Been climbing for just over a year now. It must be hard to understand for people who are not in this line of work why these guys' biggest argument is "feeling free", but it's true. Once you get in to this job and you get over the fear, the tower is where you feel truly free. I remember specifically one summer evening on a tower in the woods of PA. My brother was finishing up a radio before we could head back down from the tower and i was just up there "hanging out". I was looking at the sun setting down, and you could see the reflection of it on a lake in the distance. Cicadas were making their usual noise in the woods, and further away there was a little backwoods village consisting of a couple of trailers and you could hear a faint country song playing and see a dim lit fire. It was at that moment i felt a kind of peace and serenity i have never before felt in my life. It's a moment in time i cherish in my mind, and i remember it as the most peaceful moment in my life so far. ...and ofcourse, it was on the tower. :)
It's takes a unique type of insanity, to work on towers. Yes I'm afflicted. My start some 30 years ago ; I just needed a job, at $ 9.50 /hr. 2 week's later,1st pay check. I said Damn. 2nd. pay check I said oh shit. Of course I was still scared. 2 years later , I knew I've found my calling. making $ 24/hr.( + perdium ) Loved the job, travel. Crew members like family. time go's by... more money more money more money... I love my unique type of insanity. Never did completely loose my fear/ it kept me careful.
That first guy I used to work with haha he was there my first day ever on a job site taught me how to weather proof make grounds even gave me my nickname and a whole lot shout out to bob I miss working with ya man
@@kenorolle668 apply for tower technician positions they train you in house so it's all paid training. Check out One Way Wireless Construction in Shakopee Minnesota.
@@kenorolle668 If you live in South Africa get a government approved Safety at Hights qualification from an approved institution (about 200 dollars US and two days time) and a medical certificate which lasts 5 years from a government approved medical examiner (about 100 dollars US and an hour) I am 63 years old and the doctor said previous to me the oldest chap ever to apply for a medical health certificate for working at heights was 40 :). Then look for an employer I did it as I am a computer networking expert and one of my clients pays me a retainer to ensure the robots at factorys very far apart can talk to each other at gigabit speeds. They bought the cheapest tower possible of course so you have to climb up the outside :) Good news is I got to choose the microwave equipment so it is very high quality and very reliable so I only climb the tower once or twice a year. A bit of knowledge of electronics etc will help getting a job of you can do all that is required at the top of the tower it doesn't require an extra technician at the bottom when you do your alignments and servicing etc.
I did this for 1 summer it was one of the greatest experiences of my lifetime I was terribly afraid my first few climbs so much so I almost walked out but I sucked it up and by my 3rd/4th climb it all went away and I felt alive. The reason I left was because you are rarely home you don’t get much sleep and alcoholism runs ramped in this industry just wasn’t for me long term. Also the company I was with often didn’t pay on time and they often didn’t pay for all my hours was constantly fighting to get all my pay. But over all I’d say it was well worth the experience
Because that is where the work is located. You always have to have safety on your mind. And yes you are GLAD when you're on the ground again. Never free climb, only for unwrapping your hook and reattaching. Done it for quite a few years. For PG&E .. retired now, but I still have a 22ft baby tower for my ham equipment. Be safe guys. Gary
I did high intensity towers 1000ft and up. My highest climb with saddlebags weighing 70lbs. 2220 ft. A cloud hits you in the face. You get 1 shot at making a team. Where I worked if you did not make the team we put you on greyhound bus.. the money is good. The work is hard. Always will be. Like basic training every damn day. Attracts ex military and farm men those that can suffer with a smile. I have over 3 million ft straight up.
@@burrybee2740 this job takes alot of Honor. They do not take lightly to bullshit. So just be honest someone will give you a shot. Work your way up. And enjoy a club that very few belong to.
char jl give it a shot man I love my job you’ll be uncomfortable for a bit but you’ll adjust just gota have a drive not to quit this job ain’t for the faint heart once you adjust and know how to climb a tower and work efficiently it’s the best job in the work we have a saying “you either love it or you just can’t do it”
@@curt714 ya I make damn good money. I get $125 bucks a day per diem when I'm traveling. As most of the work is out of town and state here in Minnesota. I make almost 20/hr starting out. As I'm in my second week so let's break down some maths real quick to get you an idea of what you make monthly. So conservatively a work week is 5 days 5x$125×4= that's $2500 a month tax free money. So $19/hr. We work sun up to sun down most days around 10-14 hours so we will say 12hrs/dayx5days= 60hrs per week so take 40x19= as anything over 40 is time and a half. 40x19x4weeks $3040 so take 20x4x$28.5 for OT which equals 2,280 bucks. 2500 tax free income for per diem. 2500(3040+2280)(taxableIncome) so to figure tax I normal say 35% so 3,458 is what you should being home after tax now add the 2500 per diem. 3458+2500=$5958. Now I'm on a crew that works 2 to 3 weeks out in the field so I work 14-21 days straight so do the math. The money is ridiculous. And I'm learning on the job. In 6 months I have a review with my supervisor and foreman's and my pay could jump into the mid 20's. All within my first year.
Please be fair and share the bad with the good and allow the newcomers to decide if they really want to get in the industry cuz we all know it's not all great
I'm a 64 year old electrical engineer still pass the medical and still do tech support at the top of micro wave communication towers two or three times a year. It's fun but it takes me a damn sight longer to climb a hundred metres than the younger chaps!
These guys should be making a minimum of $200K per year. There are so few who can do this or WANT to do this. (Under 10,000 world wide with a mortality rate 10 times that of construction) As I've become fascinated with these videos, research shows that statistically its one of the most dangerous jobs in the world and the time on the road should be a huge consideration in compensation as well. They should also all have a $5 Mill Term Life policy provided by their company. Nearly 100 climbers have died in the past 9 years as of 2012, according to ProPublica. Thankful for these guys whenever I take a call!
Yeah I’m making $22/hr tower rigging for a living right now. First day they sent me up a 400 foot guyed tower. Got sent out of town for 2 weeks with a days notice as well.. Definitely some big stresses doing this kind of work.
From the land down under. Why do I climb, as already said the freedom of working in the outdoors, travel to places nobody gets to see when working in remote locations, looking down at the people as small as ants, and like J Pelham the pay scared the out of me at the start and now I get $35+ an hour and yes we are insane, and never had a fear of heights, was climbing before I could walk, my motto is (the only I fear is the sudden stop at the bottom)
Hey mate, I'm an Aussie as well, currently working in rope access but looking at getting into telco rigging, I can't find alot of info on how to get in the industry, do you have any advice? Cheers, Joe
@@josephmorris583 It is a tuff game to get into, just keep approaching companies that do this work, tell them your previous experience, me I started with ISP and built towers, fitted them, maintained them, but telco has a lot more cabling up there. just keep approaching those companies, even if for a while it is ground crew. best of luck. just be careful some are real arseholes. I'm splitting my time with entertainment rigging.
The job has Pro's and Cons like any other job i ever had. The job attracts a lot of speed freaks. thats the one thing I hated. But alot of what the guys said in the vid are correct. It has it good points too if your that type of person. It's no 9-5 job. I promise you that
The fact there’s people doing this for less than 25/hr blows my mind. I’m a licensed electrician and I work mostly commercial, some tower company hmu on indeed and sent me a link to this video, after reading some of these other comments I think I’m good where I’m at.
@@joshanderson9517 65 next year and passed the medical again😁 I just climb a lot more slowly with more rest halts. Sometimes a level 3 tech support consultant engineer has to climb the tower to get things running again after others have tried and failed. I do it Maybe two or three times a year.
@@andrewallen9993 Oh wow. Good for you. Glad to hear you’re doing well! I started climbing as a tower rigger 4 months ago. Loved it at first. Now that we’re getting into the winter months it’s getting stressful and I’m getting really bad anxiety climbing. Hoping I can stick it out. I own a house so can’t afford to be out of work..
@@joshanderson9517 house, mortgage, children, fun and of course the challenge:) If it scares you stop doing it, in South Africa it's the heat and dehydration that gets you not the cold and wet😜
I work in the BTS invasion huwaei installation project tower, fuck with the ISDP clock in and clock out, with a small salary and no guarantee of safety
Harry hry harry do you know of any tower climber program here in arizona it seems jobs here are on the job training any info will be greatly appreciated
Help! I need advice from ppl whose done this work. I could try to get my foot in, but this company im looking at is only paying 17 an hr max (maybe just entry level climbers?). Maybe i should just get my foot in, but im just trying to get some experience in tech (i dont want to be a climber specifically). And its hard for tech jobs to take ppl in with no experience as we know. Just eat it for a bit for the experience, or not worth the 17 an hr? Fyi: i have no formal tech experience. Just 2 customer service jobs. Have a BA in philosiphy, an AS in electronics, but am handy doing my own car repairs for 10+ yrs and some home repairs.
Yeah and your job is also very deadly one wrong move with that equipment to spell death one piece of equipment goes wrong on the safety harness That’s it
Yes. The question everyone should be asking. I’m doing this for a living and know for a fact the radiation is much more harmful than anyone is letting on. Half of us will have cancer by the time we’re 40..
96% of these guys are trapped into this line of work due to working on the road majority of the time. When they do go home the house is empty along with the bank accounts. The outrageous child support starts with high monthly payments. So they have no other choice but to do this to keep the ATTORNEY General of Their ass. Any one who disagree, has not been in the industry long enough.
We don’t get paid good enough to risk our lives but for most of us it’s not all about the money I mean the pay isn’t horrible but it’s definitely not enough for what we do
I'm thinking about doing this but it's for installing 5g anyone have experience installing 5g because I've heard bad things from people who install them
@@akidim13 depends what country you live in and what company you work for. Starting wage can be well below $20/hr. I was lucky enough to get a slightly hiring starting wage with a big company.
@@akidim13 Yeah man. We are not compensated nearly enough for what we do.. now that we’re getting into the winter months I’m in a really tough position.. don’t know what I’m going to do.
Been climbing for just over a year now. It must be hard to understand for people who are not in this line of work why these guys' biggest argument is "feeling free", but it's true. Once you get in to this job and you get over the fear, the tower is where you feel truly free.
I remember specifically one summer evening on a tower in the woods of PA. My brother was finishing up a radio before we could head back down from the tower and i was just up there "hanging out".
I was looking at the sun setting down, and you could see the reflection of it on a lake in the distance. Cicadas were making their usual noise in the woods, and further away there was a little backwoods village consisting of a couple of trailers and you could hear a faint country song playing and see a dim lit fire.
It was at that moment i felt a kind of peace and serenity i have never before felt in my life. It's a moment in time i cherish in my mind, and i remember it as the most peaceful moment in my life so far.
...and ofcourse, it was on the tower. :)
It's takes a unique type of insanity, to work on towers. Yes I'm afflicted. My start some 30 years ago ; I just needed a job, at $ 9.50 /hr. 2 week's later,1st pay check. I said Damn. 2nd. pay check I said oh shit. Of course I was still scared. 2 years later , I knew I've found my calling. making $ 24/hr.( + perdium ) Loved the job, travel. Crew members like family. time go's by...
more money more money more money... I love my unique type of insanity. Never did completely loose my fear/ it kept me careful.
Did it for a few years. All you got is to be really stupid 🤔
I did it for 25 years.
That first guy I used to work with haha he was there my first day ever on a job site taught me how to weather proof make grounds even gave me my nickname and a whole lot shout out to bob I miss working with ya man
How do you become a tower climber?????
@@kenorolle668 apply for tower technician positions they train you in house so it's all paid training. Check out One Way Wireless Construction in Shakopee Minnesota.
@@a2thee270 You said OneWayWireless.com?? or what name of the website that I search for it.
@@jamesboberg yes I was for a few months and got a job in North Dakota in the oil field
@@kenorolle668 If you live in South Africa get a government approved Safety at Hights qualification from an approved institution (about 200 dollars US and two days time) and a medical certificate which lasts 5 years from a government approved medical examiner (about 100 dollars US and an hour) I am 63 years old and the doctor said previous to me the oldest chap ever to apply for a medical health certificate for working at heights was 40 :). Then look for an employer I did it as I am a computer networking expert and one of my clients pays me a retainer to ensure the robots at factorys very far apart can talk to each other at gigabit speeds. They bought the cheapest tower possible of course so you have to climb up the outside :) Good news is I got to choose the microwave equipment so it is very high quality and very reliable so I only climb the tower once or twice a year. A bit of knowledge of electronics etc will help getting a job of you can do all that is required at the top of the tower it doesn't require an extra technician at the bottom when you do your alignments and servicing etc.
I did this for 1 summer it was one of the greatest experiences of my lifetime I was terribly afraid my first few climbs so much so
I almost walked out but I sucked it up and by my 3rd/4th climb it all went away and I felt alive. The reason I left was because you are rarely home you don’t get much sleep and alcoholism runs ramped in this industry just wasn’t for me long term. Also the company I was with often didn’t pay on time and they often didn’t pay for all my hours was constantly fighting to get all my pay. But over all I’d say it was well worth the experience
Because that is where the work is located. You always have to have safety on your mind. And yes you are GLAD when you're on the ground again. Never free climb, only for unwrapping your hook and reattaching.
Done it for quite a few years. For PG&E .. retired now, but I still have a 22ft baby tower for my ham equipment.
Be safe guys. Gary
An watching those tower videos, my legs ache just looking at it. Can smell the galvanized metal . It's hits a nerve for Sure. Be safe.
I did high intensity towers 1000ft and up.
My highest climb with saddlebags weighing 70lbs. 2220 ft. A cloud hits you in the face. You get 1 shot at making a team. Where I worked if you did not make the team we put you on greyhound bus.. the money is good. The work is hard. Always will be. Like basic training every damn day. Attracts ex military and farm men those that can suffer with a smile. I have over 3 million ft straight up.
When you're 2000 feet up , and you can see Lake okechobee. On 1 side and the Atlantic ocean the other.
Where do I sign up?
How do you get into that job? Where do you have to go to climb the 1000ft plus towers
Wireless estimator has Tons of jobs.
Bring your very best game. You will find jobs for beginners and lead techs. Good luck
@@burrybee2740 this job takes alot of Honor. They do not take lightly to bullshit.
So just be honest someone will give you a shot. Work your way up. And enjoy a club that very few belong to.
I'm terrified of heights, but I can't stop watching this stuff. Almost makes me want to do it
char jl give it a shot man I love my job you’ll be uncomfortable for a bit but you’ll adjust just gota have a drive not to quit this job ain’t for the faint heart once you adjust and know how to climb a tower and work efficiently it’s the best job in the work we have a saying “you either love it or you just can’t do it”
Niko Fay the money really worth it though?
@@curt714 ya I make damn good money. I get $125 bucks a day per diem when I'm traveling. As most of the work is out of town and state here in Minnesota. I make almost 20/hr starting out. As I'm in my second week so let's break down some maths real quick to get you an idea of what you make monthly. So conservatively a work week is 5 days 5x$125×4= that's $2500 a month tax free money. So $19/hr. We work sun up to sun down most days around 10-14 hours so we will say 12hrs/dayx5days= 60hrs per week so take 40x19= as anything over 40 is time and a half. 40x19x4weeks $3040 so take 20x4x$28.5 for OT which equals 2,280 bucks. 2500 tax free income for per diem. 2500(3040+2280)(taxableIncome) so to figure tax I normal say 35% so 3,458 is what you should being home after tax now add the 2500 per diem. 3458+2500=$5958. Now I'm on a crew that works 2 to 3 weeks out in the field so I work 14-21 days straight so do the math. The money is ridiculous. And I'm learning on the job. In 6 months I have a review with my supervisor and foreman's and my pay could jump into the mid 20's. All within my first year.
Interview tomorrow for this job
How'd it go?
@@phillipworthington1328 I have one Friday.
@@phillipworthington1328 You work for them?
Same
Couldn't have said it better myself, love this job!!
Cause its AMAZING! 28 YEARS!
They pay you, that's why ! Former tower hand
Pay you weekly too ! 😏
Mind i ask how much would I look at starting off pay wise?
@Anthony
Depends on experience
Some companies hire with no experience & they will train you
Start approx at $13/hr plus per diem
@ The Like Button
That was the pay i was seeing in 2013, those with no experience..starting around 12-13$ per hour plus per diem.
Ouch the starting right now is $17 goes up to $22 here
Please be fair and share the bad with the good and allow the newcomers to decide if they really want to get in the industry cuz we all know it's not all great
What’s the bad?
So true. I’m currently a tower rigger
@@DangerLevi Can you imagine doing this in the winter? On a 400 foot tower. With heavy equipment/gear and your task is to swap 6 antennas or radios.
I'm a 64 year old electrical engineer still pass the medical and still do tech support at the top of micro wave communication towers two or three times a year. It's fun but it takes me a damn sight longer to climb a hundred metres than the younger chaps!
These guys should be making a minimum of $200K per year. There are so few who can do this or WANT to do this. (Under 10,000 world wide with a mortality rate 10 times that of construction) As I've become fascinated with these videos, research shows that statistically its one of the most dangerous jobs in the world and the time on the road should be a huge consideration in compensation as well. They should also all have a $5 Mill Term Life policy provided by their company. Nearly 100 climbers have died in the past 9 years as of 2012, according to ProPublica. Thankful for these guys whenever I take a call!
@PublicScoolFTW get the fuck out of the chats.
Yeah I’m making $22/hr tower rigging for a living right now. First day they sent me up a 400 foot guyed tower. Got sent out of town for 2 weeks with a days notice as well.. Definitely some big stresses doing this kind of work.
From the land down under. Why do I climb, as already said the freedom of working in the outdoors, travel to places nobody gets to see when working in remote locations, looking down at the people as small as ants, and like J Pelham the pay scared the out of me at the start and now I get $35+ an hour and yes we are insane, and never had a fear of heights, was climbing before I could walk, my motto is (the only I fear is the sudden stop at the bottom)
Hey mate, I'm an Aussie as well, currently working in rope access but looking at getting into telco rigging, I can't find alot of info on how to get in the industry, do you have any advice?
Cheers,
Joe
@@josephmorris583 It is a tuff game to get into, just keep approaching companies that do this work, tell them your previous experience, me I started with ISP and built towers, fitted them, maintained them, but telco has a lot more cabling up there. just keep approaching those companies, even if for a while it is ground crew.
best of luck. just be careful some are real arseholes. I'm splitting my time with entertainment rigging.
@@johnchud7507 thanks for the advice :)
I climb because they like the climb have no fear of heights really and the money is good real good
Just watched a TH-cam video and some guys only get paid $10/hr to climb. And one kid died :-(
Keep up the good work Joe
What about salary? If it’s not secret
In indonesia salary climb tower 300 dolar per month
I trained most of these guys!
love it! whoop!
whoop
The job has Pro's and Cons like any other job i ever had. The job attracts a lot of speed freaks. thats the one thing I hated. But alot of what the guys said in the vid are correct. It has it good points too if your that type of person. It's no 9-5 job. I promise you that
You guys must have a special gene in your brain to turn off fear. I guess a roller coaster ride is no fear.
Was a great job for sure
The fact there’s people doing this for less than 25/hr blows my mind. I’m a licensed electrician and I work mostly commercial, some tower company hmu on indeed and sent me a link to this video, after reading some of these other comments I think I’m good where I’m at.
Yeah I’m making $22/hr
Please tell me you get travel expenses to make up for the crap pay. You can make way more with less danger a million different ways.
Climber here, currently on a verizon night cut. verizon, i hate you
Don’t care for them either.
great vid
I do it because I need the money :)
Same bro, same
Are you still doing it?
@@joshanderson9517 65 next year and passed the medical again😁
I just climb a lot more slowly with more rest halts.
Sometimes a level 3 tech support consultant engineer has to climb the tower to get things running again after others have tried and failed.
I do it Maybe two or three times a year.
@@andrewallen9993 Oh wow. Good for you. Glad to hear you’re doing well! I started climbing as a tower rigger 4 months ago. Loved it at first. Now that we’re getting into the winter months it’s getting stressful and I’m getting really bad anxiety climbing. Hoping I can stick it out. I own a house so can’t afford to be out of work..
@@joshanderson9517 house, mortgage, children, fun and of course the challenge:)
If it scares you stop doing it, in South Africa it's the heat and dehydration that gets you not the cold and wet😜
What boots do you recommend?🤔
Cheap! You go through them fast!
Ones with a steel insert between heel and instep as the rings start to hurt the second hour.
Red to red an blue to blue i thank u for my two man crew.
Focus an peaceful when i get when i get high
aaaaay its bob
Whoop!
Whhhooooopp. That's funny your a tower guy and know the woops right on man it takes a special kinda person to do what we do...
Hold that!!!!
I work in the BTS invasion huwaei installation project tower, fuck with the ISDP clock in and clock out, with a small salary and no guarantee of safety
I'm currently in the Warriors 4 Wireless training program. I'll know this feeling next.
Thats awesome I'm tower tech if you need a job let me know... We got two coming from your program it's better then the training I received...
Harry hry harry do you know of any tower climber program here in arizona it seems jobs here are on the job training any info will be greatly appreciated
I just interviewed today
How'd it go man? I have them shopping my resume around for apprenticeship positions
Help! I need advice from ppl whose done this work. I could try to get my foot in, but this company im looking at is only paying 17 an hr max (maybe just entry level climbers?). Maybe i should just get my foot in, but im just trying to get some experience in tech (i dont want to be a climber specifically). And its hard for tech jobs to take ppl in with no experience as we know. Just eat it for a bit for the experience, or not worth the 17 an hr? Fyi: i have no formal tech experience. Just 2 customer service jobs. Have a BA in philosiphy, an AS in electronics, but am handy doing my own car repairs for 10+ yrs and some home repairs.
you have a bachelors in philosophy but you did not even spell it right. I think this climbing gig is perfect for you
@@muhammedcamran4914 lol 😂 👌🏽
Yeah and your job is also very deadly one wrong move with that equipment to spell death one piece of equipment goes wrong on the safety harness That’s it
Whats the cancer rate for tower climbers?
Yes. The question everyone should be asking. I’m doing this for a living and know for a fact the radiation is much more harmful than anyone is letting on. Half of us will have cancer by the time we’re 40..
96% of these guys are trapped into this line of work due to working on the road majority of the time. When they do go home the house is empty along with the bank accounts. The outrageous child support starts with high monthly payments. So they have no other choice but to do this to keep the ATTORNEY General of Their ass. Any one who disagree, has not been in the industry long enough.
Mark Melendez real shit brother. Keep them 100% on. Whoop
I wouldn’t say 96% I work with a lot of guys with families and good money my company is different tho they start green beans at 22 an hour
Niko Fay what company is that?
@@niko4186 For real what company is that. Paying green dudes that much I should get 50 no problem
#projecting
get some!!!!! woop woop to my brotherhood!!!!
Nah it's the money.
The money? 😂 Some tower riggers make less than $20/hr
What is AT paying for green horns? well seasoned climbers?
Awesome!,i wanna to Lattice Climbing on this Towers.
why do you climb?? They forgot to mention they get top dollars aswell
Some of them only make $10/hr; one kid who fell off while free-climbing died and the settlement was $2500.00 :-(
Jason Carroll yeah they don't though.. as low as 12 an hour. Top pay like 35... Kinda sad actually.
My first tower job I made 15 an hour the same as someone in a amazon wearhouse I make 22 an hour now and I’ve been doing this almost 2 years
We don’t get paid good enough to risk our lives but for most of us it’s not all about the money I mean the pay isn’t horrible but it’s definitely not enough for what we do
Thats why i quit
Climbers are fakes because I see them every time in my condo using the elavator instead of stairs.
tower dawgs paid to get high
I'm thinking about doing this but it's for installing 5g anyone have experience installing 5g because I've heard bad things from people who install them
i love it i’ve done it for almost 6 months now
@@ausdizzy8575 how’s the money
@@akidim13 depends what country you live in and what company you work for. Starting wage can be well below $20/hr. I was lucky enough to get a slightly hiring starting wage with a big company.
@@joshanderson9517 yeah it was trash , started asking the recruiting company some tough questions and they never called me again
@@akidim13 Yeah man. We are not compensated nearly enough for what we do.. now that we’re getting into the winter months I’m in a really tough position.. don’t know what I’m going to do.
why do I do it? cause ima mother fuckin badass tech 100 C'mon!
whoop
Freedom and closer to GOD 💪💪👍
God is above north America?
Whoop!