How This AV Newbie Is Shaping the Future of the Industry

Jesse Scarborough looks to increase awareness of career opportunities in AV integration as chairman of fledgling InfoComm council.

Jesse Scarborough has less than two years of experience in the AV integration world, but he holds what could be one of the most important roles in the industry.

As the chairman of InfoComm International’s Young AV Professionals Council, Scarborough will help to shape the future of the space and deliver the message to young people about why it’s such a cool and appealing profession.

Scarborough, 24, a system design engineer at Coitcom in Redwood City, Calif., has been with the company since February 2015, starting his career in AV as a service technician for about six months before moving to his current role.

Coitcom has about 30 employees and works mostly in the corporate vertical centering on video conferencing and related work.

Also See: Why We Love Working in the AV Industry (and You Should, Too)

Let’s go Back Stage to find out more about Jesse Scarborough:

CRAIG MACCORMACK: How did you start your career in the integration world?

JESSE SCARBOROUGH: I did the sound for the band during high school, and saw a posting on the Elon [University] job board. It’s very difficult to make ends meet in the live sound world, so I started exploring other interests and saw a job for an AV company that looked interesting to me.

I’ve always enjoyed solving problems, especially technical ones and this is one of the best fields for that. You can be part of any stage of the process but you have to rely on everyone else to work with you to make a functioning system. Not only do you have to know how to make the system work, you have to be able to talk to the client to find out exactly what system they need.

OF NOTE: 

HOBBIES: Scarborough is an avid rock climber, who recently traveled to Yosemite National Park to conquer such challenges there.


CM: Are you surprised more young people aren’t choosing careers in AV integration?

JS: A lot of people don’t seem to be interested, but I think that’s because they don’t really know about it. If you’re interested in construction, there’s something for you. If you’re into technology, there’s something for you. If you’re interested in IT, this is the place for that. It’s an escape from the full corporate cubicle life.

CM: What are your goals for the Young AV Professionals Council?

JS: We had our first meeting in June at the InfoComm show, so now we’re breaking into sub-groups and figuring out the direction we want to take. We meet once a month and already have several hundred people involved, so it’s a good start. It was an incredible honor to be asked to be the chairman [at InfoComm Connections in San Jose].

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About the Author

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Craig MacCormack is a veteran journalist who joined Security Sales & Integration in June 2023 as web editor. He is also the former executive editor of Commercial Integrator (2011-2021).

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