Communications Systems Technician Family
Career series with 6 positions across 3 levels
Communications Systems Technician is a career-ladder family in New Jersey civil service, with 6 titles spanning 3 levels.
Entry is typically through Communications Systems Technician 1, advancing through the ladder toward Communications Systems Technician 3. Pay across the family spans $52,308 to $101,951, around the 31st percentile of all civil service job families by top pay. State payroll records show 21 people across the family's titles, most concentrated at Law and Public Safety.
Communications Systems Technician commonly advances into Training Technician and Records Support Technician.
Positions in This Family
- COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN 3 (43648) $63,663 - $92,953/year
- COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN 3 (43649) $69,668 - $101,951/year
- COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN 2 (43650) $62,499 - $91,249/year
- COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN 2 (43651) $57,158 - $83,211/year
- COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN 1 (43652) $52,308 - $75,954/year
- COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN 1 (43653) $57,158 - $83,211/year
What the Communications Systems Technician family covers
New Jersey classifies Communications Systems Technician as a 3-level series holding 6 separate title codes. The family straddles jurisdictions: 4 state and 2 both state and local, so parts of it are hired by state departments and parts by local civil service employers.
New Jersey's technology titles carry the sediment of several eras at once. Newer families cover software development, network administration and database work, while older ones still name data processing, automated typewriters and input and output control. The Office of Information Technology holds most of the modern posts, but agencies keep their own analysts. Information processing titles are the second group in the compendium eligible for advanced-step hiring, which is the state's standing acknowledgement that it cannot fill them at step one.
The ladder, ordered by pay
Sorted by pay instead of by title number, the Communications Systems Technician family stacks up as follows. Note that the numbers in these titles do not run in pay order. In this family a lower number sits higher on the ladder, which is a New Jersey convention that catches people out when they read a title list top to bottom.
- Communications Systems Technician 3 — $69,668 to $101,951 (a bachelor's degree and 4 years of experience)
- Communications Systems Technician 3 — $63,663 to $92,953 (a bachelor's degree and 4 years of experience)
- Communications Systems Technician 2 — $62,499 to $91,249 (an associate's degree and 3 years of experience)
- Communications Systems Technician 1 — $57,158 to $83,211 (an associate's degree and 2 years of experience)
- Communications Systems Technician 2 — $57,158 to $83,211 (an associate's degree and 3 years of experience)
- Communications Systems Technician 1 — $52,308 to $75,954 (an associate's degree and 2 years of experience)
The distance from the bottom of Communications Systems Technician 1 to the top of Communications Systems Technician 3 is $49,643, an increase of about 95% over the entry minimum.
What each title does
The specifications themselves are the clearest guide to what separates these titles. Here is how each one opens.
- Communications Systems Technician 3: Under the direction of a supervisory official, supervises the work of staff in performing operations, maintenance, upgrades, repair, and software…
- Communications Systems Technician 2: Under the limited supervision of the Communications Systems Technician 3 or other supervisory official, independently installs, tests, sets-up…
- Communications Systems Technician 1: Under the close supervision of the Communications Systems Technician 3 or other supervisory official, does simple installations, tests, sets-up…
Getting in: the stated requirements
Across the 6 titles we have parsed, the education requirements read as an associate's degree on 4 of them and a bachelor's degree on 2 of them. Stated experience runs from 2 years at the lowest rung to 4 at the highest, which is the main thing separating one level from the next.
On how the jobs are filled: 6 are competitive, filled from an eligible list after an open competitive or promotional examination.
Who actually employs these titles
State payroll records show 21 people working under 3 of this family's titles, spread across 6 agencies. Law and Public Safety alone accounts for about 38% of them.
- Law and Public Safety — 8 employees
- Transportation — 6 employees
- Human Services — 3 employees
- Health and Senior Services — 2 employees
- Corrections — 1 employee
- Environmental Protection — 1 employee
Median actual pay varies across the family, from $77,880 for Communications Systems Technician 1 up to $87,586 for Communications Systems Technician 3. Those are medians of what people are really paid, not schedule minimums and maximums.
State payroll only, deduplicated by payroll title; local employers file separately, so a family with local codes looks smaller here than it is. How this is counted.
How the pay is set
The family is split across 2 salary schedules (A-P-R-S and C-I-O), so two titles that look adjacent can be paid from different tables with different step structures. More than one union has members in this family: CWA and IFPTE.
Where these jobs exist
Because the family mixes jurisdictions, the answer to "who hires this" depends on the specific code. State codes run through the Civil Service Commission's announcement and eligible list process; local codes are hired by the counties, municipalities and authorities that adopted civil service under Title 11A. Check an employer's status before assuming a title is available where you live.
Related titles elsewhere in the plan
Nearby in the plan, ranked by how distinctive the shared terms are rather than by how many words happen to match.
- Communications Technician (local jurisdiction)
- Senior Communications Technician (local jurisdiction)
- Assistant Communications Technician (local jurisdiction)
- Supervising Communications Technician (local jurisdiction)
- Signal Systems Technician 2 (local jurisdiction) — in the Signal Systems Technician family
- Electronic Systems Technician 1 (local jurisdiction) — in the Electronic Systems Technician family
Common questions about Communications Systems Technician jobs
How many Communications Systems Technician titles are there in New Jersey civil service?
The Communications Systems Technician family holds 6 title codes arranged across 3 levels. Each code is a separate classification with its own published specification, requirements and salary treatment.
What does a Communications Systems Technician earn in New Jersey?
Published salary data for this family runs from $52,308 at the bottom of Communications Systems Technician 1 to $101,951 at the top of Communications Systems Technician 3. Those are schedule figures. Where the title appears on the state payroll, actual median pay is listed on the page above.
Do you need to take an exam to become a Communications Systems Technician?
Yes for most of the family. 6 of the 6 titles are in the competitive division, which means appointment comes from an eligible list built by an open competitive or promotional examination.
What qualifications does a Communications Systems Technician need?
The most common education requirement in this family is an associate's degree, named on 4 of the 6 titles. Stated experience ranges from 2 to 4 years depending on the rung. Read the individual specification for the exact wording, including any experience substitution.
Which agencies employ Communications Systems Technician staff?
State payroll records show 21 people in this family across 6 agencies, with Law and Public Safety the largest at 8. Local government employers are not covered by that extract.
Is Communications Systems Technician 1 higher or lower than Communications Systems Technician 3?
In this family the lower number is the more senior title. New Jersey's level numbering does not run in pay order, and reading the titles by number alone will give you the ladder upside down. The list above is sorted by what each title actually pays.