Fiber Optics and Leadership in Project Management

But you know we always start off every episode with what are you drinking ? And Chuck is not drinking anything because my thing's empty . I drank it all during class today . Yep , just a little bit of water left in there . Tell me in the chat box what are you drinking at night ? Kaylin's drinking water .

What are you drinking over here in LinkedIn world and YouTube world ? Nobody's even answered yet . So , okay , yeah , I'm drinking water tonight . Oh , and let's also do the acronym challenge . This is going to be a good one . This is going to be a good one because it's kind of an oldie . The acronym is RBOC RBOC . What does that acronym mean ?

It's pronounced RBOC , rboc , r-b-o-c . What does that acronym mean ? I'll give you a hint it's a telephony acronym , an old one at that RBOC . Do you know what that means ? Put it in the chat box , okay ? Nope , nobody seems to know . So we'll go ahead and close it out . Regional Bell Operating Company . That's what that means Regional Bell Operating Company .

So you had Ma Bell , and then you had Ma Bell , you had , like C&P Telephone , southwest Bell . Those were the regional Bell operating companies , right ? So tonight's show , like I said , we're taking questions , so make sure you put your questions in the chat box .

The first one is I'll give you my notes here , chuck what are micro-bends and macro-bends in low-voltage fiber optic cable and how do they impact performance ? So first let's talk about the definitions of micro-bends and macro-bends . Macro bends so a micro bend is going to be a small microscopic deviation or deformity . Right , it's on the core .

It can happen during manufacturing . It can also happen during mechanical stress , for example , like pulling . Typically , though , micro bends are not visible to the naked eye . Then you have macro bends .

These are larger bends or curves in fiber optic cable that have a greater radius when you've exceeded the bend radius and they are visible , and they occur when the cable is bent beyond its design specifications . When you look at fiber optic cabling , there's a couple of different numbers that you need to know .

When you're pulling cable , pulling fiber optic cable , you don't want to exceed 20 times the outside diameter while you're pulling it , when it's at rest , just laying in the tray , that's going to be 10 times the diameter . The reason it's smaller when it's just laying in the trays because it's not under stress . So what the what does micro bends and macro bends ?

How do they impact performance ? Well , they cause light loss . That's the simple thing . Light loss basically equates to attenuation within the fiber right . Attenuation within the fiber and macrobands result in significant light loss . Now here's the thing Because fiber operates at wavelengths that we don't see with the human eye , you don't see it .

The only way you can see it is to put a VFL on it , a visual fault locator . Somebody says wrap it around the pencil if it's too hot . There you go , there you go . Well , actually , you know there is a thing called a mandrel , some of your older multimode fiber . You had to strip out the high order modes to get more consistent results when you're testing .

So it was a wooden spool that you would wrap five times , not overlapping on the transmit side . So you're not too far off fiber flipper . So what causes ? Let's talk about the causes and the preventions for micro bends and macro bends . So micro-bends and macro-bends . So micro-bends , poor handling during installation . You pulled on it too hard .

You over-tightened your tie wraps and your cable clamps . Those can all lead to micro-bends . There's some manufacturing things that can cause it too , but you can't really control manufacturing other than buy from a reputable manufacturer , right ? So we'll just stick with that . Macro bends are typically what most people run into . Again , you've exceeded your bend radiuses .

You didn't follow the 20X or the 10X rule that I talked about . So what you do to prevent that is make sure you don't exceed those bend radiuses . And those bend radiuses are found in the standards . They're found in the best practice manuals . They're found in every fiber class that you can take . They're all over the place . All over the place .

Now , the way that you see them is you put a VFL on it . The VFL puts a light on the fiber in the visible spectrum that the human eye can see . And if you have a macro bend , it will literally cause that fiber to glow red . Now you could open it back up . It should go back to work .

And finally , dandy , as long as you didn't damage it , as long as you didn't damage it , if you damaged it , you're replacing it . So the VFL is probably the easiest way to detect it . You can also use an OTDR , an optical time domain , reflect opportunity , detect and locate those bends .

So if you've got a really long run and you suspect there's a macro bend , you might want to put the OTDR on it first to find out where that is , then put the VFL on it and then go look at it and verify where it is , because you might be able to fix it . You might not . You know , there are some times where you have to fire up .

The cable has to go through regular inspections , regular inspections , especially , you know , when you're connecting buildings together . One of my customers was a building and it was owned by the very let's just say , one of the government agencies and it had multiple fibers going into that building . We had to check the fiber every year .

We would shoot it with an OTDR , and then it was compared to the previous years , quicktek if he's in the house how you doing QuickTek . So for micro-bends , rerouting the cables , relieve that pressure , make sure you do proper cushioning as well , and also for macro-bends , just relay the cable .

Again , as long as you didn't damage the cable , you should be able to fix it . The best practice , though , really for micro-bends and macro-bends is not to do it wrong to begin with , because when you do it wrong , you're taking the chance on damaging that fiber and once it's damaged it's got to be replaced .

That's not cheap , so the best practice is get training on it . Pay attention to what the installation manuals say . Pay attention to the leading training organizations like BICSI or FOA . Pay attention to what they say as far as installing FHIR . That way it's better to deal with it before it becomes a problem than after it becomes a problem , just saying .

Next question is Chuck , what should I consider when applying for a junior project manager position in low-voltage cabling ? Now , the person who sent me this , I actually know them and I reached out to them and they are currently a lead technician and they want to climb the corporate ladder and they want to become a project manager .

They may want to go beyond that and become an estimator or maybe even area manager , but a project manager is a good step . A good project manager , you still have one foot in operations , one foot in management . So for those people who are afraid to come out of the field , project manager is a good small step .

Well , actually it's a big step , but again , you're still somewhat involved in operations . So when considering about becoming a junior project manager .

We need to talk about your relevant skills , your educational background , your soft skills , understanding the standards , some of the tools like project management tools , networking with people , and if you're going to be applying to a different company or actually sometimes companies make you interview for internal positions too you need to talk about that interview process .

So let's talk about experience first . Make sure that you have good technical knowledge . Make sure you understand low voltage cabling system installation standards and best practices . A good project manager will have respect from the crews because they understand that that project manager knows what he's talking about .

I can tell you right now , as an installer in the field , there have been numerous times that I've been on projects run by a project manager and the guy had a degree in literature and knew nothing about cabling . He only got the position because he had a college degree . There's nothing wrong with college degrees Let me point that out there right now .

I've got several of them but when you're trying to manage people , you have to have good knowledge . What good is it if the project manager doesn't understand the difference between multi-mode and single-mode fiber , or why you would choose fiber over copper , or why you would use Velcro over tie wraps .

You need to familiarize yourself with project management skills and if you don't know what skills are required for project management , go on Indeed or one of the job search engines and look up project management and telecommunications and start reading job descriptions . After you read about a dozen of them , you'll start to notice similarities between all of them .

That's going to help you understand what you need to do , because , as a project manager , you're going to be jostling lots of different hats planning , scheduling , budgeting , resource allocations , dealing with all of the stakeholders , from internal stakeholders to to external stakeholders , like the customer , to people who you don't even think are stakeholders , like , maybe ,

distribution . So , a good project manager , first off they're going to be . Let's talk about the budgeting first . They're going to be tracking material budgets , labor budgets . So , with budgeting , you better be familiar with labor rates , how to calculate labor rates , how to calculate margins and markup . There's a difference between margins and markup , by the way .

Huge difference , huge difference . You need to know those differences and you have to be able to be able to track them to tell if you're on target or not . Let's talk about scheduling . That's another place where and these are all things that you can practice and go to , you can take classes on and you can read

about . Scheduling is really , really important , because when your project manager is handed a project , they're going to be given a schedule . Well , the first thing to do is verify that schedule with the customer , make sure nothing's changed and watch out for what I call schedule acceleration .

Right , because what happens is quite often the customers say , oh , and it shows up a couple of different ways . Oh , they'll say , well , we don't have three weeks to do this now , we only have two weeks . Well , I'm sorry , it wasn't estimated that way . Now we need to put more people on the project . How does that change the crew ?

For as far as my hourly rates , does my average hourly rate go up ? Does it go down ? Am I going to have to work overtime Again ? That all impacts that Scheduled compression . That's a big one , huge one . And what happens a lot of times too is that's not usually what happens .

Usually , what happens is the project manager gets assigned a project and then now all of a sudden , change orders come . They start issuing you change orders . Well , you know like , for example , they might want to add more cabling , more equipment . Well , guess what ? It takes time to do that .

Well , that adds to the time of the project , which means the schedule needs to be bumped out . But a lot of customers don't do that . Resource allocation . You know resource allocation for project management . So you have to worry about resource allocation for as far as manpower , equipment and other stuff as well .

So manpower , you know , are you going to need fiber optic technicians ? Are you going to need just cable pullers ? Do you need somebody like the Beard of Knowledge or Ed the old tech guy to come in and do the network stuff ? When can they come in ?

This kind of ties in heavily with the scheduling , because the schedule will tell you okay , you're going to pull cable from day one to day 15 . Day 15 to 21 , you're terminating . 21 to 27 , you're testing . So on day 27 , then I need to have my network guys come in and start placing the equipment .

And that resource allocation has to be bounced against schedules by other trades , especially if it's new construction , if it's new construction , if it's new construction . So , for example , you can't build out the closet if the walls aren't there yet .

You can't build out the closet if the walls haven't been painted yet , because if you start building out telecom rooms before the wall is painted . They're going to get paint all over your stuff . They're going to be all over your stuff . Hey , the beard of knowledge is in the house . Hello , beard of knowledge , how you doing , my friend ?

So another thing you need to worry about as far as relevant skills Excuse me , certifications and education . Run the cable and configure the network . There you go . Well , a lot of people . What they'll do if they're smart , they will .

There's a term for it and the term's escaping my head at the moment where they will fire up the equipment back at the office and let it burn in time . That's what it is burn in time , and they'll schedule it that way . When they hit the site with equipment , it's already been burned in , the software's already been loaded .

It's literally just a matter of plug it in , power it up , hook it to the network , boom off and running . It's literally just a matter of plug it in , power it up , hook it to the network , boom off and running . That falls under scheduling .

But getting back to my relevant experience and skills because again this person is currently not functioning as a project manager I'm going to tell you now , as anybody in the field , except for the people who have less than six months , because the first six months you're really kind of getting used to everything that they do in the low voltage world .

But after that you start thinking about where you want to go and if project management is one of the ways you want to do it , start paying attention to what other project managers do , start reading project management articles . Start to do project management webinars . You may even want to consider certifications like the PMP certification or the RTPM certification .

I had an interesting conversation with John Daniels about that a couple weeks ago , coming up in an episode on the 17th . Yeah , I got to interview the CEO of Bixie . It was so cool , so cool and it was just like two old cable guys just sitting there talking . It was a really great time . I can't wait for that show to come out .

I'm trying a whole bunch of different camera configurations too . So again , so get to you know . Some of your local colleges , also your community colleges , offer project management classes . Don't wait until you're a project manager to start learning project management skills . You can learn them now .

You don't have to wait , and what will happen is your company will notice that and they might even help you with that when they realize , hey , this guy's really investing in his career . That kind of falls back with the educational background because , you know , I mentioned the one project manager I worked for had a degree in literature .

It had absolutely no relevancy with what we did . But if they have a degree in electrical engineering or how about like the beard of knowledge , information technology or some other type of related field , that could be very advantageous , related field , that could be very advantageous .

So if you've already got those kinds of degrees or that kind of education , that's a fast track for becoming a project manager and coming out of the field . You also need to make sure that you are always educating yourself , always educating yourself . Okay , I already mentioned a few methods already . You know taking classes , webinars , stuff like that .

There's some other ones too , but we'll talk about those when we get to them . The next major area that you really need to pay attention and this is the one that you can do while you're still working as a lead project foreman . That doesn't cost you any money Communication skills . Improve on them .

You know a good project manager is going to have to have strong verbal skills , strong written skills , because they're going to be dealing with people at all different levels , from the clients , to internal and external stakeholders , team members and the team members could be anybody , from somebody who literally has only been in the ICT industry for two weeks or

somebody who's been in the industry for 40 years . So you have to be able to communicate with all those different levels and you can start this now . You don't have to wait for that . You can start this now . Practice by you know talking to people and talking to other people .

Start going to network events Again , we'll talk about that down a little bit later on . But you need good communication skills and where a lot of field technicians run into problems is written skills . Written skills practice writing . Practice your written skills . I taught a class today and I tell every class this words have meanings .

Be very careful as to which words that you pick , especially as a project manager , because you choose the wrong word it can impact your job and cost you jobs , right ? Somebody asked in TikTok what is everyone working inside of cybersecurity and high-risk threats and low-risk ? What is everyone working inside of cybersecurity ? I donrisk threats and low ones .

What is everyone working inside of cybersecurity and high risk ? I don't understand your question there . Also , you need to start . You know another soft skill talking to the guy I asked about becoming a junior project manager , getting out of the field .

Start developing your leadership skills . You know there's good leaders and there's bad leaders , and you know , just because you're a boss doesn't mean you need to be bossy . A good leader is going to inspire people to follow them . They're going to lead them . That's why they're called leaders . They lead them in the directions that you want .

They tell them here's my vision and they get their buy-in . They get them to follow their , their , their , follow their vision . That's what a good leader does . A good leader doesn't say , hey , do this or you're fired . That's not a leader , that's a boss . And you can start developing those now .

Now , again , there's lots of free information out on the Internet , lots of great quality information out there on the Internet right now , actually . And so once you start learning that , start demonstrating your leadership potential through the different types of roles and responsibilities .

Don't wait until your company gives you a position for you to start showing them that you can take on additional work , because that will get you to notice and then they might give you the raise and the job beforehand . There's a lot of people in our industry who are functioning as project managers , but yet they're not project managers .

What I mean by that is we're horrible at hiring people and are promoting people and say you're the project manager , but yet because they just want to give them a title so they can justify a pay raise , but they're really not tracking the budgets , the schedule , they're not doing risk management . They're not really project managers .

Our industry is horrible about that , absolutely horrible . Another soft skill and this is the last soft skill before we move on is problem solving . How can you fix things ? When I say problem solving , I don't necessarily mean okay , how do I get this cable down this wall ? That is .

That is an example of problem solving , obviously , but but again , looking towards that position that you want a junior project manager , start thinking about okay , well , we have x amount of days to do this . Here's the task that we got to do . Here's the issue I'm running into what can I do to work more efficiently ?

What piece of equipment can I bring in that'll have very little cost to the project , that will increase productivity , to help us meet those goals , help develop those solutions ? That's the kind of thing I'm thinking about , and you don't necessarily have to do them .

You can think about them and then , maybe after the project's done , talk to the project manager , say , hey look , I was just thinking , if we'd done this , this or this , how would that have helped ? Soft skills .

The next thing that you really , really , really going to want to know especially , you know , coming out of the field and becoming a junior project manager is have a good , thorough understanding of the NEC , the ANSI standards , best practices and safety protocols . You want to have a good , thorough knowledge of all those protocols .

You have the good , thorough knowledge of all those . Again , where most people fall down is a good grasp of the NEC , the National Electrical Code , nfpa 70 . You know where's mine . I got mine right here , just to show you how much of a geek I am . I've got mine . Yeah , I got it , but you don't have to go buy the book .

You can actually read it for free . Go to the old Google machine and type in free NEC access , and you can read the code book . What I would do first , though , is type in NEC adoption map , because I don't remember where you said you were from . Type in NEC adoption map , find your state .

There's a map of the US that tells you which states follow which code books . Then , once you know which map of the US and it tells you which states follow which codebooks , then once you know which version of the codebook you're following say it's the 2023 , then type in free NEC access and then you can read the 2023 codebook and make sure you read it .

Now , you don't want to read the whole entire codebook , okay , and the codebook is written not written in layman's terms but there are some sections that you might want to read and understand . For example , article 725 , 726 , 770 , 800 , 805 . And there are several others in article 800 as well , too . Make sure you read the definition section .

And there's also some things in article 300 , like 300.11 , 300.7 . Make sure you read those and make sure you understand . That's the problem Read them and understand . You may need to read them several times and then read the standards . Now , not everybody can go out and buy a set of standards . I get that . I get that because a set of standards is 1500 bucks .

I got that . But there's a lot of great resources out there , like Annexter and a bunch of others , that they take the standards and they boil them down into little pamphlets that you can download and read and that gives you , while it's not perfect and it's not complete .

It gets you a good understanding and didn't cost you anything other than a little bit of research . Best practice manuals Make sure you know them as well . Now , those ones , I do recommend you buy the TDMM , the ITSIM manual . I highly recommend those . The pocket field guides Highly recommend that .

Read through them because that's going to tell you , it's going to serve as a roadmap for the most efficient way to do the work , because just because that's the way your granddad did it doesn't mean you should do it that way . Also , be knowledgeable in all the safety protocols OSHA , 10 , right and , and you know , appropriate PPE .

You know you can be dealing with , with , with , with general contractors . A lot of times you're going to have to sit in their safety classes . You also need to make sure that you get familiar with project management tools and software . A lot of people will track projects just with Excel spreadsheets and stuff like that . Okay , great , fine .

But there are other things out there Microsoft Project , asana , trello . Those help you manage those tasks and timelines and resources . A lot of those have free 30-day trials . 60-day trials . You can download them and play with them .

So that way you kind of know them a little bit , because when you start applying for that position whether it's internal or external they're going to ask you about that and start to understand how to document everything . That's that's you want to .

The number one tip I can give you for being a project manager is get good at documenting stuff right Document weekly reports , document your budget , your costs , your schedules , request for information . Find a way to organize all that documentation so you can find stuff quickly and easily .

Again , these are all stuff that you can start doing now , before you become that junior project manager . And if you're applying for a junior project manager internally , your company is going to see you doing this stuff and that's going to make it more likely that they'll pick you for that junior project manager position .

Another good thing to do is to network , and by that I mean go to the conferences . They do regional conferences and stuff . Go to trade shows Graybar , antics they put on stuff all the time . I forgot I was just at who was it Vantage up in Atlanta they had their own little networking event .

I went up there and attended that , got to meet some people , and a lot of times it doesn't cost anything and you can also ask for mentorship . So , if you're going to want to be a good project manager , if you know a good project manager , talk to them . Ask them hey , what's some good tips ? Ask them if they'll mentor you .

A lot of people say yes , they absolutely will . And then the last thing to do is start thinking about the interview process .

If you're applying for a junior project manager in a different company , make sure you do your research , make sure you understand what kind of projects those companies chase , what is the culture there , and you can find that pretty easy by going by their website . I can't praise LinkedIn enough . You can go on LinkedIn . You can type in the name of a company .

It'll pull it up and it'll pull . And then you can pull up people who actually work for that company and then find a project manager within that company , or two or three , and befriend them and then start talking to them . And then , well , the thing with linkedin is not everybody is on LinkedIn , like they are TikTok and Instagram .

There are some who just have things there , anthony's in the house . But start reaching out to project managers and start , you know , asking them about the company . How's that company to work for ? Then you need to start thinking about examples , because you know when you go do that interview , you know they're going to ask you questions about project management .

So start thinking about some of your past projects , some of your past experiences . Somebody asked all chapters of the NEC ? No , don't read all chapters . Don't read all of them because they don't all apply to us . I should do a show on relevant NEC chapters . Maybe I'll do that next Thursday . Next Thursday's live stream . I'm going to write that down .

Next Thursday's live stream Relevant NEC sections I'm writing it down . Relevant NEC sections I'm writing it down . Okay , there we go , because it changes . It depends on which one it is . So start thinking about some hurdles you had and how you overcame relating to project management .

Start thinking of some examples of how you led teams , how you solved problems , because those are going to be the kinds of questions they're going to ask you .

So what you need to do is , if you think about it ahead of time , when you're sitting in front of the person and they ask you , that's going to help you respond to that question quicker , more fluidly , and it's going to help you respond to that question quicker , more fluidly , and it's going to help you sound more experienced .

And then also remember the interview process is a two-way street . Yeah , exactly 6.30, . It's time to stop the live stream . You can ask them questions as well . You absolutely can ask them questions . Ask them about their project management processes . How do they handle change orders ? What all duties does the project manager do ? How is the company set up ?

Is there an estimator who estimates the project and then it transfers to operations of the project manager , or does the project manager have to estimate and project manage , or does the project manager have to estimate and project manage ? Don't be afraid to ask those questions . Don't be afraid to ask questions about team dynamics . What kind of crews do they have ?

And , most importantly , ask them what is the expectations for that role , for that junior project manager position ? What expectations do they have for that ? And you know a good way to phrase that would be you know what skills or talents would you expect to see in somebody who's successful in that junior project management position ?

Let them answer that and , as they're answering , start thinking in the background , in your head , how you can use that and incorporate that in your conversations . Incorporate in your conversations . Now . You can use that and incorporate that in your conversations , incorporate in your conversations .

I actually have one more question about best methods for addressing patch panels , but we're already at 631 . So I can't answer that tonight because that's going to be a good five or 10 minute question , five or 10 minute answer there . So I'm going to go ahead and cut this short here .

But next Thursday I'm going to do relevant NEC sections to the low voltage install . That's a great show Next Thursday night . That's what it's going to be . All right , you know what ? I didn't check my chat , so let me flip over to the chat . See who all is saying hi here . I'm sorry , I totally forgot that . I'm sorry .

Rtpm , the next step after RCDD , if you're going to become a project manager . Yes , I would , absolutely , it's a great certification to have . I know there is a DC , dc and an OSP also . Yes , there is Absolutely the DC , dc , the data center design , credential certification , design , data center design . Can't think what the other C is off my head .

It's a hard , it's a hard certification , absolutely hard certification . Free seminars online in person that comes from Jason Jane is in the house Soft skills . Everyone laughs when I talk about this . Yeah , I get it . I truly get that . I truly get that . Oh , my gosh , that is it right there , right there . Spot on , james , spot on .

Don't let them see you sweat . You know I teach classes all the time People say , man , you're so good at that , they don't see the butterflies in my stomach and me getting all nervous because I'm good at hiding it , very good at hiding it , right . And let me see hey and the CEC , us north of the border , very good , yep , all righty everybody .

It is past 630 , 633 . I got to eat dinner and get ready for the RCD study group tonight , so tonight I'm teaching that class . So I'm going to have to cut this a little short . So until next time , everybody , remember , knowledge is power .