Top 12 Stage Technician Skills to Put on Your Resume

In the pressure-cooker pace of theater and live events, a stage technician’s resume needs more than buzzwords. It needs proof. Practical skills, clean execution, and the kind of calm under cue-light chaos that keeps shows breathing. Highlight the core tools and methods you actually use, show how you think, and make every bullet earn its spot.

Stage Technician Skills

1. AutoCAD
2. QLab
3. Pro Tools
4. Vectorworks
5. Lightwright
6. ETC Eos
7. Dante Certification
8. Ableton Live
9. SFX Software
10. Rigging Certification
11. Pyrotechnics Safety
12. DMX Programming

1. AutoCAD

AutoCAD is professional CAD software used to draft precise 2D drawings and build 3D models for scenery, lighting plots, venue layouts, and construction details.

Why It's Important

AutoCAD lets you translate ideas into accurate, scalable drawings that shops can build from and crews can trust. Clean drawings save time, prevent rework, and keep budgets from bleeding.

How to Improve AutoCAD Skills

1. Get fast: Learn core commands and keyboard shortcuts. Line, polyline, trim, extend, offset, fillet, array, match properties—make them muscle memory.

2. Build smart templates: Standards for layers, linetypes, title blocks, scales, and plot styles. Consistency crushes confusion.

3. Use Xrefs: Keep architecture, venue shells, and show elements separate. Reference them in, stay lightweight, update once—everywhere.

4. Lean on blocks: Dynamic blocks, attributes, and palettes for repeated items (fixtures, soft goods, hardware). Fewer errors, faster changes.

5. Document clearly: Viewports, annotative text, dimensions, callouts, and sheet sets. If a rigger can’t read it quickly, it’s not done.

6. Go 3D when it helps: Simple massing, set piece clearance checks, cable paths. Use it to solve problems, not to grandstand.

7. Version and coordinate: Keep files clean, named, dated. Share PDFs for markups. Archive old sets, never overwrite yesterday’s work.

How to Display AutoCAD Skills on Your Resume

2. QLab

QLab is show control software for building and running audio and video cues, and for sending network control (MIDI, OSC, Art-Net) to lighting and other systems—one desk, one timeline, tightly dialed.

Why It's Important

It stitches sound, video, and control into reliable sequences. Rehearsals move faster, operators get confidence, and the show hits on time, every time.

How to Improve QLab Skills

1. Practice cue structure: Pre-waits, post-waits, auto-continues, fades, stops. Build logic that’s foolproof at show speed.

2. Use groups wisely: Start/stop bundles, fail-safes for complex transitions, solo checks without wrecking the stack.

3. Map control: MIDI and OSC for faders, footswitches, stream decks. Hands-on control beats mouse-chasing when nerves spike.

4. Lock stability: Sample rates matched, media preloaded, redundant audio interfaces, clear device routing.

5. Network cues: Trigger lighting, video walls, and show automation via Art-Net/OSC. Keep documentation for every endpoint.

6. Build show templates: Standard carts, safety cues, panic stops, global ducking. Start stronger, finish cleaner.

How to Display QLab Skills on Your Resume

3. Pro Tools

Pro Tools is a DAW for recording, editing, and mixing audio—industry-standard for music, theater, broadcast, and playback prep.

Why It's Important

Cue building, edits, noise cleanup, stems, and show mixes happen fast and clean in Pro Tools. Good audio starts before the console sees it.

How to Improve Pro Tools Skills

1. Tune the machine: Proper buffer sizes, low-latency monitoring, up-to-date drivers, stable sample rates across devices.

2. Work with templates: Track layouts for dialogue, effects, music, buses, VCAs, routing, and print paths—ready on load.

3. Edit with intent: Clip Gain, Elastic Audio, fades that don’t click, playlists for comping, field recorder workflows for fast relinks.

4. Automate smart: Snapshot and trim automation, preview/write to selection, plug-in parameter control for scene-by-scene shifts.

5. Print deliverables: Consistent naming, stems normalized or calibrated, interleaved exports that match the rig downstream.

6. Save like a pro: Versioned sessions, backups, and session data imports—no heroics needed when changes hit late.

How to Display Pro Tools Skills on Your Resume

4. Vectorworks

Vectorworks, especially Spotlight, is drafting and 3D design software built for entertainment. Create plots, paperwork, focus charts, set layouts, and clean documentation.

Why It's Important

It bridges design and reality. Clear drawings, tidy data, and 3D checks catch problems before crews do.

How to Improve Vectorworks Skills

1. Standardize: Templates for classes, layers, title blocks, sheet borders, and viewports. Fewer clicks, fewer misses.

2. Use Spotlight tools: Lighting Devices, Hanging Positions, Softgoods, Cable tools, Data Tags, Worksheets for counts and cut-lists.

3. Think 3D when needed: Section viewports, sightline checks, trim heights, and interference detection for flown vs. scenic.

4. Exchange cleanly: Keep symbols consistent, name devices clearly, and prep data so consoles and paperwork match reality.

5. Practice the flow: Design layer to sheet layer, viewport annotations, batch publish. Slow becomes smooth; smooth becomes fast.

How to Display Vectorworks Skills on Your Resume

5. Lightwright

Lightwright manages lighting data—channels, addresses, positions, notes, and inventory—so the plot, console, and crew sing off the same page.

Why It's Important

It turns chaos into clarity. Accurate paperwork speeds hangs, trims troubleshooting, and locks show changes to a single source of truth.

How to Improve Lightwright Skills

1. Own the basics: Columns, filters, worksheets, and error checking. Build views for programmers, electricians, and shop needs.

2. Sync the ecosystem: Smooth exchanges with Vectorworks and your console. Keep channel/address/fixture type conventions consistent.

3. Track inventory: Spares, color, gobos, accessories, and swaps. Paper trails prevent panic.

4. Annotate like a hawk: Notes that matter—location, access, power, safety, special handling. Brevity that illuminates.

5. Version control: Save often, date-stamp files, and maintain change logs. Reverts shouldn’t feel like archaeology.

How to Display Lightwright Skills on Your Resume

6. ETC Eos

ETC Eos is a family of lighting control consoles used to program and run complex rigs. Palettes, effects, Magic Sheets, color tools, and Augment3d make precision programming possible.

Why It's Important

For theater, dance, or concerts, Eos delivers repeatable, trackable, flexible control. That’s the difference between “good enough” and “locked-in.”

How to Improve ETC Eos Skills

1. Practice offline: Use the Eos software and Augment3d to build showfiles without a console. Muscle memory doesn’t require a stage.

2. Build foundations: Patch cleanly, define fixture profiles correctly, and craft palettes (focus/color/beam) that speed cueing.

3. Program with intent: Learn tracking vs. cue-only, marking, part cues, discrete timings, and multi-list strategies.

4. Design Magic Sheets: Operator-focused layouts for quick selections, macros, and live feedback. Fewer keystrokes, more brainpower for the art.

5. Network savvy: Backups, multi-console sessions, and sACN/Art-Net distribution. Label universes, label nodes, sleep easier.

How to Display ETC EOS Skills on Your Resume

7. Dante Certification

Dante Certification validates knowledge of audio-over-IP using Dante—clocking, routing, device management, redundancy, and practical troubleshooting.

Why It's Important

Modern shows lean on networked audio. Certification proves you can design, deploy, and fix Dante systems without derailing the day.

How to Improve Dante Certification Skills

1. Learn the tiers: Study for Levels 1–3. Fundamentals, advanced clocking and multicast, then design-level thinking.

2. Use Dante Controller daily: Patch devices, name channels, test clock masters, flip redundancy, and document everything.

3. Build small labs: Switch, two interfaces, a couple endpoints. Break it on purpose. Fix it faster.

4. Network basics: VLANs for segregation, QoS for clocking and audio, proper IGMP for multicast. Talk cleanly with IT.

5. Plan for failure: Primary/secondary networks, UPS where it counts, spare switches, clear rollback steps.

How to Display Dante Certification Skills on Your Resume

8. Ableton Live

Ableton Live is a DAW built for performance—Session View for cues and loops, Arrangement for timelines, and rock-solid MIDI mapping.

Why It's Important

When music, playback, and onstage control need to breathe in real time, Live keeps up without flinching.

How to Improve Ableton Live Skills

1. Stability first: Match sample rates, pick a sensible buffer, preload sets, and use a quality audio interface.

2. Design your showfile: Scenes for sections, follow actions for flow, grouped tracks, return tracks for consistent FX.

3. Map control: MIDI controllers for transport, levels, and mutes; color-code clips and name everything you might touch under pressure.

4. Warp wisely: Choose the right warp modes and commit renders when possible to reduce CPU spikes.

5. Templates and redundancy: Standardize routing and monitoring. Consider a mirrored backup rig with quick failover.

How to Display Ableton Live Skills on Your Resume

9. SFX Software

SFX (show playback) software runs sound effects and music cues for theater—clear carts, timed fades, reliable stops, and flexible routing.

Why It's Important

Precise cues shape timing and texture. Operators need tools that feel invisible so the story can sing.

How to Improve SFX Software Skills

1. Build tidy cue stacks: Label clearly, set gain staging, program smooth crossfades, and use ducking where dialogue must lead.

2. Use hotkeys and controllers: Map transport and safety stops to hardware. Muscle memory is faster than menus.

3. Route with intention: Separate outputs for mains, monitors, and special sends. Keep headroom; avoid last-minute patch chaos.

4. Rehearse failure: Panic stops, skip-to-next, and resume behaviors tested before tech. No surprises in performance.

5. Backups matter: Duplicate showfiles, mirrored media, and a spare playback device ready to go.

How to Display SFX Software Skills on Your Resume

10. Rigging Certification

Rigging certification confirms you can plan, install, and inspect overhead systems safely—hardware, math, standards, and procedures included.

Why It's Important

Loads overhead mean risk. Certification demonstrates competence, protects crews and audiences, and satisfies venues and insurers.

How to Improve Rigging Certification Skills

1. Formal training: Start with fundamentals, then pursue advanced theatre and arena focuses through recognized programs (such as ETCP).

2. Log supervised hours: Real hangs, real trims, real curveballs. Keep a detailed logbook and get it verified.

3. Master the math: Vector forces, bridles, point loads, dynamic factors, safety factors, and hardware ratings. No guessing.

4. Inspection discipline: Hardware checks, documentation, retirement criteria, and incident reporting. Small cracks, big problems.

5. Safety systems: Fall protection, rescue plans, communication protocols, and compliance with current standards.

How to Display Rigging Certification Skills on Your Resume

11. Pyrotechnics Safety

Pyrotechnics safety covers training, permitting, storage, handling, show operation, and post-show controls for flame, spark, and concussion effects.

Why It's Important

One lapse can injure performers or audiences and shut a production down. Safety isn’t optional; it’s culture.

How to Improve Pyrotechnics Safety Skills

1. Get certified and licensed: Follow jurisdictional rules, learn NFPA-aligned standards (such as 1126 and 160), and keep paperwork current.

2. Risk plans first: Clear zones, shields, fire watch, extinguishers, ignition lockouts, and misfire procedures—written, rehearsed, enforced.

3. Handle and store correctly: SDS on site, proper magazines, compatible storage, antistatic practices, and strict inventory control.

4. Coordinate with authorities: AHJ notifications, permits, site inspections, show-by-show signoffs. No surprises for anyone.

5. Rehearse dry: Cue-to-cue without fire, then controlled live tests. Debrief, adjust, document.

How to Display Pyrotechnics Safety Skills on Your Resume

12. DMX Programming

DMX programming sets up and controls lighting fixtures via DMX512-A and networked protocols like sACN or Art-Net—addressing, patching, timing, and effects from a single console.

Why It's Important

Lighting defines space and pace. Reliable programming lets designers explore while operators stay in control.

How to Improve DMX Programming Skills

1. Learn the protocol: Addressing, universes, refresh rates, termination, and RDM for discovery and monitoring.

2. Patch with purpose: Logical numbering, consistent fixture modes, and documentation that matches labels on the truss.

3. Program foundations: Palettes/presets, groups, fixture profiles, and tracked cueing vs. cue-only—know what changes when.

4. Build effects cleanly: Console effect engines, pixel mapping basics, timing per parameter, and offset for depth.

5. Time and sync: Follow cues, macros, timecode where needed, and backups that you’ve actually restored from.

How to Display DMX Programming Skills on Your Resume