AHL 15 Common Questions about the RCDD Credential

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Last time I did this . How do I clear that stupid thing ? Dang it man . Well , tonight's show is about the RCDD program . The RCDD oh hey , you know what we're going to start off with . What are you drinking ? Put it in the chat box . What are you drinking Tonight ? Chuck is drinking chamomile tea .

Chamomile tea with a little bit of honey and a throat lozenge . Yes , yes , that's what Chuck does sometimes . Yep , tyler Johnson is drinking a Diet Coke and he just started his RCDD journey . So tonight is the first RCD study group , the first RCD study group . So if you are interested in a study group , tonight is just orientation .

You still have one week to join . If you still want to do that , let me open up the chat box so we can see what people are saying . I know you're probably yelling at me , chuck , fix the screen . Fix the screen , chuck , I can hear you . I can hear you , so let's do the acronym challenge . The acronym challenge for tonight is PBB .

The acronym challenge for tonight is PBB . What is that saying ? For I'll give you a few seconds to figure that out . Pbb , I'll give you a hint . It has something to do with bonding and grounding . There you go , there's a hint . Let me see . Pbb Primary bonding bus bar , primary bonding bus bar .

Somebody said grounding , primary bonding bus bar , that's close , but no cigar , no cigar . So I've I gotta get them right . That's one of the things I got in a conversation with , uh with somebody on one of the social media platforms .

We were talking about the um , the bonding and grounding , uh , lengths , right , the bonding , grounding links , and somebody said well , there's a chart truck and if it's got , if it's over a certain amount of feed , you've got to use this size . Blah , blah , blah , blah , blah . I was like , yeah , that's for the telecom bonding backbone , the TBB or the GE .

Actually it's not called the GE anymore , they call it now the . My mind's blown blank . The conductor he was talking about was actually the TEBC , the bonding conductor that goes from the bus bar to the rack in the telecom room and I had to actually look it up in the standards . So again drinking Camel tea , camel tea . So I've got this .

Tonight's going to be a speed session . Speed session I've got 15 questions about the RCDD program , 15 questions , and I've been stockpiling these . I answered these people already back in person in their respective platforms and stuff , but I've been saving the questions because I wanted to do it tonight when I was launching off my RCDD study group .

Okay , so the first question comes from Mark in Texas . Everything's bigger in Texas , right ? And Mark wants to know what is the RCDD Registered Communications Distribution Designer and why is it important ? Ok , so here's why it's important . Mark , it's a great question . By the way , great question .

It is one of the most respected credentials that you can get in the ICT industry , information Communication Technology Industry . We used to call it Structured Cabling , scs . Before that we were just called Cable Dogs . So , having the RCDD , somebody asked me today how many RCDDs are there in the world . I don't know if Bixie's ever released that number .

I'll have to ask them that one day . I got an email out to them . They haven't responded back yet , so I'll have to ask them that . See what that is .

But they did say at the Bixie Winter Conference just last week hey , speaking of the Bixie Winter Conference , let me know if you want me to invite some guests on and do an after hours , I mean after a Big C Conference thing . Let me know if it's something you want me to do , because I'll do it if you want me to .

I just got to get some input from you guys . See , if it's something of value for you , of value , let's uh , let's close . Let me see . Here , there we go . Why does it say unmuted ? Hmm , this is so weird .

So why is it important ? It shows that you have expert knowledge in designing , integrating and managing ICT projects . That's not just structured cabling , like a lot of people think that it is . It could be network and data center design . It could be wireless networks , security and AV systems . It could be quality control . It's more than just one thing .

So many employers , many government contracts , many even large-scale customers may require to have an rcdd on staff . So for me it was a game changer , game changer . Question number two what are the requirements to apply for the rcdd exam ? This comes from sarah in florida and that's a great question because a lot of people don't understand .

There's actually three ways you can qualify to become an rcdd . There's three ways . Option number one and actually I thought I heard that they're actually looking for ways to expand this , but I could be wrong in it , but right published . There's three ways you can do it . Option number one two years , two years of full-time ICT design and experience .

And and you have to have some other kind of Bixie certification , like a Bixie Tech , a Bixie RTPM , registered Telecommunications Project Manager , osp , dcdc . You have to have one of those other ones as well . A lot of people like to use the tech platform , the tech class , as a precursor to getting the rcdd .

I've heard that before and uh , so people , people definitely will like , we will do that , absolutely we'll do that , still messing up , still trying to fix this thing too , by the way , just so you know . Just so you know I'm trying to fix it , I truly am there we go Two years in ICT and a Bixby credential . That's the easiest way to do that .

Option number two Option number two Two years of design experience and some type of higher education , higher education what does that mean ? I love Campbell T , yes . What does that mean ? I love K-Miltea , yes . What does that mean ?

Stem school , trade school , ict-related courses , and I do believe that even some of the apprentice programs out there qualify for that as well . Tyler saying , his anniversary fell during the Bixie winter , so we compromised and went to where my wife wanted to go . That was probably a smart move , tyler . That's probably a smart move , truly truly is .

The third option you can do is that and this is how I got mine five or more years of experience in design , installation project management right within the industry , and they will check , they're going to ask for references , they're going to call those references and if you think you qualify but you're not sure , you can always email directly at bixieorg or call

them . There are phone numbers on the website there . I don't know . Off the top of my head , that's also another method as well , so they may actually have another option out there that I'm not aware of . Right , somebody says they're struggling to find a job . Osp splicer . It seems like everything's been built around me . Any tips to find work ?

So , uh , beach dolphin , where are you located ? What ? What part of the United States ? Because here's the thing about doing splicing work there's always hotbeds across the country , so it may not be a hotbed where you are in Chicago . Okay , there you go . Yeah , chicago is pretty built out . It truly is .

You may have to go to a different part of the country or actually , with the broadband initiative , there might be some work coming down the pike too . So , um , and he says there's , it seems to be tons of work , it's all out of state .

Yeah , with the broadband initiative , there's a lot of building splicing going on in the rural parts of the united states , not chic Chicago , because Chicago's got , I'm sorry , pretty much built out . Question number three how hard is the RCDD exam ? I'm not going to sugarcoat this one , john . It is challenging , it is hard .

It's going to test your deepest understanding of ICT infrastructure design and it's going to test your ability to memorize . It's going to test your ability to be consistent , to pick a goal and work your way towards that goal . Just kind of give an exam . There are all the RCDs in the house . He says it's unbelievably hard .

It is so hard that when I passed my RCD exam , I told my wife , if I ever crash my motorcycle and I'm in the hospital in a vegetative state , keep paying my dues until you bury me in the ground Because I don't want to take that test again . I don't .

There's 100 questions on that test and you get two and a half hours to take that test and it's going to cover everything from design to pathways to wireless to data centers , industry standards , some keys to help passing that . Number one study , the TDMM .

Don't be one of those people that says , well , everybody says that all the questions were in project management and that's all I'm going to read . No , read the entire thing , read the entire thing , read the entire thing .

When I was at the Big City Conference last week , sitting in the TI and M meeting committee meetings , they talked about potentially starting the revision to the 16th edition TDMM 16th edition , talking about already revising it . The 15th edition has only been out one year .

What that means is if they are to start and I don't know if they will or won't yet because there's been some pushback and I don't know what the final decision is but if they do proceed like they wanted to in Q2 of this year , that means the 16th edition will probably get published in about 12 to 18 months .

So if you are thinking about getting your RCDD , if you're not thinking about getting your RCDD and you thought about it once , don't procrastinate . Do it now , because the 16th edition is coming out soon . Another key for passing that exam is practice exams . There's lots of resources out there that you can look up .

I even have practice exams , although I got to update mine for the 15th edition but I've got practice exams that I use for my study groups and that you know . The key here is immersion Immersion . Lisa from New York wants to know what study materials do you recommend ? Okay , well , first , I already said you have to have the TDMM .

Take the Bixie RCD test prep course . Bixie actually started doing one like a year or so ago , right . And flashcards . Now here's the thing about flashcards . Bixie does have flashcards for the RCD exam . It does . But I found the more senses you incorporate in the learning process , the better chances you have of learning . So write your own flashcards .

Write the question on the front , the answer on the back . Now you're writing . As you're reading , you're doing multiple senses . That helps with retention . And while you're driving to the job site , hand the flashcards to your helper in advance and say , hey , quiz me and they can quiz you .

While you're driving to the job site , hand the flashcards to your helper in the van and say , hey , quiz me and they can quiz you while you're driving . Why not use that downtime in traffic to help you pass that exam ? It's also going to make your helper a little better too . So practice exams with flashcards .

Question number five how much does it cost to take the RCD exam ? This comes from Mike in Chicago . Yeah , hey , who was that ? Beach Dolphin . Do you know Mike in Chicago ? Because he asked the question . Somebody said they didn't know that they had flash cards . They do . They do have flash cards . They're not paper flashcards , they're computer on your screen .

And I think when I got mine last year I think I seem to remember it was only a subscription for like one year or something . So if you write your own , they never expire , right ? So Mike from Chicago wants to know how expensive is the RCD exam ? It ain't cheap . By any stretch of the imagination . It's not cheap .

And it depends whether you're a member , a Bixie member or non-Bixie member . I had a funny story happen to me last week at the Bixie conference .

You have to be a Bixie member to participate in some of the committee meetings , and so I was walking by one of the Bixie booths and one of the personnel says Chuck , you're not a Bixie member , you got to be a Bixie member to be on the committee . I'm like , I am a Bixie member , what are you talking about ? They said no , we looked you up , you're not .

So I had to go to the other Bixie booth and they had to look me up and I had two Bixie numbers , two Bixie profiles , right , one that I created many , many years ago . I'm still current . I'm current until June of this year . The other one wasn't . So make sure you don't have multiple Bixie profiles . That's my point there .

Anyways , if you are a Bixie member , the exam fee is $510 . For non-Bixie members , the fee is $725 . That's not counting the cost of the TDMM . Okay , that's the exam fee , and if you failed it , then you've got to pay to retake it . For Bixie members it's $230 to retake it . For non-Bixie members it's $355 .

Pro tip here maybe see if your employer will reimburse your exam fees or re-exam fees . I know my employer paid for my exam fee and one re-exam fee because they knew that a lot of people didn't pass it on the first time and and so they gave me two of them and I was able to do that . So there you go .

Next question , let me flip back over that screen . Question number six is the RCDD an open book exam ? This comes from Jessica in Denver . No , it's not an open book test . It's not , and , as I mentioned before , it's time limited , so you only have two and a half hours to take it .

So you got to be intimately familiar with it inside of it and it's going to require you to apply many of the concepts that you learned in that book . It's not an open book exam . Question number seven what happens if I fail the exam ? This comes from Dave in Atlanta . Dave says I'm telling Dave right now I failed the first time .

It's not the end of the world . If you do fail , you have to wait 30 days to retest . Okay , 30 days to retest . If you fail again , you have to wait 30 days to retest . Okay , 30 days to retest . If and you got if you fail again , you know , wait 30 days again . You know , if you fail again , you wait 30 days again after three attempts .

Then you got to wait 90 days before you can take that test again . So that's why I always tell people don't wait to the last minute To schedule your exam . Schedule it with time , especially when you're getting near a revision , because if they change the test you're going to be up the creek without a paddle .

I know of a guy that literally took that exam 12 times , 12 times Right , 12 times . Question number eight what jobs can I get with an RCDD ? Well , daryl , the RCDD can tell you he's got a good job . I've got a good job . Now this is asked by Tom in Phoenix . Here's the thing . It depends on what interests you .

You know you can continue doing what you're doing . I've had many people who are techs in the field . They got the RCDD and they continue to work in the field . There's nothing wrong with that . You can go into ICT as an IT consultant . You can go as a network designer , estimating projects . It'll help you launch a career in project management .

I already kind of mentioned estimating Maybe even a data center engineer . You can even go into QA , become an instructor , do QA inspections right , and many of those , many , most of those roles that I've already talked about have higher salaries , especially if you get the RCD . When I got my RCD , I got a raise literally within a month , a significant raise .

I won't say what the dollar value was . It was a good raise , I'll tell you on another day . Maybe , if you ever see me in person and you buy me a beer , I'll tell you the story behind it , because it's a really long , long story . Question number nine this comes from Eric in Seattle . How do I maintain my RCD certification ?

As I mentioned , you don't want to let it expire , you don't ? It's valid for three years once you get it , and every three years you have to do two things you have to attend at least one Bixie conference . At least one Bixie conference , it's all about networking and you have to get 45 continuing education credits .

Tj's in the house , bixie's member of the year is in the house yes , so you have to have one Bixie conference and 45 CECs . 45 CECs that sounds like a lot but it's spread over three years . If you go to a Bixie conference , you get something from going to the concert . A concert , yeah . Where's my mind at tonight Conference ?

Yes , I was talking to tj at the , at the at the conference when he was telling me he had , like I don't know , an ungodly number of ccs already under his belt this year . I already , I think , when I looked at mine , at 120 already . So 45 ccs , as tj says in the house , it is not hard to get , especially in today's environment .

You know there's a lot 181 there it is . That's how many cecs he already has . So he's good to go you . There's a lot of manufacturers do webinars one hour webinars . You can get cecs for that . Um , you can get them from going to the bixi conferences tech fest which is happening in april .

I know that for a fact that they're working on getting that event recognized for CECs . There's no reason Cable Installation made this magazine . They do one-hour webinars every month . There's no reason for you not to be able to get 45 CECs . So when it comes time to renew , you do have to pay to renew . If you're a member it's $225 . Non-member it's $385 .

The key is don't wait until the month before you expire to check your CECs . Get them , stay on top of them , know how many you've got . I look at mine every quarter and I just renewed my RCDD and I just attended a conference , so I know that I'm already at like 35 or so already just for this year .

Michelle in Nashville , what's some best advice for passing the RCDD ? So I have three tips . Number one master that TDMM , the Telecommunications Distribution Methods Manual . Read the entire thing , not just the project management chapters . Read the entire thing . If you have questions going through the things , ask your peers . Management chapters Read the entire thing .

If you have questions going through the things , ask your peers . Heck , you can even ask me , shoot me questions . I answer them online all the time . I'll answer them on LinkedIn , facebook . I might even make a video out of it , just if it's good enough . Take practice exams . I already mentioned that earlier . There's plenty of them out there .

I have practice exams and then make sure that you understand what you're reading and how it applies to the real world . Ok , don't just memorize . Apply it as you're reading through the TMM . Think about how that's going to impact your job or how your job could have been better had you read that before . Question number 11 .

How long should I study before taking the RCD exam ? This comes from Brian in Los Angeles . Great question , brian , great question . And it depends . It truly depends . Now , if you go by what Bixie recommends . They recommend 150 to 200 hours if you have experience in ICT , or 200 hours if you're new to ICT .

When I studied for mine , I had 20 years of experience . I studied way more than 200 hours because I had to battle 20 years of being taught how to do it incorrectly to doing it correctly . And in high school I was actually labeled a junior I'm sorry , junior . I was labeled SLRD Special Learning and Reading Disabilities .

I could argue that I got that label because I was too lazy on an exam one day . So I'm always battling that . I have to put my hands on stuff to learn stuff . And when you're taking your RCDD , that's why I said highlight it in the book Do color . Tj likes doing color coding stuff .

When he does his fiber optic enclosures , highlight with different color Sharpies , write on those flashcards that you're going to make , write the answers on the back by incorporating all those different senses . It's going to help you memorize . Help you memorize . Tj , you need to get your RCDD this year . I'm challenging you to get your RCD within the next 12 months .

Question number 12 . Can a military veteran use the GI Bill to pay for the RCD exam ? This comes from James in San Diego . Now , I don't really know the answer to this , because I am not a veteran . But I know somebody who is and I will ask them . I'll probably see them tomorrow night , so I'm going to defer this question until then . I have a feeling .

I have a feeling TJ says agreed , it's happening this year . Tj , if you need help , you know somebody . You know somebody . So my feeling is it probably does . But the best thing to do is check the VA website and then also you can also go to the Bixby website and I think they've got a special page off of that that's going to help that as well .

So Daryl says I work with veterans every day , and yes , they can . So Daryl says he works with veterans , and yes , they can . So there you go , thank you , daryl . I appreciate that . I appreciate that . Question number 13 . What are the most difficult topics on the RST exam ? This comes from Ethan in Toronto . So again , it really all depends .

People with background like me maybe TJ , maybe Daryl where we work with day in , day out , pulling , terminating , designing cable plants , we're going to fly through the fill ratios and the bend ratios and the conduit sizing , but we might have problems when it comes to wireless or DAS systems .

Talking about the coverage design , antenna placement , somebody like me who's done a tiny bit of outside plant , I might struggle with that . I might struggle with the data center chapter . So it kind of really all depends on your background and what you're used to .

The key is , if you fly through the easy stuff , okay , fine and dandy , double down on the tough stuff . Double down on the tough stuff . Question number 14 . What is the difference between an RCDD and a Bixie Technician certification ? Bixie Tech this comes from Kevin in Dallas . I used to live in Dallas , I used to live in Plano . So I am both .

I am an RCDD and a Bixie Tech . You can see the certificates back there . That's the RCDD , that's the certificate , that's my tech . So the biggest difference is the RCDD focuses on designing right , designing structured cabling , designing pathways , designing outside plant data centers . It's designing outside plant data centers .

The Bixie tech really focuses on hands-on stuff installing , terminating copper and fiber and some project management skills , like for lead project or for running crews or stuff like that . So the tech is more hands-on . But , like I said , many techs will pursue their tech first and then get their RCDD afterwards . Question number 15 .

I told you I'd get through all 15 . What happens if my RCDD expires ? This comes from Tom in Atlanta . So the first thing I'm going to say to you , tom , is why did you let it expire ? Don't let it expire , yes .

So if it does expire , you do have some options , and Bix has gotten really good about sending emails ahead of time that your RCD is about to expire or your text is about to expire . Don't ignore those . Don't ignore those . As soon as you get that , go check your CECs . Make sure you have them all online , right ? So you do have a grace period .

I believe the grace period is 90 days to submit your CECs and renew . But the thing is , I do believe those CECs have to be before your RCD expired , though you can't expire and then go get the CECs within a 90-day and then try to get it . You need to have them done before . If you wait past the 90 days , your RCD becomes inactive .

If you wait up to a year , you lost your certification . You got to retake the exam again and that's not fun . That is not fun . So make sure that you track your CECs , always keep an eye on them . Jacob's in the house . He said he just started studying and there's definitely a lot of unlearning to do to pass that test . Amen , brother , I agree with you .

150% . I truly , truly do you know ? I'm thinking maybe next week , next week , maybe I might do the same thing . Here they are , maybe I might do the same thing . Here's my Bixi RCD sticker , my Bixi RCD sticker that I got at the conference . It's in concert again Dang it man .

Yes , I might do this next week for people who are pursuing their Bixie Tech certifications . Let me know if that's going to be of value . Tell me in chat boxes . Would something like this be of interest if I changed it and talked about the Bixie Tech next week ? Okay , let me know .

All right , everybody of interest if I change it and talk about the bixie tech next week ? Okay , let me know . All right , everybody . It is 6 31 . Mama's cooking dinner out there . Tyler johnson says yes , uh , mama's cooking dinner out there . She's making hamburgers . I think , oh , it smells good , mmm smells good . So I'm gonna sign off .

And , uh , go get me some hamburgers and get geared up for the study group tonight . Take care , everybody . Remember knowledge is power .

Until next time , keep those cables clean , your standards high and your future bright . Let's talk cabling empowering the industry , one connection at a time .