Communications Technologies & Support

Types of Degrees Communications Technologies & Support Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many communications technologies & support graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	5,138
Associate Degree	3,899
Basic Certificate	3,328
Undergraduate Certificate	2,709
Master’s Degree	542
Graduate Certificate	56

What Communications Technologies & Support Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to communications technologies & support and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Communications Technologies & Support Majors

Communications Technologies & Support majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

Skills for Communications Technologies & Support Majors

When studying communications technologies & support, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Abilities for Communications Technologies & Support Majors

Some of the most crucial abilities to master while a communications technologies & support student include the following:

• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

What Can You Do With a Communications Technologies & Support Major?

People with a communications technologies & support degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Audio and Video Equipment Technicians	12.8%	$43,770
Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Motion Picture	7.2%	$54,570
Film and Video Editors	17.0%	$62,650
Media and Communication Workers	10.0%	$48,330
Multimedia Artists and Animators	8.4%	$72,520
Sound Engineering Technicians	6.5%	$52,390

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications Technologies & Support?

According to recent stats this major attracts about equal numbers of men and women. Roughly 45% of the graduates are women, and 55% are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of communications technologies & support majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	393
Black or African American	668
Hispanic or Latino	792
White	2,391
International Students	349
Other Races/Ethnicities	545

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Communications Technologies & Support, too. About 6.8% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Communications Technologies & Support

Some careers associated with communications technologies & support require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for communications technologies & support careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	4.6%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	30.3%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	11.8%
Some College Courses	16.3%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	19.8%
Bachelor’s Degree	17.7%
Master’s Degree	0.0%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	1.1%

Online Communications Technologies & Support Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	724	16
Certificate (2-4 Years)	30	2
Associate’s Degree	1,012	34
Bachelor’s Degree	20	2
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	84	8
Post-Master’s	6	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Communications Technologies & Support

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to communications technologies & support.

Major	Number of Grads
Computer & Information Sciences	293,518

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By {} under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.