sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Training Difficulties

Bluzman raised the problem of finding an employer who was willing to train his employees and I thought it would be better to start a separate thread.

Training is a problem everywere. Few employers wants to spend the huge $ required to train an employee who might leave and go work elsewhere for a competitor.

When you send a tech to school, not only do you have to pay their salary for an (unproductive) period of time you also often have to pay for airfare, hotels, rental cars etc. It's an expensive proposition.

Admittedly schools have gotten shorter (and therefore cheaper)then they were years ago (In 1985 I went to class in Reston Va for GTE for 13 weeks on the GTD-4600), but they're still expensive.

I'm an instructor for the IBEW here in NYC. It's the same here. Contractors wanted the Union to pay for all technical training. The Union felt that any training after the 4 years of the Apprentice school should fall on the individual contractor.

Eventually a compromise was reached- The apprentices go to school for an additional 18 months after their apprentice school is done. They take motor control, rigging, photovoltaic and telecommunications (and a few others I can't remember). The point is that only GENERAL training is provided.

My group starts the apprentices with extra classes during their regular training. During their first year We teach them the color code, how to chop down 66 & 110 blocks, how to wire jacks and how a communication job goes together. In their second year we give them a refresher on the first years lessons and teach them how to test cables. In the third year they get an introduction to switching - voice, data and voip. The fourth year has them crimping and soldering - putting on coax connectors, RJ type heads, XLR connectors, and micellaneous DB connectors.

In their 5th year we have them for about two or three months. We teach them how to install two or three kind of fiber connectors (crimp, glue and fusion)and how to use an OTDR. We do some advanced Cat 5E/6 work and cover cable scanning in detail. We have one class on PA equipment and how to install an audio job, another on DSL and how to install that. We do grounding and bonding to EIA/TIA specs and a few other things.

We used to, but no longer teach any particular switch or key system. It was just too much. Too difficult, too many legal problems.

We also give classes for journeymen who come down on their own time for a similar group of classes(geared to a higher level) as well as CCNA and VOIP training.

It's a production though. Most of us volunteer for this and it's always a challenge to keep it going year after year.

How do other people around the industry handle this?

Sam

For reference here is the original statement from the member buzman:

I just couldn't pass this opportunity up to share. I broke into this industry in the military back in the early 80'. I was schooled in 1A2, and eventually Dimension PBX's. I worked in the industry for about 5-6 yrs. Then walked away from it for 20 years. Now I'm back. I don't know why this industry is the way that it is; but getting training or finding a company that is willing to train is next to impossible. I've had to tap into my memory banks and self-teach on what's out there today. I still have miles to go but I'm still managing to learn a thing or two. Resources like this one are a Godsend for those of us that are not Gurus and haven't had a wealth of formal training. This forum and others like it are an asset to the industry. Thank you; I'll now step down. :db:

Sam, I suppose I should applaud the IBEW for providing this training. Unfortunately the retention for what they learned seems to be short lived from what I see out there as well as over on the sparkie boards. :shrug:

What you say is true. In this industry few employers are willing to spend the money for training assuming that there is a training facility available. So either they hire someone with experience or hire someone who will learn on the job.

There was a topic started by binbrain a few days ago that basically asked the same question. Several recommendations were made for training and reference material, you might want to look that up.

-Hal

If I tell you I cheated and hired ex-service guys, would you hit me? I'm USAF, hired navy and (Believe it or not) marine. Young ones that pulled a full hitch and got out with a honorable, seem to be pretty useful, pretty quick! John C. (Not Garand)

Hal -

I'll look up binbrains topic - I don't remember seeing it, but my work server has been banning me from sundance randomly for the last 3 weeks for "Banned Phrase Found" (whatever that means).

I heartily accept the applause, but unfortunately it's not the IBEW in general that's providing the training - it's only Local 3 in NYC that's doing it. I've talked to training directors across the country and when you start talking about training outside of the cuuriculum of the NJATC they glaze over. Mention keeping the apprentices for an extra 18 months for training and they grow faint.

In the last few years the IBEW has put together a program for a Low Voltage wiring electrician that covers Voice, Data & Video. It's supposed to be a three year apprentice training program, but I know nothing about it.

Sam