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Anyone work in Telecommunications? - Feb. 5 2008 3:26:40
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ahenage20
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From: USA
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hey guys, im not sure how much different the telecom industry is over in britain, but i just wanted to know if anyone does it and I wanted some general career advice. I am basically getting a job offer right now, and trying a telecom job out this week, taking a week off my job as a landscaper.
I pretty much grown to hate landscaping over the past year, most simply for the fact that its hard, long hours, lack of respect, and little money. I have a college education.
I can make the same amount working significantly less hours in telecommunications. just wanted to ask some people with experience in the field if they think that it is a good career path, or something i should treat as temporary work while looking for something more rewarding.
There are a lot of tools, equipment, and some (at least one) certification i should get if i stay in telecommunications. Im all for investing in my future, just wanted to speak to people who have gone that route and are loving it/ or wish they had left their options more open.
Either way, im glad to finally be getting out of landscaping/! If the new job goes well i guess i oughtta throw a few bucks towards MT!
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RE: Anyone work in Telecommunications? - Feb. 5 2008 8:02:42
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D MOB
Posts: 238
Joined: Jan. 8 2007
From: The North West
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I work in telecoms on the commercial side, visiting businesses and advising on equipment and applications. I have done this for 15 years and love it.
Companies are always going to have to commmunicate with each other and their customers, just because they spend 20k - 50k+ today on new equipment they will do so again in 5 years - it doesn't stop !
You will not be out of work either in a technical or commercial role.
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RE: Anyone work in Telecommunications? - Feb. 5 2008 10:55:23
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Dick Dastardly
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are you looking at the telecomms engineer side or the commercial side of well sales really
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RE: Anyone work in Telecommunications? - Feb. 9 2008 3:34:08
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ahenage20
Posts: 413
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hey guys glad to see their are others out there like me! sorry i kinda lost track of this thread.
i just did my first week of it.
Ive just been a little scared to dive in because im quitting a w-2 job (regular fulltime) to become a 1099 subcontractor. fortunately i only made 8.50 landscaping and ive started my telecom work at 12.50 as a trainee and soon to be 15.00.
so it hasnt been a tough decision whatsoever.
are you guys with any sort of certifications?
It looks like once ive got some experience ill always be able to find stuff by asking some other companies, and not be totally subject to what the contractor who is training me has on hand.
I guess the work is engineer side, if i understand correctly.. im not sure what commercial means, but what i have been doing so far is pulling cable, putting in jacks etc. hes also taken me to a couple sites to fix phone lines on PBX's.
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RE: Anyone work in Telecommunications? - Feb. 9 2008 5:18:15
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myles
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Are you working software side of PBX or as you suggested above just doing fits and repairs? Get into the software side and I am sure the money gets better and the work gets less vigorous. I work with PBxs in the RAF and if I can do it, anyone can!!
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RE: Anyone work in Telecommunications? - Feb. 9 2008 10:26:40
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doc
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worked in telecoms industry for 15 years
run a couple of cable headends for virgin media and all the hubsites, when i started i went down the btec onc then hnc route in telecomunications/electronics
if you want to get into transmission then this is the right course
but if you want to get into IP and optical then choose an ip/it route in, but seems to me that you end up having to know both and do both once your in a job anyway
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RE: Anyone work in Telecommunications? - Feb. 9 2008 12:40:52
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myles
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IP and VoIP are the way forward, I have some free time in work and the promise of a few courses of my choice (within reason) and am going IP and advanced fibre optics. Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
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RE: Anyone work in Telecommunications? - Feb. 9 2008 13:02:58
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SunTzu
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I work in Telecomms but more on the IT Development of IT Systems supporting the business. The company I work for is www.airwavesolutions.co.uk which is a good place to be...
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RE: Anyone work in Telecommunications? - Feb. 9 2008 17:33:03
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huskyboy
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quote:
You will not be out of work either in a technical or commercial role.
ooh thats the wrong thing to be thinking!
I used to work in telecomms and had the very same outlook, left the Army where I had served in the Royal Signals, got a job installing DWDM and SDH kit on behalf of Ericsson into BT and other exchanges, earngin a good £35k plus all in for what was a fairly steady job.
then moved onto Siemens, for a nice £25,000 basic plus OT year and a nice company car, health care pension, expense account etc. Spent a lot of time in Germany stopping in nice hotels, good Xmas bonus, even as our end of year conference for our division we got taken to Euro Disney, long weekend they paid the bill, that was Oct 2000
In Oct 2001 it was a totally different story we all got called down to head office and in one morning 45% of our division was made redundant. Then a further two months later another 25% of the remaining staff were made redundant too.
And it wasnt just Siemens, it was at the time that Marconi got hit very hard, as did Ericsson, Lucent, Alcatel, Nortel and many more
So dont get complacent if you go into that career path as it IS NOT a job that you can say you will not be out of work in
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RE: Anyone work in Telecommunications? - Feb. 9 2008 18:01:22
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doc
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quote:
ORIGINAL: huskyboy
quote:
You will not be out of work either in a technical or commercial role.
In Oct 2001 it was a totally different story we all got called down to head office and in one morning 45% of our division was made redundant. Then a further two months later another 25% of the remaining staff were made redundant too.
And it wasnt just Siemens, it was at the time that Marconi got hit very hard, as did Ericsson, Lucent, Alcatel, Nortel and many more
So dont get complacent if you go into that career path as it IS NOT a job that you can say you will not be out of work in
saw the same in Telewest and NTL , its very hard to get back in once you out aswell
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RE: Anyone work in Telecommunications? - Feb. 9 2008 18:38:44
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huskyboy
Posts: 546
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quote:
well phones and the internet don't seem to be going anywhere, I'll hedge my bets
you do that and hopefully it will all go very well for you, but I wouldnt be so smug fella and dismiss what I said without actually being open to the idea, and what Doc backed up through experience
as if you actually look at the telecoms industry you'll see it is one of the worst industries for going through highs and lows
yes the internet is there and so are mobiles but the networks are only needing expanding not new networks, the kit just needs upgrading not full from new installs, the fibres are in the ground, the new muxes and swithces can handle higher volume of traffic across the same fibres so no new fibres require installing only maintaining, you see my point
if not ask the tens of thousands (and thats not exaggerated) of ex telecoms industry staff that got made redundant the last time the industry went through a real low point around 2001-2003
amyway wont dwell on the subject
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RE: Anyone work in Telecommunications? - Feb. 9 2008 18:58:55
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D MOB
Posts: 238
Joined: Jan. 8 2007
From: The North West
Status: online
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quote:
ORIGINAL: huskyboy
quote:
You will not be out of work either in a technical or commercial role.
ooh thats the wrong thing to be thinking!
I used to work in telecomms and had the very same outlook, left the Army where I had served in the Royal Signals, got a job installing DWDM and SDH kit on behalf of Ericsson into BT and other exchanges, earngin a good £35k plus all in for what was a fairly steady job.
then moved onto Siemens, for a nice £25,000 basic plus OT year and a nice company car, health care pension, expense account etc. Spent a lot of time in Germany stopping in nice hotels, good Xmas bonus, even as our end of year conference for our division we got taken to Euro Disney, long weekend they paid the bill, that was Oct 2000
In Oct 2001 it was a totally different story we all got called down to head office and in one morning 45% of our division was made redundant. Then a further two months later another 25% of the remaining staff were made redundant too.
And it wasnt just Siemens, it was at the time that Marconi got hit very hard, as did Ericsson, Lucent, Alcatel, Nortel and many more
So dont get complacent if you go into that career path as it IS NOT a job that you can say you will not be out of work in
Manafacturers do tend to have job culls globally, If you where to work for a large reseller who sells direct to the end user (IP Telephony and Business critical Apps) your job will be much more secure long term.
End users will always be upgrading thier comms networks so there is always a need for the good commercial and technical people to satisfy customer demand.
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RE: Anyone work in Telecommunications? - Feb. 10 2008 12:11:14
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doc
Posts: 824
Joined: Sep. 21 2001
From: wigan United Kingdom
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quote:
ORIGINAL: CheeseOnToast
well phones and the internet don't seem to be going anywhere, I'll hedge my bets 
thats true, but 5 years ago , you had a landline , you had a cable box , you had a cable modem , 3 sets of technoligies with 3 platforms at the other end supporting them
when voip comes , the landline as we know it and sdh/pdh network will probably cease to be (for the genral public anyway)
virgin are alreay pumping money into a next gen iptv platform , and off net tv (meaning you wont need to be in a cable area and youll be able to stream you tv channel directly of the net , so getting rid of the set top
pretty soon you just had a cable modem that will have a voip handset , it will have a tv output so you can watch your tv through it , so everything will be done at ip level , making lots of old platforms obselete
the outlook isnt bleak but just be aware of the pitfalls
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RE: Anyone work in Telecommunications? - Apr. 16 2008 18:53:58
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chrismac
Posts: 2755
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I am a VOIP engineer, working on Apps, servers, gateways, switches, routers, PBX's, call centres, wireless, etc, etc.
I have a degree in business, but my company trained me from scratch. I have good salary, pension, choice of Audi, BMW, VW, etc cars [have a Civic type R at the mo - will be getting rid soon though], laptops, PDA, tools, expenses, mobile phone, private health care, occasional voluntary paid for visits to various places dotted around the world [working of course!], free training, option to do a masters paid for, etc.
Its a booming industry, but get into VOIP. TDM is dying FAST!
< Message edited by chrismac -- Apr. 16 2008 18:55:30 >
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RE: Anyone work in Telecommunications? - Apr. 16 2008 19:04:07
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chrismac
Posts: 2755
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From: Staffordshire
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quote:
ORIGINAL: huskyboy
quote:
well phones and the internet don't seem to be going anywhere, I'll hedge my bets
you do that and hopefully it will all go very well for you, but I wouldnt be so smug fella and dismiss what I said without actually being open to the idea, and what Doc backed up through experience
as if you actually look at the telecoms industry you'll see it is one of the worst industries for going through highs and lows
yes the internet is there and so are mobiles but the networks are only needing expanding not new networks, the kit just needs upgrading not full from new installs, the fibres are in the ground, the new muxes and swithces can handle higher volume of traffic across the same fibres so no new fibres require installing only maintaining, you see my point
if not ask the tens of thousands (and thats not exaggerated) of ex telecoms industry staff that got made redundant the last time the industry went through a real low point around 2001-2003
amyway wont dwell on the subject
Yes, I know where you are coming from but things have changed since then. Companies have realised that there is no need to use 2 separated networks for thier voice and data. VOIP is a revolution that is taking over. If your not on the wagon now, then your company will surely faulter very soon. If you are on the wagon then this is a very exciting time for for both businesses, and the telecoms undustry as a whole. Businesses save a hell of a lot of money converging networks in the long haul whilst we take the money.
Once the networks are laid down like you say - there is no need to upgrade equipment or fibre. But there will be a need to maintain, modify, upgrade, add new features, and equipment to existing solutions - such as software, servers, and PBX's as a whole.
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