Install and fix alarms, cameras and door access systems. Learn on the job, no degree needed.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
An apprenticeship: you are hired by a sponsor, paid while you learn on the job, and go to class for a few weeks at a time. Every fact here is from Skilled Trades Ontario (STO) and the Ontario government. See every Ontario trade side by side
You are paid from your first day. Over the 4,000 hours on the job, even at the minimum wage you would earn at least $71,800 before tax while you train, and most sponsors pay more as your skills grow.
The trade on Skilled Trades Ontario's site(opens in a new tab)
Still in high school? In Grade 11 or 12, with at least 14 credits and age 15 or older, you can start an apprenticeship through co-op placements and earn credits at the same time. Ask your school's OYAP recruiter, guidance counsellor or co-op teacher. Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP)(opens in a new tab)
Not ready to find a sponsor? Free pre-apprenticeship programs (up to a year at a college or community agency, tools and books covered, with a work placement) get you ready and in front of employers. Employment Ontario helps you apply. Pre-apprenticeship training(opens in a new tab)
Ontario sets no percentage of full pay for apprentices. Your sponsor agrees your wage with you, and it can never be below the minimum wage: $17.95 an hour from 1 October 2026. Source (opens in a new tab)
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $70,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $45,000 at the lower end to about $89,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
1 to 3 years, on the usual route, and you are paid while you train from the first day.
$450 to $7,900 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
It depends where you work. You need a licence, certificate or registration in British Columbia and Quebec. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$70,000
Lower end
$45,000
Upper end
$89,000
Job Bank pools this job with communication systems technicians. Its national median is $33.80 an hour, about $70,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower end ($21.63) and upper end ($42.86) are the bottom and top of the wage range for everyone in the group.
$38 an hour
Job Bank's median in Saskatchewan, about $79,000 a year
Alberta ($37.05) and British Columbia ($36.71) come next. Ontario's median is $33 and the Atlantic provinces sit at $30. On-call and after-hours service calls add overtime.
$25 an hour
First-period apprentice on commercial, institutional and industrial sites, August 2026
Set by Quebec's construction collective agreements, as published by the CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec). It rises to $35.41 in the third period and $41.66 for a journeyperson. Light residential rates are a little lower. Outside Quebec, employers set their own trainee rates.
Roughly, all in
$450 to $7,900
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
Most people are hired first and trained on the job, so the low end is just a basic set of hand tools and a meter, plus a security licence and background check in BC (British Columbia) or Quebec. The high end is a one year college certificate plus the alarm technician course through CANASA (Canadian Security Association). Employers commonly pay for manufacturer training on the panels and cameras they install. Only BC and Quebec require a licence to install alarms; Ontario and Alberta do not.
About $450 to $7,900 in all. Most people are hired first and trained on the job, so the cost is low. Many employers pay for your courses and manufacturer training.
Company van and phone
Common once you are working solo service calls.
Health and dental
Job Bank reports that 96.7% of people in this group get at least one non-wage benefit.
Overtime and on-call pay
Alarms fail at night and on weekends.
Paid manufacturer training
Camera and access control makers run their own certification courses.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Get hired as a helper, then learn the systems one at a time.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Math, physics and any computer or tech class. A driver's licence matters more than marks here.
Optional short program
0 to 1 year
A one-year college certificate in electrical techniques, network cabling or electronics. Not required, but it gets you hired faster.
Get hired and licensed
Weeks
Alarm companies, telecom contractors and electrical contractors hire helpers. In BC (British Columbia) and Quebec you need a security licence, which includes a background check, before you can install an alarm system.
Learn on the job
1 to 3 years
Pull cable, mount cameras and panels, then learn to program them. The Alarm Technician Course from CANASA (Canadian Security Association) is the industry's own training, taken online.
Optional apprenticeship
2 to 3 years
Ontario's Network Cabling Specialist trade is 4,600 hours, about two and a half years (4,000 on the job and 600 in school), and covers much of the same cabling and low-voltage work.
Physics and math
Basic electricity, voltage drop and cable runs.
Computer technology
Modern cameras and door systems are network devices.
Technological design or shop
Shows you can build and wire things.
English
You will read manuals and write service reports every day.
BC (British Columbia) and Quebec require a licence to install alarms. In BC you can start on a licence to work under supervision, but the full installer licence needs a trades certificate. In Quebec it is an agent licence from the BSP (Bureau de la sécurité privée, the Quebec private security board). Alberta licenses alarm responders, not installers, and Ontario has no installer licence. Fire alarm work, or wiring at household voltage, must be done or signed off by a licensed electrician or fire alarm technician. On Quebec construction sites the work is a specialty of the electrician trade, with a CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec) certificate.
In Quebec, security system work on construction sites is a specialty of the electrician trade, controlled by the CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec, the Quebec construction commission), and installers also need a licence from the BSP (Bureau de la sécurité privée, the Quebec private security board).
Secondary IV courses
From age 16
The DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) takes a high school diploma, or age 16 with Secondary IV language, second language and math. From 18, the general development test is another way in.
DEP in Installation and Maintenance of Security Systems (5296)
About 14 months
1,485 hours of fire alarms, intrusion alarms, access control, video surveillance and linking systems to a monitoring centre. In French only, in Quebec City, the Laurentides, Montérégie and Montreal.
Apprentice competency certificate
Weeks
Issued by the CCQ. You need the DEP, an employer registered with the CCQ who guarantees at least 150 hours of work within 3 months, the 30 hour site safety course and a $100 fee.
BSP agent licence
Weeks
From age 18, in the electronic security systems category. No set course, but a security check, no related criminal record, and citizenship, permanent residence or a work permit. In 2026, $69.50 plus $119 for the check.
Work as an apprentice
About 3,770 hours
Three periods of 2,000 hours, 6,000 in all. The DEP counts for its hours plus a 50% bonus, about 2,230, which leaves about 3,770 hours of paid site work.
Qualification exam
Near the end
Set by the CCQ, multiple choice, up to 3 hours. You can sit it once 85% of your apprenticeship hours are done. Pass and you become a journeyperson (compagnon).
In 2025 the CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec, the Quebec construction commission) counted 1,340 security systems electricians on sites and admitted 117 new apprentices. Job Bank's Quebec figures for the wider communication systems technician group run from $21 to $44.70 an hour, with a median of $34.68 (2023 to 2024).
Things you don't need, but that help.
Manufacturer certifications
Camera, access control and intrusion panel makers each run their own courses, and employers look for technicians certified on the brands they sell.
Fire alarm technician (CFAA, the Canadian Fire Alarm Association)
Lets you verify and service fire alarm systems, which is required by code.
Network skills
Basic networking courses. IP (internet protocol) cameras live on the customer's network, so the technician who understands routers wins.
Electrician apprenticeship
Some technicians move into the full electrical trade for a Red Seal ticket. Job Bank's median for electricians is $35 an hour, against $33.80 for this group.
Driver's licence and clean abstract
You will drive a company van. Almost every posting requires it.
Working at heights and lift training
Cameras go on ceilings and poles.
Comfort talking to customers
You are alone in someone's home or office explaining how their system works.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Start at the shop or straight from home in the van. Two to four jobs a day: a new alarm and cameras at a house, a door access upgrade at an office, a service call where a warehouse camera went dark. You run cable through ceilings and walls, mount devices, connect a panel, then program and test it all on a laptop or phone app. You finish by walking the customer through the system and writing up the job.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
On Quebec construction sites in 2025, 92% of security systems electricians' work was in institutional and commercial buildings, 5% in industry and only 2% in homes, says the CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec).
CANASA (Canadian Security Association) has been the national voice of Canada's security industry since 1977. Its online Alarm Technician Course is the industry's own training.
Job Bank counts about 25,900 people in the communication systems technician group, which includes security installers, in 2023. About 30% are 50 or older.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Electrical and energy first, then the rest of the field. See every career in skilled trades.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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