AHL: Knowledge Is Power: Navigating the ICT World

We tackle the most pressing questions in the ICT industry, from career progression paths to the future of low-voltage work in an increasingly wireless and AI-driven world.

• Career progression from cable puller to technician requires learning to read floor plans, developing termination skills, and building troubleshooting capabilities
• Certifications demonstrate career commitment but aren't a substitute for hands-on experience and continuous learning
• Self-directed learning through free resources like FiberU.org and Cable Installation Magazine can help professionals expand from copper to fiber optics
• Low-voltage is a "future-proof trade" that AI and wireless technology will enhance rather than replace
• Project management success depends on documentation, communication, and maintaining team morale through celebrating small wins
• Effective project managers need strong organizational skills, contract understanding, and the ability to balance schedules when other trades cause delays
• Learning contract language and budgeting processes prepares technicians for managing larger, multi-million dollar projects

Knowledge is power! Subscribe to Let's Talk Cabling and recommend the podcast to someone who can benefit from this information.

Chapters

• 0:00 Show Introduction and Weather Update
• 2:05 Acronym Challenge: MPO
• 4:42 Upcoming Episode Previews
• 5:41 Career Growth: Cable Puller to Technician
• 10:35 Certifications vs. On-the-Job Learning
• 17:09 Learning Fiber When Your Company Only Does Copper
• 22:01 Future of Low-Voltage Industry
• 29:46 Project Management Skills and Challenges
• 38:57 Managing Job Sites and Team Morale
• 44:13 Final Thoughts and Show Close

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Thursday night 6 pm, eastern Standard Time. That can only mean one thing Live after hours with your favorite RCDD, chuck Bowser. You know it's me. Welcome to let's Talk Cabling, your gateway to the world of ICT. Get ready to dive deep into knowledge and power when you get to ask your questions on installation design, certification career path. I answer a little bit of everything. You heard me right. I said Thursday night 6 pm because I missed last night's podcast, last night's live stream, and I missed it because Florida we're having a little bit of weather.

Speaker 1: 1:06

In case you haven't been watching the news lately, last week there was a day where the state of Florida got hit by, ready for this, 20,000 lightning strikes in one 24-hour period. 20,000 lightning strikes in one 24-hour period. How about that? Oh my gosh, oh holy Toledo. That, oh my gosh, oh holy Toledo. But wait, there's more. Last night, or no? Yeah, yesterday we had 31,000 lightning strikes, yeah, and as I'm saying this, I hear thunder in the background. Please not again. Give me a break from the lightning. So I apologize for not doing the show last week, but you know, that's what happens sometimes when you live in the wonderful state of Florida. Florida McFly's in the house. Larry Smith's in the house.

Speaker 1: 1:53

Now, you know we always start off with the acronym challenge. The acronym challenge for today is going to be MPO, mpo, mpo. What does that acronym mean? I'll give you a hint, daryl the RCDD's in the house. Hey, daryl, I was wondering if any of my regulars were going to show up, because this is on a Thursday, not on a Wednesday. We had a bit of weather yesterday so I was hampered in being able to do my live stream last night. So I'm doing it today. I'm doing it today. I'm doing it today. Mpo I'm looking for that acronym for the acronym challenge. What does M-P-O stand for? Again, it has something to do with fiber. So we've got some chat boxes, some chats coming in. Let's go ahead and fire up those chats so I can see them. There it is. If you are broadcasting on TikTok, it's not coming through. I am broadcasting on TikTok and there's a bunch of people swiping through it. So people in TikTok, let me know if you see it now. So there we go. Yeah, I apologize about last night. We had some weather and it just wasn't meant to be last night. It just really really was. So nobody answered the acronym challenge. It was mpo and that stands for ready for this multi-fiber push-on connector. It's used in high density fiber applications, used a lot for um pre-terminated fiber trunk assemblies. You know we also got to do.

Speaker 1: 3:24

What are you drinking? Chuck is drinking ginger ale Zevia again, because it is my favorite drink. Put in the chat box what are you drinking? For those who need proof, there's my Zevia ginger ale, can that? I just poured it out of. Tell me in the chat box. What are you drinking? What are you drinking? We're missing a lot of our regulars here, so I bet you Shazi's probably drinking a Diet Dr Pepper, if I know him.

Speaker 1: 3:54

Did you catch last week's show, did you? I did a 40-minute show with Gary Runkle from Alpha Tech Team Solutions and we talked about designing and installing and installation tips for video surveillance systems. We covered. You know NVR formatting, you know where to aim the cameras and stuff like that. Kalen is in the house. He's drinking a lemonade when his food gets there. Yeah, if you missed it, don't worry. It's on YouTube or Spotify and a bunch of other places as well.

Speaker 1: 4:29

I've got some really cool shows coming up in the next couple of weeks. I've got a show coming out next week on how will the copper tariff affect you. Remember, there's a 50% tariff on copper. I've reached out to somebody in distribution and we're going to be talking about that, talking about how it could affect you, what products can it affect and even what you can do to help alleviate that. Also, I got a show behind that, one called Top 10 Code Violations done by low-voltage installers Top 10 Code Violations. That's going to come out the week after that.

Speaker 1: 5:09

Also, somebody reached out to me on one of the platforms I don't remember which one it was. I want to say it was TikTok, maybe even Instagram. They want me to do a show on terms and conditions, terms and conditions. I'm going to do that because that's a great subject. If you ever have an idea for a show, send it to me in a message, right? Because if you said it here in this, I probably won't see it, and it's just the way it is. It's just the way it is. So let's get on with our questions. Question number one this comes from Wendy on Instagram how do I move up from cable pulling to becoming a technician?

Speaker 1: 5:51

Well, here's the first part of that. What is a technician? I know what Bixie says a technician is, but when it comes to companies. Every company is going to have a different qualification for what is a technician. So my first thing to you would be meet with your supervisor, express your interest in becoming a technician, find out what are the requirements, what's the knowledge base, what's the skill sets required for becoming a technician, because it might be different than what. I'm going to give you some tips, but they might be different than what I say. So always check with your supervisor first. So the first thing I'm going to say is and as an installer or cable puller right now, you probably already have this to some level learning to read floor plans and cable schedules.

Speaker 1: 6:50

Again, what does an open triangle mean? What does a half-filled triangle mean? What does it mean when it has a line underneath of it? There's the cable guy. What's happening, cable guy? Yes, I missed last night's live stream because of some weather, of course typical Florida. Hey, make sure that you subscribe too and watch the Cable Guy. He's a great guy. He's on here tonight. I like watching his live streams. Soon, I'm going to start doing my live streams up in the podcast studio while I'm putting together the podcast studio. That's going to be cool. Right, that'll be cool. I'll be in there installing conduit, putting down static flooring, putting up plywood, putting up a ladder rack, moving my relay rack up there, putting in J-hooks, running cable, terminating cable terminating, showing people how to terminate 66 blocks, big blocks, and a bunch of other stuff as well too. So watch out for that.

Speaker 1: 7:46

Getting back to the question from Wendy, there's my ADHD for you, squirrel, squirrel. Hey, let me know in the chat box. Do you suffer from ADHD? Are you easily distracted, as I am? Because I'm telling you, if you could only see my office, you see it on the camera. But you're seeing what I want you to see. Just outside, it literally looks like a bomb went off. There's stuff everywhere, and I told my wife just the other day because she made a comment about my office and she doesn't clean it because it's so messy, and I said but that is what it looks like inside my brain. Yes, yes, there you go.

Speaker 1: 8:24

So, yeah, make sure you learn how to read floor plans and cable schedules Also, not just floor plans for low voltage, but also learn how to read floor plans for electricians and HVAC and sprinklers, so that way you can learn to. The beard of knowledge is in the house. That way you can learn to avoid conflict with knowledge is in the house. That way you can learn to avoid conflict with those you know. Learn to read elevation so that way you don't mount your cables at the same height as theirs, right? And then also, you know as a cable pull. You're probably already pulling cable now, dropping cable, roughing it in. Are you terminating cables yet? If you're not, ask your project lead to start giving you you know. Let you start terminating right now. Or, if you are terminating, ask him to turn around and help you teach you things that you don't know how to terminate.

Speaker 1: 9:18

Maybe it might be a fiber optic connector, it might be something else. There's lots of things that you can do. You might also want to take the Bixie Installer 1 class. Lots of great if you can get your company to pay for that and if you can't, okay, but there are free resources out there. As a matter of fact, if you've got about 80 bucks to spend, I highly suggest and I know I've talked about this before and I don't make any. I really wish that I got paid affiliate fees from bixie. I really do buy this set. It's called the ict pocket field guide set.

Speaker 1: 9:51

Okay, there is, uh, the general one, there is the copper one and then the fiber one. It's a great resource to have. It's easy to read, got diagrams've got diagrams. It explains stuff really well. It's going to help you go a long way to try to reach that technician role that you want. And then find people around you who you feel have good technical knowledge and try to emulate them. Ask them why do they do things that way? Because that's going to help you grow as a technician. Do things that way, because that's going to help you grow as a technician.

Speaker 1: 10:27

Question number two and this comes from Lou Voltguy on Reddit Do I need a certification like Big C or can I learn on the job? This is such a great question. My favorite RCD Daryl in here. Hey, there you go. So here's the rub, right. So there are a lot of certifications out there. There's copper certifications, fiber certifications, design certifications, project management certifications, lots of different types of certifications. But I know the backside on this is help on the job site. Who is using a Comscope calculator for pipe fill ratio on Kazik's hay? But they are ignoring Huh, what? Ignoring the 490s and over 100 feet. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Okay, I'll address that one in just a second, cole. So, getting back to Louisville's question certifications. They definitely help you.

Speaker 1: 11:30

If I see somebody with a certification that tells me that they are treating it as a career, not a job. They're going above and beyond and they're learning stuff right Now. I got to say this just because you have a certification does not mean that you're good. There are people who are good at taking classes and passing exams. Most low-voltage people are tactile learners. They really learn by putting their hands on things. So the certification does not guarantee that that person's great. It just means they've gone through a class, they took a test, they passed the test. They took a hands-on and passed it. It's not going to hurt you. It's going to open up doors for you, doors for potential jobs, you know, within your company, maybe it'd be a QA project manager. It's going to open up doors for end users, do projects for them, stuff like that. So it's not going to hurt you, and there's lots of them out there.

Speaker 1: 12:35

I mentioned the. I put the meows in the house hey, how's it going? I mentioned the Bixie. Bixie's got several of them. So does FOA Fiber Optic Association. They got their CFOT Certified Fiber Optic Technician. Let me think of a couple others off my head Light Brigade just came out with some certifications and stuff like that.

Speaker 1: 12:56

But the key thing is, it's not just certification, it's always keep learning on the job. I'm going to say this louder for the people in the back always keep learning on the job. The minute you think you know everything is when you're a danger in this, in this industry, people, people I get them in my class all the time. You can't teach me nothing. I've been, I've been doing this for 15 years. I I get it. A mind is like a parachute. It only functions when it's open. So always keep learning right, always look to see what certifications are out there. Or even the lingo oh my gosh, our industry is horrible with lingo. Hey, the old tech guys in the house, our industry is horrible, horrible with acronyms and changing acronyms. So it's going to be hard on you. The cable guy says when you stop learning, you stop growing, and that is a true, true statement. True, true statement. Right, and then also having a certification again to show that you are committed to your craft. It shows you're committed to your craft, to your employer, to your customer, and it's going to open up all of them kinds of doors for you. This will be my 25th year in Big C and just learn new stuff today. Exactly, right, exactly. I learn new stuff all the time and then you know I got 40 plus years in this industry and I'm telling you that's you got to go back.

Speaker 1: 14:27

Going back to Cole's question in TikTok, cole is asking he says help on a job site who's using a comp scope calculator for pipe fill on Cat6A? But they're ignoring the 490s and over 100 foot. Okay, so here's the rub with that, cole. The 40% fill ratio is in the code book, that's table 9.1. If you have two or more cables, the maximum fill ratio for conduit is 40%. Okay, that's in the code.

Speaker 1: 14:59

Now you're talking about piping. Now You're talking about 490s no more than 100 feet. Now you're talking about piping. Now You're talking about 490s no more than 100 feet. That is best practices, not code. That's best practices. So code says that they can have up to 490s when installing conduit. That's three 90-degree bends 90 plus 90 is 180. 180 plus 180 is 360. When you pull cable through a 90-degree bend for low-voltage cable you've got to pull a little bit harder to get it through that conduit and that can stretch copper, break copper, change twist rates. And then also the 100-foot rule. No more than 100 feet between pull points is also a best practice. So you didn't give me the whole gist of everything that was in your comment.

Speaker 1: 15:44

But if your contract says that your work will meet the ANSI standards and the Bixie best practices, you have a foot to stand on. Okay, you have a foot to stand on. So they're not using 40%. They are using 40% fill and not 30% fill on a new install. Well, you can use 40%. 40% just takes you to the maximum. That's just the deal. You always want to percent fill and not 30 percent fill on a new install. Well, you can use 40 percent. Um, 40 percent just takes you to the maximum. That's, that's just the deal. You always want to leave room for growth. So you really got to look at the contract. What does the contract say? Does the con is, are the electricians putting in the conduit? And does your contract say that your work will meet? Actually, oh my gosh, this just reminded me. This just reminded me. This just reminded me.

Speaker 1: 16:25

So I mentioned at the very beginning of this program, the very beginning of the live stream. I mentioned some future episodes coming up and one of the episodes I don't know if you were here, cole, when I said this. One of the episodes that's going to be coming out really soon, within the next couple of weeks, is how to use terms and conditions to protect yourself, and that this is going to be a perfect one for that right. You know you can put in the terms and conditions that your price is reflective of the conduit being installed per the ansi and bixi best practices. If they're not, then you are. You reserve the right to come back for additional charges. So that's going to be a great thing for that right there.

Speaker 1: 17:07

Question number three I'm not good at math. Can I still be a good low-voltage technician? Yes, you can. Yes, you can right Absolutely. But you didn't really say how bad you were at math. Here's the thing when I was in high school, I suffered in math. I hated math, but I didn't find I came into when I became about 35, I was about I got promoted to being an estimator and I learned that I loved math. It was just really cool to see how things can change by using math. So you know.

Speaker 1: 17:48

But most of the calculations that we're doing are not necessarily hard, but we have things out there to help us, like apps and cheat sheets, like Cole was just mentioning the Comscope fill ratio thing. Hilti has a fill ratio thing. Almost all the manufacturers have some type of a fill ratio thing. Hilti has a fill ratio thing. Almost all the manufacturers have some type of a fill ratio calculator, right, and uh, my wife just text messaged me. I was just calling to see if you could be. Blah, blah, blah, I'm doing a live stream right now, woman doing a live stream. So, yeah, apps are your best friends. You know, I mentioned the foa. They got one for doing fiber optic loss budgets. So there's lots of apps out there that can help you doing that. So, realistically, the most math that you're going to be able to do is okay, well, we're doing 10 runs and there's three cables per faceplate. That's going to be 30 cables. That's going to be the basis of your math, all the other stuff you can do with apps and stuff like that. So learn with reputation.

Speaker 1: 18:46

Question number four what is the difference between an installer and a technician? What is the difference between an installer and a technician? Yeah, tell me in the chat box. What do you think is the difference between an installer and a technician? Tell me what your thoughts are. So, for me, an installer is going to be somebody who pulls cable, terminates cable, tests cable. A technician is going to pull, terminate and test as well, but they also have troubleshooting skills and even some, and even some. My wife just called and just threw my whole brain for a loop there. So, yeah, the troubleshooting skills and also some basic management skills like learning how to forecast material. We're going to start doing JAX next week. Here's a good one.

Speaker 1: 19:54

Communication this is a big one between installers and technicians. Communication skills, because as a technician, you might have to send daily updates to your project manager. You might have to talk to and have a conversation with the customer. So, yeah, they troubleshoot. They might even do programming for phones and network and have a conversation with the customer, right. So yeah, they troubleshoot. They might even do programming for phones and network switches, but they're usually leaning more towards lead, right, leaning more towards lead, and there's a high expectation when it comes to technicians. You know, if a technician and an installer both do something wrong, let's say it's the exact same thing. A technician, yes. Would you please, caitlin, just let her know I'm doing a live stream because I missed last night. So they're going to be held to a higher level because they are a technician. But it's doable. There are many, many people, thousands of people, tens of thousands of people, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people have made the jump from installers to technicians. It's not that hard, it's very doable. Just again, you've got to be that constant learner.

Speaker 1: 21:02

Question number five this came to me from LinkedIn how can I learn fiber if my company only does copper? Oh, that's a great question, great question. The company only does copper. Oh, that's a great question. Great question. The company only does copper. How can I learn fiber? You're probably going to have to do this all on your own, because if your company's not doing fiber now, they're probably not going to send you to fiber school. They might, but if they're only doing copper, they probably won't. So you're going to have to learn on your own.

Speaker 1: 21:30

There are some free resources out there. The first one, the first one read Cable Installation and Maintenance Magazine. It's free. Go to cablinginstallcom, sign up for it. The magazine comes out every two months. I think it is Great resource. There's also fiberuorg. Fiberuorg that's a free fiber optic course, and there's lots of great fiber videos on YouTube. Just when you watch fiber videos on YouTube, make sure you evaluate where that information is coming from. So if you want to learn how to run an OTDR, a video from EXFO might be a good video to watch. Watching a video from two chucks in a truck maybe not. So keep that in mind. So evaluate that source.

Speaker 1: 22:28

You might even want to maybe volunteer or shadow on a fiber job, even if it's unpaid. I know people don't like it when people say, oh, I want to get paid. But you know what? Sometimes you've got to do stuff to climb that ladder. But if your company is only doing copper, I'm not sure how that's going to do it. But what you could do is I remember once about 15 years ago, I did some cabling for church for free.

Speaker 1: 22:54

I mean, I volunteered my, my, my labor to do it and I got companies to to um, give the church cable and patch panels and a bunch of other stuff like that. But and so that way you can kind of do it and learn. And there's, there's a content creator, jason Lehman. Jason Lehman, he's on I can't remember the name of his channel off the top of my head, but he's on YouTube and he's also on LinkedIn and what he did was he just he says, he flat out says I don't know anything about Fiverr and he's getting companies to send him stuff to play with it and learn it. How good is that? Right? How good is that? So you know, maybe get that. Maybe if you do a demo job where there's some fiber or maybe some fiber optic enclosures or adapter panels and they're going to just throw it away, take it home. Hey, did you know Milwaukee is starting to sell fiber termination tools? Yeah, I'm gonna have to go check that out. Fiber termination tools yeah, that's very cool. Um, so, yeah, maybe buy some some fiber termination tools and start playing with.

Speaker 1: 24:03

Just remember always be aware that there's dangers to terminating fiber. Right, so you know, work over a dark mat, if possible, nice light. Wash your hands afterwards. Don't eat or drink at your fiber station there's lots of rules. And also make sure you always dispose of your fiber in an approved scraps container. Don't use electrical tape rolled over backwards. Don't use soda bottles, soda cans, beer bottles, beer cans, parmesan cheese cans, red ribbon stuff, couches, right, what is the best free study guide for the RCD test? Okay, so there's lots of paid things out there, lots of paid things. So if you go to oh, I'm trying to think of the name of that. There's a Quizlet. That's what it is, quizlet. If you go to Quizlet, there's a whole bunch of RCDD flashcards. But keep in mind those RCDD flashcards were made by people, so there might be errors To me.

Speaker 1: 25:09

I think, marcus, I'm going to give you the best study plan right now. If you want to become an RCDD number one, do it now. I was reading in a meeting minutes of one of the committees. They're going to start working on the 16th edition TDMM Q1 of 2027. That's only a year out and then it'll be probably a year behind that when it actually gets published. So the 15th edition is only going to me around for another year or two. Do it now.

Speaker 1: 25:35

So get your copy of the 14th edition tdmm like this one right back here. And, by the way, people think this is a background. No, this is. This is real, buddy, it's real. So buy that 15th edition tdmm, read it, read it and then also go to Office Depot, office Max or whoever it is, and buy blank index cards. As you're reading it, highlight it and then also, on the front of the card, write a question and then on the back write the answer to it and then just use those flashcards. It's a lot cheaper. It's a lot cheaper, I'm telling you, a lot cheaper. But there are some RCT study programs out there. We just finished an RCT study group last week. I'm not going to do another full RCT study group until next year, but I am creating videos for each chapter. So there will be a video for Chapter 21, the project execution, a video for telecommunication spaces and stuff like that, and I'm going to put that up on one of the learning platforms like Kajabi or something like that, and that will be available for people to learn the TDMM. So there's your hints, marcus.

Speaker 1: 26:46

Question number six Is there a future in this trade or will it be replaced by wireless or AI? This came to me from a TikTok. Here's the thing the low-voltage industry is not just pulling cable. It's voice cabling, data cabling, cabling for wireless access points, security, access control, digital electricity, nurse call cabling and a bunch of other things. So wireless is not going to make low voltage go away, right? Low voltage is going to be around for a long time, a long time Now. The other side of that question was is it going to be replaced by AI? Ai will never be going out into the field to pool, terminate and test cabling. It will never be out there as the project manager shooting and receiving emails and doing schedules. Ai will help us be more efficient in those jobs. You know, I can certainly see a project manager or an estimator using AI to be more efficient at the job, but it's not going to replace their jobs, okay. So yeah, hands-on low voltage is going to be around for a long time, and the more you know this whole AI trend trend right now.

Speaker 1: 28:14

I've seen it happen before. I've seen it. I've been around for a while, in case you can't tell by the old gray hair. I've seen it happen before. I've seen it happen in the early 80s. I am that old computers. Everybody's like why are you going to get a computer? Computers are going to take people's jobs. You know, blah, blah, blah, blah blah, and I saw a lot of people who were resistant to change. Nowadays you can't, even well, you can, but it's a lot harder to function in today's society without a computer Check and receive emails. You know streaming videos and learning things, computer-based classes. So it's going to be around for a long time.

Speaker 1: 29:01

Low voltage is about as close to a future-proof trade as you can find. Okay, and here's why I say that Because when the industry is in a hiccup and it's slowing down, companies generally want to move into smaller spaces to save on their rent. Well, they got to wire up those new spaces when the economy is going and like gangbusters and growing customers are moving into larger spaces and those spaces need to be cabled. So it's about as a future-proof industry that you can find. It's about the closing fund Skill techs are always going to be in demand. Skill techs are always going to be in demand.

Speaker 1: 29:40

The key is again we talked about that earlier with the questions earlier certification and then also so constant learning. Question number seven how do I become a project manager one day? There's an old Chinese saying, and I hope I get this right the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. You're not going to become a project manager overnight. The key is decide that that's the way that you want to go overnight. The key is decide that that's the way that you want to go. And then there's that's your destination, and figure out how to get to that destination. So I didn't mention in your, your comment what, what your job function was, brandon. You didn't. You didn't mention what it was If there's already a project manager on that job or lead tech, there's nothing wrong with you starting to track your own materials and your own daily logs. There's nothing wrong with that. It kind of gets you in skill sets.

Speaker 1: 30:40

As a matter of fact, when I worked for a company in northern Virginia called TCI Telecommunication Concepts Incorporated, they were in Springfield Virginia, springfield Virginia, right, springfield Virginia. So as a lead tech pulling cable, I would literally track the footage of cables that we pulled every day and again. This early adopter of technology, I had a computer, I built a spreadsheet and I would put in my and on the job site I would write down my beginning numbers and my ending numbers right off the cables. So that way I knew exactly how much cable I pulled. And then I would create that chart. And then, lo and behold, not too much long after that they started requiring the cable crews to submit that information. Well, I already had it on a computer and all I had to do was print it off and send it to them. And I got a comment once from the accounting lady and she said you know, I really appreciate that there's never a math error in your stuff. Yeah, because I'm an early adopter and I did it on a computer because people were shying away from computers, so, but I wasn't the project manager on that job, I just started doing on my own.

Speaker 1: 31:46

I used to walk around, I used to have, you know, those little pocket notebooks that they have with spirals. I used to keep it like January 24th I pulled 62 cables, dropped 82 cables, cleaned up the job site, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And more than once I would have my supervisor say hey, remember that job three weeks ago? How many cables did you guys get pulling at jobs? I was like I got bad memory so I would pull out my notebook. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, there it is. Yeah, the place over in Tyson's Corner, yeah. So we pulled a total of 215 cables. There's still another 80 cables to go. That's going to set the foundation for you being a good project manager. Maybe you might want to start thinking about taking classes at your local community college project management classes, learning how to use MS Project.

Speaker 1: 32:35

I got an episode coming up with Project 360. Projects 360. Projects 360 is a project management estimation platform where you can estimate projects, project manage a project and do a bunch of other stuff. They're going to be on the show. We're going to be doing the recording sometime next week, so it'll probably be three weeks or so before it gets released out into the podcast world, but so that's a show coming up Right, and then and then maybe ask your project manager.

Speaker 1: 33:05

Hey, you know, my goal is to become a project manager one day, to work beside you. Would you be my mentor? You know, if you don't ask, the answer is always going to be what? Tell me in the chat box. If you don't ask, your answer is always going to be no, no, exactly right. And you've got to start thinking like a project manager. You've got to start. Pgse is in the house, balto is in the house. You've got to start thinking like a project manager. Those are two different things from thinking like a project manager and then thinking like an installer.

Speaker 1: 33:40

Now I've got a bunch of project management questions. So question number first question of project management how do I manage change orders when a client keeps changing their mind? I have a list of 147 pro tips on my website, and pro tip number one is document, document, document, always. Document, document, everything, that's said, everything that you get in writing, document, everything. Okay, and then, if the customer is always doing changes. Make sure that you have a standardized process for change orders. You know, have them submit you a written request for additional work. Then you create a standardized, like change order form which is going to say here is how much it's going to cost for labor and material, here's the impact of schedule, here's the dollar value, here's the terms and conditions. And then make sure that you communicate, which is rule number two on my project list Communicate, communicate, communicate. The delays Customers don't think about that.

Speaker 1: 34:45

They'll be doing a little project. Let's put two more drops over there on that wall. You might already be working on a very tight schedule, so let them know, okay. Well, we have two options here. If we do it now, we can do it, but there's going to be a change in our association. Or we can cheat it as a separate project afterwards, because scope creep kills a project. Customers always add stuff they never think about how them asking you to do additional information impacts your job, so they don't ever think about that.

Speaker 1: 35:16

Next question what's the best way to track materials across multiple sites? Project management software, microsoft Project Projects 360. There's another one too. I can't think of the name. Off the top of my head, I think it begins with S, but I asked them to be on the show too. We're just in the process of negotiating that right now and trying to get them to come on. So project management software cause you're never going to remember every project managers typically will manage three to five, maybe to seven projects at a time and they're all going to be at different stages. They're all going to be at different stages. They're all going to be different stages.

Speaker 1: 35:56

So you need help. You need help and for each one of those projects, create a material log. And you already have the log. You have a bill of materials, copy it, paste it into a new document, add a column for ordered, a column for received, a column for delivered to the crew on site and then just put dates in there. As you do it, it's a great way to track materials right. And then also make sure that, as a project manager, that you have the expectation for your project technicians, your lead technicians, your project foreman, to sign for all the deliveries and then send you or copy for you or take pictures and email the sheets of the bill of materials, of stuff that came in, so that way you can verify that it got in there.

Speaker 1: 36:42

Next question how do I make my daily reports more useful to my boss? Have you asked what your boss wants to see? That's the first question. What does the boss want to see? I bet you he's going to want to see manpower. How many people are on the job site? How many want to see? I bet you he's going to want to see manpower. How many people are on the job site? How many hours you burn? I guarantee he's going to want to see. I'm saying he, but it could be she. I guarantee they are going to want to know. What work did you complete? What work did you complete and did you come across any things on a job site where there's a potential order change, order coming down the pike Issues?

Speaker 1: 37:22

You know the painters painted the telecom room so you couldn't dress up the cables because they were in their painting. Right? A picture's worth a thousand words and almost everybody's walking around with a smartphone nowadays. Take pictures, they say a lot, they say a lot, they say a lot and then send it to it. Send them to your project manager or to your boss, I mean. And then one of the things I learned not too long ago was when it comes to emails, and I've gotten this way too.

Speaker 1: 37:50

Don't write five or six or seven paragraphs. Don't write a book. Bulletize it, say you know you can probably bulletize it into you know four or five bullets, so that way they can read through it and get the high-level understanding. If you still want to put the documentation, put that behind it, but put the bullets up at the first day Quick summary, and then list four or five bullets and then say background. If you really want to write, then you can write all your ad stuff.

Speaker 1: 38:18

And the biggest thing I can tell you, the biggest thing I can tell you when it comes to writing daily reports, don't sugarcoat it. Be honest about it. If you're going to miss a target, yes, we're going to miss this schedule, but don't just say, hey, we're going to miss it Give the owner or in this case you might be a project manager or the owner of the company you're doing the work for. What is your plan to get it done and when do you plan to get it done by? Communicate, communicate, communicate. That's always going to be a good thing. And then also make sure you share wins too. So you know if you did, you know if you're doing something good. Put it in there. And if it's because of your crew, make sure you give credit to the crew. Give credit to the crew. You're only as good as you trained your crews.

Speaker 1: 39:16

Next question how do I balance the schedule when other trades delay us Project management classes? They talk about critical paths for your scope. Know it, understand it. And then usually, on your medium to larger size jobs, you're going to have weekly construction meetings with the general contractor. Communicate those issues. Say, look, how about this? How about being proactive? Say, look, we need to make sure that everybody's done with the telecom rooms by January 24th because we're going to start doing cable. That way, when you go there, the painter's not in there painting it on you. And then also make sure you always have a plan b or maybe even a plan c. What happens if they are in there? Is there something you can shift and go do something else on the same job site with minimal impact? Right, that's called risk mitigation. Risk mitigation question number five. And it's not number five. I lost track of the. I lost count the questions.

Speaker 1: 40:15

What makes a great foreman stand out? Somebody who plans ahead, somebody who doesn't wing it, somebody who communicates not only to their direct reports, but also back to the office, the project managers, the customers, somebody who learns how to coach and not criticize, and somebody who keeps a clean job site and clean paperwork. The biggest area that low-voltage technicians struggle with is paperwork. They don't see the value in it because they're not a project manager, right? So good paperwork Paperwork could be the difference between your project getting backcharged or not.

Speaker 1: 40:58

Question number six Well, how can I keep morale up when a job site is dragging? That's a good one. You know a lot of projects are going to be one week, two week, three weeks, but then you get on some larger projects, like I was on a project that when I worked for Hinkles McCoy, the project was 15 years. 15 years, yeah. And so learn how to celebrate the small wins weekly, call out when people do stuff right, have weekly meetings, call them out, say, hey, this person did this and great job because of this. We are bad about patting people on the back. We're great at yelling at people when they do stuff wrong, but a good manager is going to learn how to celebrate those wins in public, in public, so everybody can hear it. And then maybe, when you do these weekly meetings, maybe bring in pizza or coffee. If you do it in the morning, maybe bring in donuts. That doesn't cost that much, it doesn't cost that much, it really doesn't.

Speaker 1: 41:57

And then maybe even think about rotating crews to avoid burnout. You do get tired of going to the same job site doing the same thing day after day after day after day after day, so maybe think about rotating those. Right, the cable guy, try to plan a three-day weekend if your schedule can allow it. That really helps people deal with the stress. That's actually a great idea. I used to love doing four tens when I was an estimator. I always estimated my projects instead of five eights, I always estimated four tens. That way the crew would have three-day weekends, just like the cable guy says.

Speaker 1: 42:34

Question number seven what should I learn to prepare for managing a multi-million dollar projects later? And this comes to me on YouTube comments Okay, so here we're going to talk about budgeting and estimating. Understand how that money flows, understand the estimating process. What is a request for proposal, request for quote, terms and conditions? How to read Gantt chart, how to read critical pathways and learn how that goes. And learn contract language. You know again, project managers, we're good at. You know pulling, terminating, testing cables, but we suck at project management. So learn contract language. Maybe take a class at your local community college on contracts, Communication skills. Always write everything down and stay organized, stay organized. So those are my questions for tonight For those of you who submitted questions.

Speaker 1: 43:29

I appreciate you guys.

Speaker 1: 43:29

Everybody being here, I ran a little over tonight. I had a couple extra questions I had to go through. Remember always submit me your questions. You never know, I might pick them up and answer them on one of the live streams, and I love getting questions. And also, remember knowledge is power. So do me a favor. If you're not already, please subscribe to the podcast or recommend the podcast to somebody so they can watch it as well too. And then also I don't know if you noticed I've got advertisers on the podcast. Now Maybe maybe reach out to those people who support the podcast through advertising and say, hey, I heard your advertisement on let's Talk Cabling and maybe get them to talk to you about stuff that will help me a lot, help me a lot. All righty, all right, everybody. Until next time. Remember knowledge is power. Let's talk, let's talk, let's cable with pride In the world of ICT. Let's ride this tide. Thank you for joining us on let's Talk Cable and stay tuned for more episodes filled with innovation. Keep connecting, keep achieving. Until next time.