As record funding is funneled into the industry, it's a good time to consider a career in fiber optics. Full of travel opportunities, diverse specialties and promising pay, the work can be deeply fulfilling for anyone with a willingness to learn in multiple environments, according to Brian Schrand.
Currently the VP of Application and Field Engineering at Clearfield, Schrand has worked in fiber optics — from splicing to network design — since it was still a nascent technology. And when it comes to training, he said the steps to success have changed a lot.
Training in telecom used to be a unified in-house process before the divestiture of AT&T broke up of the Bell System to promote competition in the industry. “Once divestiture happened, all that went away. That's gone now,” Schrand told Broadband Nation.
Today, training largely rests in learning on the job, but that can mean picking up good and bad habits, depending on your employer and mentors. For that reason, Schrand believes it is key to balance the practical hands-on learning with accredited schooling.
Fiber 'Spidey senses'
Setting up for success in an evolving industry will require understanding the technology of fiber, “not just how to bang this stuff together, but how and why it works," as Schrand put it.
To get a good base of fiber theory, he recommended researching community college programs geared towards certification from bodies like the Fiber Optic Association (FOA). Alternatively, there are good training resources offered by the FOA or Light Brigade — and employers like Clearfield offer their own.
“When you hire on with an employer and you're doing on-the-job training, I would encourage you to ask if they do any type of investment in their technicians, into their people,” he suggested. “What you learn on the job, some of those things may conflict with what you would learn through an accredited program.”
While self-guided learning is highly necessary, Schrand recommended caution when considering sources of information. “There is a plethora of fiber optic technician groups out there. The questions that they need answered, they’re going to social media. I think it’s safe to say we all know that when you ask a question on social media, be careful what you ask for.”
That same wariness should also apply on the field. “If somebody says, ‘I know everything about this, and I’ve been doing it for 30 years,’ your Spidey-senses should start to tingle,” he warned. “These guys don’t know everything.”
Schrand offered an example he has seen in recent years as bandwidth consumption and speeds continue to rise.
“Used to be, years ago, you didn't have to do any type of clean-and-inspect on an optical end face, a connector end face. It was common for [workers] to lick it and wipe it on their shirt and plug it in, and that was good enough,” he detailed. “With the increase [of broadband speeds and consumption], you need to clean and inspect. But the older generation of technicians that are out there are adamantly against cleaning or inspecting anything.”
This can be a major problem though, as he explained that most network failures are due to dirty or damaged end faces.
“Somebody that’s learning from an older technician will not have that most relevant info unless their employer is investing in them with some type of technical program," he said. "There’s up-to-date info that they need to be aware of.”
Working with Cincinnati Bell (now Altafiber), Schrand did it all, including deploying fiber to the home (FTTH) to 75,000 residences in 2006, when FTTH expansion was still in its early days. Even as an industry veteran himself, he recommends that newcomers “be leery of people that come out [as] self proclaimed experts,” as there will always be more to learn and adapt to within the industry.
“I’ve been doing this for quite some time, and I still learn new stuff every day,” he added. You want to be a sponge and learn every day.”
Staying sponge-like and adaptable has kept the industry a fulfilling one for Schrand. Whether it's simply improving connection or bringing connectivity to a neighborhood for the first time, “you feel really good about what you're doing for the community.”
He recalled a time when a hurricane swept through Florida and wiped out numerous broadband infrastructures.
“We would get on a plane with all of our tools and fly to Florida and start building a network,” he said. “And since we were all educated to the same standard, we built networks for all these people that lost everything. To me, there’s no job more rewarding than that... It’s been the best career I’ve ever had. It’s a very small community, but we support one another.”