Overview
A career in the telecommunications industry will suit those who enjoy constant change and want to get involved with technology at the cutting edge. It is a wide-ranging, competitive and fast-changing industry, and it offers an array of career options. Driven by advances in communications technology, notably the internet, broadband and mobile phones, the telecoms industry is, according to e-skills UK (the Sector Skills Council for Business and Information Technology), fast becoming indistinguishable from the IT industry. Many of the new technologies use broadband data networks carrying high volumes of multimedia traffic, and this is reflected in the skills required and the job roles available.

In this brief look at the telecoms industry, it is only the connection between the machines at both ends of the system that will be considered. However, this is a somewhat artificial line to draw because software and hardware developments increasingly affect both the formulation and use of information, becoming interlinked with its transmission and delivery. So readers should be familiar with the term ‘information and communication technology (ICT)’ as it becomes used more frequently. Indeed, the technology convergence mentioned above, between the IT and telecoms industries, is demanding upskilling in telecoms to a profile more similar to that of the IT industry, with skills traditionally regarded as being IT-based rather than telecoms-based now being required. (To find out more about this, you might want to take a look at our ‘Computing and information technology’ feature.) And, as with the IT sector, business and interpersonal skills are becoming more important.

The shape of the telecoms industry
The biggest employers outside the IT and telecoms industry itself are: financial services; public administration, education and health; and manufacturing. The occupations that have grown the most rapidly in the past few years are ICT managers or IT strategy and planning professionals. Another role on the increase is that of software professional. There have been substantial decreases in employment in other areas, such as IT user support, database and engineering roles.

Globalisation is affecting the age profile of IT and telecoms professionals. The proportion aged between 16 and 29 dropped from 32% in 2001 to 22% in 2009, as the sector favours experienced workers from other sectors over young recruits from the education system. The workforce is highly qualified, with 61% of the UK’s IT and telecoms professionals holding a qualification at level 4 or higher (undergraduate or degree level), nearly double that of the UK working population overall (although those working in telecoms are likely to have lower levels of qualification than those in IT). Moreover, only 2% of IT and telecoms professionals are not qualified to level 2. Gender remains a significant and worsening issue, and recent surveys show that just 17% of IT and telecoms workers are female.

It is estimated that the continued adoption and exploitation of ICT could generate an additional £35 billion of gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy over the coming five to seven years, provided companies – particularly smaller companies – take action on the key factors of management and leadership skills, investment and the IT enablement of employees.

Convergence of the telecoms and IT industries means that voice and data communications, which used to be two separate areas, are now coming together and using the same communications channels. The key to telecoms is ‘bandwidth’ – the amount of information that can be carried by a particular method of transmission like a cable or a radio wave. Modern developments involve enlarging the capacity of the links, increasing global coverage, joining end-users together, and providing more facilities over more networks.

Mobile telecoms
To most people, mobile telecoms nowadays means mobile phones, with links using radio and microwave, and their masts and dishes can be seen all around. Satellites may also be used in both mobile and static telecoms networks. Digital TV users will know of both cable and satellite services, while 3G technology, BlackBerrys, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and quad-band devices are commonplace.

Fixed telecoms
Fixed telecoms may include all the infrastructure necessary to run a local or wide area network, and the links between the two. It may provide business services, telephones, television and much more besides, and may be used to transmit voice, fax, data, graphics or any combination of these. The most common carriers of fixed telecoms are cables, made from both copper and fibre-optics.

Networks
Typically, a number of different commercial organisations will both provide and share telecoms network facilities. Signals pass through switches and links owned by many companies and rented by the service provider. Their routing is up to the owner of the links, and a mobile phone call will be just one message among those of many other phone and fax users. However, over the next few years, there will be a move away from circuit-switched voice networks to a system that works completely through the internet.

Messages need protocols to ensure that they get to the right place. They may need to be compressed and then decompressed, and they may be split into tiny fragments, with each one being sent separately and the whole being reconstituted.

Telecommunications skills gained in the Services
Each Service has its ‘expert’ telecoms staff in the specialist communications and electronics branches, although there may be other people serving who have considerable expertise. Some will have relevant degrees, while others will have other qualifications.

Some people will also have specialised in telecoms and/or electronics as part of their career pattern. They are still likely to have a number of very transferable and marketable skills, but these may need to be targeted in a particular area.

Service people without the necessary technical background can still enter the industry, but this will probably be at a lower level. Their personal qualities are valued, as are the core skills they may bring, including map reading, first aid and even an ability to work at heights.

Qualifications
Industry recruiters face three main problem areas:

1. lack of qualifications
2. lack of experience
3. shortage of essential skills.

Also regarded as being of key importance to employers, and possessed by Service leavers, are:

• problem-solving skills
• oral communications
• team-working skills.

A new suite of national occupational standards was recently launched by e-skills UK (to find out more about these and the qualifications available, visit www.e-skills.com/nos).

Employment in telecoms
In addition to catering for continued growth, recruitment into IT and telecoms also needs to replace those who leave the sector due to retirement or for other reasons. Of the overall recruitment into IT and telecoms professional jobs (to cover both growth and replacement), 63% is expected to be into managerial and senior professional positions; 19% into associate professional and technician level positions (such as operations technicians and user support); 8% into skilled trades (telecoms engineers, line repairers, etc.); and 11% into administrative roles (such as database assistants). On top of ‘churn’ within these occupations, there is a need for an average 110,500 new entrants a year into professional job roles.

More than 30% of companies trying to recruit IT and telecoms professionals report difficulties in attracting applicants with the right skills. This is generally due to mismatches in terms of business and high-level technical skills needs. Micro establishments are most likely to rate applicants’ skills levels as below those required. Virtually all companies experiencing recruitment problems report a negative impact on their company’s activities, the most common effect being difficulties in meeting customer service objectives. There is also a need to radically improve the understanding and appeal of careers in IT and telecoms among women.

A rough guide to salaries
Because pay varies so much from one company and contract to another, the following figures are for guidance only, although the average reported annual salary is around £35,000:

• engineer – £15,000 to £25,000
• team leader – £18,000 to £22,000
• project manager – £22,000 to £40,000
• technical trainer – £28,000 to £50,000
• network engineer – up to £50,000.

Overtime, shift work and benefits can increase these rates.