question about getting a career in home theatre setup (1 Viewer)

[Adrian>G]

I was wondering about getting or starting a career in home theatre building, I wanted to know about installations, setups, wiring, etc etc. Now is there anywhere that offers training or anything. Is it all just by experience and what you know, or does cedia (custom electronic desin and installation association) offer a training course. if anybody knows can you please let me know. I would really appreciate it.


THANKS

 

[John Garcia]

CEDIA offers seminars for specific certifications, not exactly classes, at the expositions:

http://www.cedia.net/expo/

Click on Browse CEDIA University at the bottom. I don't know of any more specific classes than that. A lot of it is tribal knowledge and experience.

I've been doing this stuff for a number of years, and only recently fired up a small business and started charging for the services and soliciting work. Not exactly profitable yet, because I charge very little, but I have to get the word out and satisfied customers are the best way to do that.

 

[John S]

Not sure about a course...

But start helping people out for free. Then slowly start charging for your efforts. I get all my side work from referrals. I only do about 4 per month, so no career here yet, that is for sure. I think I made $400 my best month with it all.

I have sure learned a lot in the past year. A lot about both people and equipment.

The biggest issue is being able to guage what people really want. Most people I have delt with really have no idea what they want. Hitting them with the right price point for the performance they expect is key.

Most people still just buy the equipment then look for help on installation. If the equipment is not up to my personal standards, I'll decline to install it.

I won't do service menu stuff, I know enough to leave that to the video professionals. I'll tweak user settings on displays only and make hookup decisions and implement them. I have an audio background, video is still pretty new to me, just in the last few months have I gotten into a few FP situations. Which I really am starting to dig, and want to do more of them for sure.

Best of luck with it....

 

[John Garcia]

John nailed that one. Figuring out what people want can be the toughest part, and that is usually the longest part of the jobs I get actually. The installs/calibration usually only take a few hours. Last year I didn't get too many jobs, but I've been pretty busy in the last few months.

I'm an audio guy too, but I mostly get questions about video gear; go figure.

 

[Adrian>G]

I guess I see what you guys mean. I will try and start somewhere like you guys said by helping people with installations. I might try to mount my plasma tv with a friend and I will post pics of the install, and let you guys know how it goes. thanks alot with all the help.



Adrian