Dakota Kreps didn’t imagine himself in the trades, not while making solid money as an esports gamer. But the toll of time at a screen — and a fiancé nudging him towards less blue light and headsets — made clear: it was time for a career change.
In the meantime, while flipping Call of Duty skins online, his internet would sporadically cut out. Even after technician visits from his cable provider, the connection would often drop.
At some point, Kreps thought to himself, “If they're not going to fix my stuff, why don't I just learn how to fix it myself? And that started a deep dive into the industry,” he told Broadband Nation.
The DIY spirit not only fixed his own internet connection but landed him a job at that same cable company, and — within six months — he was a lead technician training new hires.
While he quickly advanced his knowledge in different coax systems, he was eager to move into fiber — the internet technology foundational to modern and future connectivity.
Now a skilled, in-demand tradesman, he moved to another company easily, where he learned a variety of new systems, fiber included. Eventually, he threw in pro-bono consulting to help share his insight with smaller providers.
“I made enough money in my day job,” he said. “I just wanted to help out smaller companies that were trying to do the right thing, trying to connect America, trying to hit these low-income, rural markets.”
That’s where he met Andrea Franklin, CEO of Brighton Broadband, an internet provider serving small towns across the U.S., where he is now the director of operations. What started as spotty Wi-Fi and a DIY mentality led him to a long and strong career in the trade. “I just dove in and wanted to learn,” reflected Kreps.
Getting started: Self-led learning and the right mentors
As someone with no intention of getting into the industry who has now built both a sturdy career and social focus for his work, Kreps shared a few tips for getting started.
“You will always start out most of the time as an installation tech,” he prefaced. “That's where most companies start their people.”
Installation techs handle what the title suggests: the installation of the internet in homes and businesses. While that means learning the technical aspects of running cables and successfully installing the internet, it also means working with people — a key aspect to be aware of going in.
But from his perspective, that’s usually a great quality to the job — and part of the reason he focuses his work on communities lacking access to the internet now.
“[Newcomers] have to understand that for every bad customer that wants to come out and scream, there's 100 customers that are happy if you take the time and push back against the companies trying to get you in and out of there in 15 minutes, take the time to understand the customer's problem and really try and solve that issue,” he detailed. “You just made that person's life easier most of the time.”
In Kreps' eyes, the focus on quality of work directly correlates to quality of relationships and job satisfaction in the end.
“If you take the time when you get into the industry, do things correctly, you will love your job because you’re not going to have to come back on a repeat trouble call to that customer’s house,” he shared — remembering the repeat visits to fix his own Wi-Fi that brought him into the industry in the first place. “The customers are going to be happy to see you because you're actually trying to solve the issue."
Of course, while much of Kreps’ growth had to do with his own motivation to learn, it also came down to solid training and teachers. Kreps considers himself to have lucked out in the experts who introduced him to fiber.
“They taught me pretty much most of what I know in the fiber industry now, and I just had a drive to learn," he said.
Kreps cautioned that some veterans in the industry “feel they're training their replacement” with new hires. But from his mentors, the mentality was “I want you to replace me. You're the future. So, they gave me all the opportunities to learn." While mentorship can sometimes be luck of the draw, Kreps credits their influence in his career. He also recalled realizing in his old job, “they’ll let me learn whatever I want to learn,” and even incentivized technicians to hone their trade knowledge.
A mentor and employer who encourages growth, as Kreps discovered firsthand, can give a DIY-minded learner a strong start in this industry.
Interested in exploring job opportunities within the industry? Check Broadband Nation's jobs board, training portal and Learning Center.