Mastering the RCDD Exam: Strategies and Benefits of Study Groups

Unlock the secrets of creating and managing successful RCDD study groups with our latest episode! Ever wondered how to boost your industry status and salary potential through certification? Join us as we share invaluable guidelines for forming study groups that not only aid in mastering the rigorous RCDD exam but also foster a strong learning community. We'll take you through the essential ways to tackle complex concepts and terminologies, ensuring you build a solid foundation from the ground up.

Facing challenges understanding advanced principles like transmission? You're not alone. We'll discuss proven strategies for overcoming these hurdles, emphasizing the importance of sequential learning. You'll also hear about the fun and engaging ways to make study sessions more interactive, including our popular acronym challenge—this episode’s is PBB, or Primary Bonding Busbar. Plus, we’ll touch on how to cultivate a collaborative learning environment that enhances comprehension through diverse perspectives and resource sharing.

Thinking about starting your own study group? We have you covered. From finding committed members via social media platforms to setting up a structured reading plan, learn the best practices for organizing and maintaining an effective study group. We'll share tips on scheduling regular meetings, assigning roles, and promoting your group for maximum reach and engagement. Join us to explore these strategies and more, and let's advance together in our certification journeys!

Chapters

• 0:00 Creating Your Own RCDD Study Group
• 5:34 RCDD Study Group
• 17:51 Benefits of Creating a Study Group
• 24:45 Creating an RCDD Study Group
• 35:57 Telecommunications Study Group Discussion

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Thursday night 6 pm Eastern Standard Time. You know that can only mean one thing Live after hours with Chuck Bowser, rcdd, your favorite, rcdd, your favorite. Don't even try to pretend like I'm not your favorite, because we all know that I'm your favorite RCDD. Tonight's show is going to be a little different. It's not an usual Q&A kind of thing. Got a great subject matter we're going to cover tonight. We're going to talk about how to create your own RCDD study group. We're going to talk about that. To create your own RCDD study group. We're talking about that tonight.

Speaker 1: 0:48

Now, the advice I'm going to give you tonight you can also use it to create a study group to be anything. You can use it to be a study group for a BICC technician. You can use it for a study group passing your Cisco certification or your CompTIA certification. It's just good general guidelines on study group. But I'm going to focus it on the RCDD and the reason for that is because I do get asked a lot about RCDD study groups because I run them. I run about half a dozen RCDD study groups now and so I'm pretty. I've got the kinks worked out out and I know what works, kind of what doesn't work, and a lot of times I get asked questions Chuck, do you have an RCD study group right now? Well, yeah, but we're two thirds of the way through it, so it doesn't make sense to jump in, and I usually only do one study group a year usually. And I usually only do one study group a year usually. I might do more if I can find other people, other fellow RCDDs, who want to help me run the study group, because Chuck only has so much time in the day, and that's what it really pulls down to.

Speaker 1: 1:59

Hey, let's start off with the acronym challenge. You know we always start off with the acronym challenge. The acronym challenge for today is PBB, pbb. What does that acronym mean? I'll give you a hint it has something to do with bonding and grounding. Pbb what does that acronym mean? I'll give you a few seconds to answer that. Let me see if anybody's answered. In the the chat box. Chat box, the pbb stands for primary bonding buzz bar. You know you got to be kidding me. You almost got it. Almost got hk rag got it, though. 10 000 points to both of you for your efforts, 10 000 points to both of you guys. And so let me talk about this for a little bit before we get too much further. Let me turn off this design thing so I can turn off the screen here.

Speaker 1: 2:50

There we go, boom yes, the RCDD the Registered Communications Distribution Designer and I know the majority of you are going to know what that actually means. Now some people know, some people don't know what that means. So the RCDD is a certification. It's one of the premier, if not the premier, certification that you can get in our industry. And it's not easy. They don't just hand them out. You have to work to get your RCDD.

Speaker 1: 3:25

Getting your RCDD will do lots of things for you. Number one it's going to make you more knowledgeable A lot of times when you're reading the RCDD. I know what I did when I passed mine 20 years ago when I was reading through the TDMM. That's this book right back here. That's a two-book set. You need to have them read them. Telecommunications Distribution Design set. You need to have them read them. Telecommunications distribution design manual. You got to read through those and you got to know them inside and out, forwards and backwards, upside down in your sleep. You pretty much have to be able to dream the DMM to pass the RCDD test. But let me tell you what it's going to do for your career. And this is just based on my personal experience from me getting mine and me helping people get theirs.

Speaker 1: 4:09

Getting your RCDD number one elevates your status within the industry right, because people will know that it's not an easy certification. They don't just hand them out right? You got to be kidding me, says says. His RCD took him from 78,000 to well over 100,000. It did with me as well. When I passed my RCD, I instantly got a $10,000 raise, bam right, from my company that I worked for at the time. I was even offered a job for $30,000 more than what I was making at the time. Now I didn't like the company. The company was Brand Spanking New. It was only a couple of years old. The company I was working for at the time had 80 years of experience, 80 years been around for 80 years, and I had a father of four kids. You need stability, so I stuck with the company. I did, and it worked out for me in the long run. So it's going to elevate your status in the industry because people are going to look at you as a and you know I hate this word subject matter expert, but you are knowledgeable in all things information communication technologies and people understand that there's some value to that and it's going to again, like I said, open up opportunities for you to maybe get that dream job that you want or go work for that dream company that you want. So getting your RCDD is going to help you around.

Speaker 1: 5:34

Henry's in the house, henry, how you doing Henry? Henry is a Bixie training delivery specialist and also a good friend of mine, fran says here. He says in the chat box, working on his ITSIM. Now, the ITSIM is the Information Transport Systems Installation Methods Manual. So let me tell you this, even though tonight's show I'm going to say class, tonight's show is about how to create an RCDD study group. You can also use it for a, an RCDD study group. You can also use it for a Big C technician study group, a Big C installer study group. It doesn't have to be RCDD, although I've fine-tuned it for the RCDD's conversation tonight.

Speaker 1: 6:20

Oh, so you know we did the Akron Challenge. You know what we forgot to do. What are you drinking? What are you drinking? Put it in the to do. What are you drinking? What are you drinking? Put it in the chat box. What are you drinking tonight? Chuck is drinking Zevia soda, zevia ginger ale with some lemon essential oil, because it gives that a little bit of lemon-lime taste. Love it. So put it in the chat box. What are you drinking tonight? Oh, good stuff, good it. So put in the chat box. What are you drinking tonight? Oh, good stuff, good stuff. So let me see we're all about here.

Speaker 1: 6:48

Let's cover this one question before we get into it. So, working on taking the exam within the year, reading through chapter six today three-day training in August. Are you coming to Tampa to do the three-day training? Let me know if you're doing that. If you are, I don't live too far from Tampa. I might come down and meet you for a cup of coffee and we can talk. Right. I might even schedule a podcast meetup meeting if you're doing the class out of Tampa. I've done that before for other people. Let me see Somebody's drinking Thai tea. Nice, thai tea is really good stuff. I love Thai tea. Now let's get on with the subject at hand. You're not here to hear about me and what I'm going to do and stuff, but let's talk about study groups Study groups. So I already talked about what is an RCDD.

Speaker 1: 7:37

So tonight's show is going to be broken into four segments. The first segment is going to be common challenges that people have while pursuing their RCDD certification. I told you it's a marathon, it's not a walk, it's not a sprint. I know I've said this before. It took me about six months to get mine and I've talked to people it's taken them up to a couple of years to get theirs. It's a journey, it's not an overnight thing. So the first segment is going to be the common challenges. Second segment is why should you create a study group? The third segment is going to be the advantages of a study group, and then I'm going to close it out with how to create your own study group.

Speaker 1: 8:22

Okay, so it sounds like an interesting show tonight, doesn't it Right? Interesting show. So let me go ahead and flip over to my graphics page so I can put up my graphics. I don't know if I only had a beautiful assistant who would help me do my graphics. Can you hear me, wife? Somebody says it took them two years of constant study and got to love principles of transmission. I'll talk about that in a minute. So, first segment, first segment common challenges that people have when it comes to the RCDD and getting a credential right I almost said a certification. Remember, it's a credential, not a certification.

Speaker 1: 8:59

So the first thing is, as you gotta be kidding me TikTok just pointed out, it's going to be some advanced concepts and terminologies, right? And the very first chapter is called the principles of transmission. The principles of transmission it's like the foundation that all the other things that you're going to learn are going to be built upon, and you have to have a good, solid grasp of that, good solid grasp of principles of transmission. But the problem is, unless you've gone to electronic school or have some type of electronic engineer background a lot of that stuff if you're like me, I'm a cable guy. I started off pulling cable. I didn't go to college to learn electric. I was right out of high school, bam, straight into pulling cable. That's why I call myself a wire monkey. Wire monkey Anthony's in the house. How you doing, anthony? Some of those concepts are foreign to me.

Speaker 1: 9:56

Principles of transmission is what I call the weed-out chapter, because most people get these great visions of man I'm going to become an RCDD and I'm going to be riding in the back of a Rolls Royce eating gray poupon. I mean, it just showed my age, didn't I? Yeah, and they don't realize. And then they read that first chapter, principles of Transmission, and I'm telling you, it is the hardest chapter, the hardest chapter. Some people like to jump around in their reading. I highly suggest that you start with page one and you work your way through to the end. Get that hard chapter out of the way. Don't avoid it. Don't avoid it, right. And so a lot of the stuff you're going to, you're gonna. It's not just principles of transmission.

Speaker 1: 10:47

I heard the other day I was in one of the social media groups on facebook I don't remember which one it was and somebody said that they had just gotten back from their dd 101 course, or or they just finished the online dd 101 course, or no, no, no must have been the dd 102, because it was in person class in Tampa. And they said that bonding a ground and kick their butt. And the reason they said that is because they probably are still using the old terminology. That's why I threw PBB in the acronym challenge tonight. Right, so you got to learn all this stuff. Here's one tip for tonight If you want to get your RCDD certificate I almost did it again your RCDD credential.

Speaker 1: 11:31

If you want to get your RCDD credential, you better know what the TDMM says, because that's what the exam is going to be based on. The exam is not going to ask you what your boss from three jobs ago called that component, because he may be wrong. He may be wrong. So you have to try to deal with how to grasp those advanced concepts and especially the terminology, because, like I said, reading the terminology is going to. That's what sets off a lot of people, because we have a lot of different names for things in the low voltage side, and I'll give you a brief example the telecom room, the TR, the room that houses the horizontal cross connect, which is the patch panel, the 110 block, the 66 block, and we've called that thing multiple things over the years. You know again, I've been in the industry for 42 years and you know when I first got in we used to call them IDFs, independent distribution frames. Some people used to call them communication rooms. They've also been called telecom closets, but now they're called telecom rooms. If you want to pass that RCDD test, you have to know the correct and most current version of that terminology or that acronym which again is found in guess what, the newest edition of the TDMM. Now, right now we're kind of at a little bit of a weird spot right now because they just released the 15th edition I don't know six months ago, five months ago. So they're still taking applications for exams on the 14th edition, but they're going to stop doing that here real soon. If they haven't actually, I think it might be today, I think it's the 30th. Go check my the episode that came out on Monday.

Speaker 1: 13:16

I interviewed Bob Hertling. He is the chair of the TINM committee that wrote that reviewed the TDMM, the book that you got to study. And we go through those dates right. Another reason people have problem understanding it is because limited access to hands-on or practical examples. What do I mean by that? Most people in this field are hands-on learners. Right, we got to put our hands on something, right? Yeah, we can listen to lecture, all that fun stuff, but you know what we really learn when we start terminating jacks and terminating fiber and doing stuff. So just purely reading through the book, trying to grasp that concept, is harder for most people like us knuckle-dragging cable guys. So it's hands-on real hard.

Speaker 1: 14:08

And then when you're reading through the book, you're not reading a here. Let me grab my book for a second Again, like I said, this is one half, one half of the TDMM. This is the. Let me see if I can use this. This is volume two. Okay, and this is the 15th edition, by the way. Okay, this is not, this is not a student manual. This is not an. This is. This is a design manual. They don't. They just tell you how it has to be.

Speaker 1: 14:39

So a lot of people have a hard time reading that, including me. Sometimes I read and have a hard time understanding it right. And then another problem that people have is there's a ton of information in that book there's 2,200 pages and how do you know which information they're going to actually test on you or test you for that RCDD credential? By the way, there's? Here's another tip, pro tip number two for the night get on the website, go to your google machine, type in uh, rcdd study handbook. If you're doing it all, the 14th edition, do v14. I think the 15th edition is out. I think somebody told me in one of my uh, one of my live streams, a couple weeks ago that the 15th, the v15, is out. It's got to be out or it's gonna be out soon. That's going to give you a lot of tips and uh and, uh, I should have written a chuck's notes edition, yeah, um, so that'll help you to know which section is going to be really important that you're going to be doing on.

Speaker 1: 15:47

The next problem is time management. Again, you're going to have to allot time to do this. I did a post on social media not too long ago because somebody asked about hey, I'm going to go for my RCD test. What do you think are some tips? And what I said was when the guys want to go out drinking, stay home. When you want to go out go kayaking, stay home, because it requires a commitment. And again, a lot of people start off I'm going to do this, I'm going to get my RCD. Yes, I'm excited, I'm going to do it. And then they hit principles of transmission and then they say, oh man, or they get behind a little bit, that hurts. They might also have not been setting realistic expectations and study goals. I'm going to talk about that here in a minute. You really need to set yourself a plan up, a plan study goals.

Speaker 1: 16:45

Another problem that helps people, that keeps people from getting their RCD, is access to resources Access to resources, identifying the right materials. So obviously, the TDMM is the one, but there's also what about getting your brain ready to take exams right? What about understanding some of these complex things in there? What about the financial constraints? Because, again, the TDM is not cheap. Applying for your RCDD credential is not cheap. You're going to spend about $1,000, maybe more if you decide to go to classes, and that's why I'm doing a study group.

Speaker 1: 17:25

Yes, I do an RCDD study group. We're almost done with it. We're close to being done. I think I do an RCDD study group. We're almost done with it. We're close to being done. I think we're three weeks away from being done. And I told you I do one a year. I'm not doing another one this year, so you may not have opportunity to do a study group. So that's another reason why you want to do this.

Speaker 1: 17:42

Segment number two. Let me flip back over to the second category. Boom, Segment number two. There we go. Look, I can do this by myself without help.

Speaker 1: 17:51

Yes, why should you create your own study group? Okay, number one it's going to enhance your learning experience, because when your group comes together and I'm going to talk about reading assignments and stuff like that in a minute when you come together and you discuss what you've read through conversation with other peers. The thing is so, like the old tech guys on TikTok feed right, and so is the beard of knowledge right, and so if the three of us read the exact same material, we'll pull away three different views, three different views, and when we come together and we have a conversation through a consensus, it helps us get a better understanding of the material, because Ed's going to bring his point of view, the Beard of Knowledge is going to bring his point of view, I'm going to bring my point of view. It's going to give you that exposure to different perspectives and approaches, and there's collaborative learning through the group learnings, group learnings.

Speaker 1: 18:55

Another reason why you should create a study group is accountability and motivation. When you set up a study group, you should set up and it's up to you Do you want to do it, you know, daily, monday through Friday or whatever, or do you want to do it once a week, whatever? Again, it's totally up to you, and we'll talk about scheduling stuff a little later on. But, number one, when you set them up, when you set up the consistent schedule, then you know, oh, I got to get my reading done. Like, for example, the study group that I run. We meet once a week, thursday nights 7 pm. That's why I'm always in a hurry to get off this live stream, because I've got the study group right behind this and I got to have dinner between those two groups and I don't think I'm having dinner tonight because this is going to go long. I'm only in segment two and I'm already at 620. Yeah, this is going to go long. I'm just letting everybody know that now. So when you have those meetings and you've got them set up at regular intervals, then people know oh, I've got to get my reading done.

Speaker 1: 19:57

Because as a group, a study group, the accountability part is hold each other accountable. Hey, did you get your reading done? You'll be more likely to do your reading if you know somebody's going to ask you if you did it or not. You'll be way more likely to get your reading done. There's a lot of motivation in that and that's going to help you also share your progress and your milestones. And what it does is it creates a sense of accomplishment, because there are times, there are absolutely times, when I'm running the study group Because I read through the TDMM. When I do the study group too, even though I've already passed my RCD. I read through it every week. There's times when I'm like, oh man, I don't want to read that. But you know what? I know that the group is counting on me.

Speaker 1: 20:50

And another good advantage of doing your own study group is networking and professional growth. Right, networking and professional growth. You're going to build connections. You're going to build connections with people in the study group and that's going to help with other professionals in the industry. It's going to offer, offer, give you opportunities for mentorship and guidance from experienced members we'll talk about that here in a minute. And you're going to develop some soft skills like communication and teamwork. Communication and teamwork right, that's. That's going to help it a lot.

Speaker 1: 21:25

Because you know you created this group, you had to go to go through it and make sure you get it done and you got. You got. You guys came up to what came of the collective goal and you made it through and you got that goal. Those are some of the good, some of the best reasons why you should create your own study group. Now let's go to the third segment. The third segment and that's going to be the advantages of it Number one resource sharing. Resource sharing One of the things that I've asked my study groups to always do is, when we come together once a week, a, get your reading done, but also share any resources you found, because one of the things when you read through that really heavy technical book I don't know about you, but I do this I'll go online and I'll say, hey, find a video on how to explain voltage, current and amps, and then when I see somebody kind of coming from a different perspective, oh yeah, so bring that to the group and share it with everybody and that's going to help.

Speaker 1: 22:22

That's going to help everybody, you know. Sharing your notes, your summaries. You might even want to do practice test questions, practice test questions. That helps too. And here's the beautiful thing. Like I said, I've done about a half a dozen RCDD study groups and one of the things I learned the industry and I told this to somebody in an interview just not too long ago for the podcast our industry is like a bicycle.

Speaker 1: 22:54

Right, there are people that are subject matter experts in the front wheel. There are subject matters in the back wheel, subject matters in the frame, subject matters in the crank, subject matters in the train, subject matters in the seat post, subject matters in the handlebar. There's nobody that's a subject matter in all aspects of this industry Nobody. So when you create your RCD study group and you put out the word and you give people a join, I'll give you an example and I won't mention his name because I didn't get permission to share his name, but he probably wouldn't care.

Speaker 1: 23:22

One or two RCD sessions ago we were going through it. He joined it because he wanted to get his RCDD and we got to the wireless section and the distributing antenna section of the TDMM Not strong areas for Chuck, not strong areas, but that's what that guy did for a living. He did wireless networks and distributing antenna systems, so he was able to bring some in-depth knowledge just for that one. Now, he was weak in some other areas, but that's why you're going to get through the R systems. So he was able to bring some in-depth knowledge just for that one. Now, he was weak in some other areas, but that's why you're going to get through the RCD. So that's one of the things about doing that, one of the advantages of that study group.

Speaker 1: 24:01

Another thing is it's going to help with emotional support and stress relief, because what there's going I'm going to tell you now when you're reading through the TDMM. You're going to be like, oh man, I'm hitting my head against the wall, oh man, and you'll feel alone. You'll feel isolated because your spouse isn't going to understand your journey, your kids aren't going to understand your journey. But if you're in a study group with other people, they are experiencing the same thing at the same time. So you get that emotional support and they're like, yeah, this week was a really hard week, or this week was an easy week, and together you guys can celebrate the successes and the milestones together. These are all advantages of doing it.

Speaker 1: 24:45

Now let's talk about how to create your own RCDD study group. That's probably why you're here. Right, you want to find out how to create your own RCDD study group. Number one first thing you got to do find members, find people. You can have a group as small as two. You can have a group as large as 20. Find people. Now, where are you going to find these people? First, start off with your circle of influence. Ask people around within your company, ask people that you work with. Ask other people you know within the industry. Hey, are you going to be studying for your RCDD? I'm thinking about starting up a study group, right, maybe. Even look at professional networks and stuff like that. Again, you can do all kinds of different things there. Just reach out, because you really don't. You don't want to have too many, but you don't want to have too few either.

Speaker 1: 25:36

Now, one great resource is to utilize social media. Social media is a great resource for this, you know. Especially, you know, go out, go to LinkedIn and say, hey, I'm thinking about creating an RCDD study group, dm me if you're interested. Put it out on TikTok, put it out on Facebook or whatever social media platform you prefer. That's going to help. That'll attract. Now, don't do this. Don't put out the post on a Monday that's going to start with a study group on Tuesday. Put the post out about two weeks ahead of the time. Put it out two weeks ahead of time and I call it soak time because people get time to see it. And here's something I will do for you If you decide to create your own RCDD study group, let me know or DM me, message me, email me. There's lots of different ways you can get in touch with me. Let me know, I will create a graphic for you and I will put it on my social media my social media. So now you get access to all of my audiences and that'll help you get some people in there. Okay, that's something, personally, I will do for you.

Speaker 1: 26:54

Now the next thing what you need to do is, once you've got your people together right, you need to set the criteria for the group membership and to ensure commitment. So that's when you need to sit down and say okay, look, are we going to meet once a week? Are we going to meet every week? Are we going to meet at noon? Are we going to meet at five? Are we going to meet the if it's a small group at work, are we going to meet in the conference room at 4 pm on Thursdays or 8 am on Mondays, or whatever time you guys decide to choose? So make sure there's a clear understanding. It's best to write it down. It's best to write it down and look, here is, and again, do it through. Once you get your people selected that are going to be in this group, have a conversation. So that way it's a group consensus. A group consensus because you're going to have more likely to have participation if people who are joining your group feel like they have a say in what the group's going to actually do.

Speaker 1: 27:54

Somebody says a bixie conference. Absolutely, a bixie conference is a great way to meet people, to find who are studying for the rcd absolute great plan. And then you got to again. You got to clear, you got to establish my boss used to say this all the time, courtney Matthews from Custom Computer Cable. He used to say all the time have a clearly defined task assignment, clearly defined task assignment. I still remember that to this day. Still remember it.

Speaker 1: 28:20

So what are you going to do? So what you need to do is, once you come up with a plan, figure out how long you want that study group to run. You might want it to run three months, six months, nine months, a year. Again, it's up to you. It's going to be your study group and once you come up with that time frame, come up with a reading plan. Come up with a reading plan. No, it's a blister. Somebody asked me if I hurt my thumb. It's a blister. I was doing some work on the farm and I got a blister in my thumb. I told you I have a farm. People don't realize, they think I'm joking. No, I was shoveling six yards of stones and I got a blister. But anyways, I digress. So once you figure out how long you want that study group to go, then you need to come up with a reading plan.

Speaker 1: 29:04

Now I'm going to show you the reading plan that I use for my study group. I'm going to put up. Unfortunately you're not going to see this on TikTok, you're going to have to go to the YouTube or one of the other LinkedIn feed. So here's the reading plan that I use. So we typically do 26 weeks, 70 pages a week and, as you can see, it's just a little Excel spreadsheet and I put it out there and say, okay, week number one you got to read these pages. Week number two you got to read these pages. Week number two you got to read those pages. Week number three you have to read those pages. Create a reading plan that way. You know, there's an old adage in the project management world how do you eat an elephant One bite at a time? And trust me that TDMM is an elephant, it's an elephant. So come up with a plan and say, okay, each week we got to read these map pages and to get through this Right, and again, that's just that you get. You can create your own, your own reading plan. You don't have to have to use mine. I just you know somewhere there and then assign roles and responsibilities.

Speaker 1: 30:06

Now, a lot of times, what I'll do with my study groups is I will make certain people in charge of certain things, and that's good because you're all coming together as a group. You know one person might be the person to be the collaborator of all the resources. So when, every week, when somebody finds the articles or the YouTube videos, you send it to the Beard of Knowledge and the Beard of Knowledge will put it in Excel. You send it to the Beard of Knowledge and the Beard of Knowledge will put it in Excel in a document on Google Docs, and then he'll share it out to the team and then you will do the you know whatever. Another thing you need to figure out is utilizing tools and resources right. So you have to come together. If you're meeting in person, like at your office, because you got a couple of people at the office if you're meeting there, is there a whiteboard, is there markers? Is there post-it notes? Make sure it's going to be stocked.

Speaker 1: 31:02

I think in today's environment, probably for this kind of thing, for a study group like this, while face-to-face is great, I think this is one of the areas where virtual stuff actually is better, right, so you know, go in. I, one of one of my mentees from a couple years ago, wanted to join the rc study group and we were already well into it and I told her. I said look, um, it's just not fair to you to join this group right in the middle of the group. So what she did was she created a channel in, I think, no, discord I almost said Slack, but it was Discord right, you can even do Zoom. Zoom is free as long as you keep your meetings to less than 40 minutes and the way around, that is, that when your 40 minutes comes up, you just click out and click back in again, or what you might want to do. Let's say you've got a group of 10 people who are going to want to come together for this RCT study group that you set up, buy Zoom for a year and then share the cost amongst all the team members. Zoom for a year is only $180, I think, and if you divide that by 10 people that's $18. If you're not willing to spend $18 on a resource as valuable as a study group, you may not even want to be pursuing your RCDD. I'm just going to leave it at that Now.

Speaker 1: 32:28

Another thing you need to do is, again, keep track of your progress. Every week when I meet with my group, I tell them, hey, did you get your reading done? And if they say no, how many pages behind are you? So that way I know the next week to talk to them, you need to say, okay, well, did you get your reading done? I even offer them advice. If they get too far behind, I'll say, okay, this week focus on getting your 70 pages done first, and if you have extra time, then take a small chunk from the previous stuff so you can help give advice to each other to get through this thing.

Speaker 1: 32:58

Another thing you're going to need with an RCD study group is, as you're reading through the TDMMs because you're RCDD candidates again, there's going to be a lot of stuff that you may not understand. Why not invite an RCDD to your study group? If you have an RCDD within your company, invite them to come. You probably think, well, why would somebody who's already got their RCDD study group, why would they want to read the TMM Again? Because you got to stay current with it. Because there's going to be stuff that it. Because there's going to be stuff that you forgot. There's going to be stuff that you forgot, so why not invite a current RCDD in your sphere to attend the group? That way they can help answer those questions and also read through the stuff as well and become better themselves.

Speaker 1: 33:44

If you can't, if there's nobody within your company who's an RCD, go to LinkedIn Type in RCDD. Find someone in your area or someone in your field. You might find somebody you know and reach out to them and say hey look, I'm running a study group with some friends. Is it all right if, from time to time, if we have a problem understanding a certain concept, can we reach out to you for an explanation? Most people in our industry would consider it an honor to help an upcoming RCDD do that. Most commonly, most people will, and if they don't, go ask somebody else. Or, as Kaylin pointed out in the thing a Bixie conference, go to a Bixie conference. There's lots of RCDDs running around there. Then you talk to them, make friends with one. Here's another offer that I'm going to give you. If you can't find an RCDD to help explain things, right, reach out to me. All right, just shoot me an email, I'll help you.

Speaker 1: 34:52

I've also talked to a couple of friends of mine. Right One is Bob Hurling. I mentioned him earlier. He's the chair of the TINM committee who helps revise the TDMM. Do you think he's familiar with it? He's already said shoot him questions, he'll be more than happy to help you. Phil Clingingsmith, he's helping me run my RSC study group right now because we're doing half and half. He's also said absolutely, send him questions, he will help you as well. Just between the three of us me, phil Clingingsmith, bob Hurling there's 150 years of experience there and if we don't know the answer because of the circles we run in, I guarantee you we know the person who does. You got to be kidding me. Also said he'd also be happy to help you as well. So there's lots of RCs out there that are going to help you and help understand. Don't be tough if you read through this thing and you're like that just doesn't make sense to me, and then when you ask the RCD to explain it, that's going to help.

Speaker 1: 35:57

So there's our recap there. I kind of went a little over tonight. It means Chuck's got to eat dinner a little bit faster than normal. A little faster than normal. Let's go over to the chat box, because I have not been paying attention to the chat box because I had my notes up. I was reading my notes. So let me see Working on exam within the year, reading through chapter 60. I already read that one. All righty, here's one here.

Speaker 1: 36:23

This whole show kind of ironic, this whole show was started from an email. People wonder how I come up with ideas for show content. Somebody sent me an email and said hey, chuck, study groups, can you give me some? When are you doing one? I told him I'm not doing it until next year. Why not start your own? And he goes I don't know how. And I said show content. So there you go.

Speaker 1: 36:46

So yeah, if you want to break down each book, the TDMM, the ITSEM, et cetera, as to which guide is which career path and how to better prepare and study for the test that companies each got, so the TDMM is going to be used for your RCDD, the ITSEM manual will be used for your Bixie technician, your installer, copper installer, fiber installer, fiber, those certifications. And again you can use the same parameters I said for setting up your books. Right? So there we go. Anthony's in the house. He said good evening, mark Higginson. Congratulations, mark, on your new certification, all righty. Somebody says, rob, it humbles and scares you. Oh, it absolutely does. You know, after I got my RCD, my biggest concern was somebody was going to ask me a question that I didn't know the answer.

Speaker 1: 37:42

Yeah yeah, the first one was the best. Yes, another thing coming in across the chat box. The first one was the best. Yes, another thing coming in across the chat box. I know this is not related to today's video, but what steps would you take before taking the RCD exam?

Speaker 1: 37:55

In regards to study material, did you do an in-person training before I took my test? I did not. I did not take any in-person classes, but some people have. That's a personal journey. What works best for you? Right, I was able to do without. Some people do need to have that class.

Speaker 1: 38:15

What I did was I created my own flashcards. I bought two packs of three by five index cards. I wrote questions on the front, wrote the answers on the back and, as we were driving to the job site, I gave the index cards to my partner and said read them to me and I'd have to answer them. I even recorded my own voice on a cassette tape. And Daryl the RCD's in the house he says never give up. It took him four tries to get his four years ago. Also, you've got to be kidding me. He says he highly recommends the design courses. I do as well, especially if it's not something you're familiar with, right, anybody studying for the ITSUM. So I'm actually considering starting an ITSUM study group. If you're on Facebook, go to Facebook. Look up Bixie Technician Study Group. That's my group. If I do launch it, it'll be there. And somebody asked can I share the reading plan? I just did so. It's in there. By the way, this is recorded. So if you need to go back and see the reading plan that I put up, go back and watch the recording. After the show's done. It's there. I'm not going to edit it out. Okay, it Took my tech in 2022. I'm studying the TDMM. If you end up starting a group, I would love to join and help with some of the questions. Absolutely yeah, if you're considering, or if you.

Speaker 1: 39:39

I didn't do this show tonight to get people to come to my study group. I did tonight's show because some people don't have the money. Some people don't. They want to create their own stuff. That's why I did tonight's show. Because some people don't have the money. Some people don't. They want to create their own stuff. That's why I did tonight's show. I'm sharing what I do in my study group. If you want to participate in one of my study groups in the future, send me a message. I will save your contact information and put it up so that when I do the next one up, it'll be there. So there you go. Rob says thanks and let me see. Rob says thanks and let me see. What's this one here.

Speaker 1: 40:07

Robert Michael, I just used the Corey and Steve RCD study course. I've heard a lot of good things about the Corey and Steve study group. I've never used them, though, but I've had other students who have used them. Went all over. A lot of information. I went past my 30 minute mark that I normally go by. Lots of great information again. Questions, comments, concerns send them to me. Email that I normally go by. Lots of great information. Again. Questions, comments, concerns send them to me. Email direct message. I'm all over the place. Send them to me, and if you're interested in one of my future study groups, let me know that as well too.

Speaker 1: 40:41

So I hope you found value in tonight's content. If you did, just put it in a chat box and do me a favor I don't think I've ever asked this before. Do me a favor. If you're on LinkedIn, if you're on YouTube, share this video to your feed. Share this video to your feed so other people can see it Again. I want to do it so that way we can impact more people and have more people become our CDDs, have more people make more money, have more people climb that ladder and be more successful in their career. That's the whole reason I do the podcast. The whole reason I do the podcast is to make other people's lives better, educate, encourage and enrich the lives of other people in the industry. That's exactly why I do this, exactly why I do this. All right, a couple more things then I'll sign off.

Speaker 1: 41:28

I love Thursday night podcast. So, technically, thursday nights are the live stream, mondays are the podcast, Just so you know. So there you go. In case you're not listening to the podcast, right, I'm looking for one to study for the RCE. So look, we already got somebody already there who's looking to. So, mark, if you're really serious about starting your own study group, message me and, uh, I'll help you get that set up. I will, I'll go, I'll. I want to have, I want to help everybody. All right, everybody. Now I have literally like 18 minutes to go eat dinner and get back in here before the before my study group tonight. Till Till next time, everybody, remember, knowledge is power.

Speaker 2: 42:12

That's it for this episode of today's podcast. We hope you were able to learn something. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on future content. Also, leave a rating so we can help even more people learn about telecommunications. Until next time, be safe.