

What is a tower hand and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Few things are more exciting than standing several feet up in a cell phone tower doing repairs and maintenance. Yes, it's also the most dangerous job according to the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, but come on, no risk, no glory. This is a profession in huge demand these days, so if you're brave enough and careful enough, becoming a Tower Hand is a good opportunity for you.

The responsibilities of a Tower Hand vary greatly depending on their area of expertise and the company they work for but can be summed up in the following sentence: perform wide-ranging installations, inspections, and maintenance to antennas and other transmission systems. That's it. For this, the Tower Hand is expected to be knowledgeable about technological issues, especially in communication, and agile with the hands.

The level of education required for this position can range from a high school degree to a master's degree in telecommunications, but it will depend on the needs of the contracting company. Income can also vary, from $30,000 to $35,000 for newbies and up to $80,000 for the most experienced and educated.

ScoreTower HandUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,967

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.5

Growth Rate 8%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.63%

Asian 6.41%

Black or African American 11.47%

Hispanic or Latino 19.05%

Unknown 4.81%

White 57.63%

Gender

female 3.93%

male 96.07%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress Level

7.5

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.7

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.5

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a tower hand

Explore tower hand education requirements

Most common tower hand degrees

High School Diploma

54.4 %

Associate

15.3 %

Diploma

13.7 %

Start to develop specific tower hand skills

Skills	Percentages
CPR	16.19%
RF	14.27%
OSHA	14.25%
Demolition	13.30%
Hand Tools	10.91%

Complete relevant tower hand training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New tower hands learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a tower hand based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real tower hand resumes.

Research tower hand duties and responsibilities

Do grounding, terminations, fastening, proper bolting, support of leads, and cad welding.
Utilize Anritsu site master in conducting tests on sites while accomplishing tasks including lighting upgrades and troubleshooting of light systems
Operate all equipment and hand tools according to OSHA safety rules.
Complete installation of UMTS and GSM antenna's, lines, connectors, TMA's, jumpers and support hardware.

Prepare your tower hand resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your tower hand resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a tower hand resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Tower Hand Resume templates

Build a professional Tower Hand resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Tower Hand resume.

Apply for tower hand jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a tower hand job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do tower hands rate their job?

-/5

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Tower Hand reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2021

Pros

New scenes every week. Being up high in my own work with guys I can call faimly. I also enjoys the substantial pay raise from working at a restaurant lol

Cons

Pay isn’t quite what it should be considering out work is extremely dangerous. No room for errors or someone will die. Every year we are required to acquire more and more certifications without a pay raise. As well as the “get it done yesterday mentality”.