In 2007, Dosty Hedges moved out to Phoenix, Arizona to study at a motorcycle mechanic school. In need of a part-time job, he landed a contract position at a local cable company as a frontline installation technician.
Originally, the job was only a financial means to an end, but today, Hedges is an industry veteran and an award-winning technician.
“I ended up finding out that I really liked the cable industry. I just enjoyed the work, and every day was a different adventure. You didn't know what you were going to get into, " he explained to us. "I ended up just falling in love with it.”
For two years in a row, he has taken first place at the SCTE Cable-Tec Games, a national competition bringing together broadband technicians from across the country who have competed and advanced in regional competitions.
But back in 2007, Hedges “didn’t know a darned thing about the industry or how any of it worked.”
That was scary at first, he recalled, especially when first working on his own after his two weeks of trainee ride-alongs. But day by day, job by job, he gained confidence.
"I spent a lot of time on a lot of jobs just trying to take it all in, trying to fully understand what I was doing,” he detailed. “I don't like to just throw things together and move on. I want to learn how and why it is the way it is. I want to fully understand it.”
For the year and a half he spent as a contract technician, that mentality paid off, as he became the “go-to guy” for his colleagues in troubleshooting and tech questions. Five years down the line, he was encouraged to apply to be a full-time employee at Cox Communications — where he has now been for the last 12 years.
While a milieu in mechanics certainly hasn't hurt Hedges’ exceptional career, he says that for anyone who isn’t afraid of hard work, the doors for a good living are wide open.
“This is a great job to get into. You don't need a college degree. You can learn everything, get certifications once you're hired and build your knowledge as you go. [You can] come in with almost nothing, maybe even just a high school diploma,” he said.
“That's really all you need to jump in, and you can grow yourself into a position where you're making $75 to $120,000 pretty quickly.”
Trade secrets to trade success
With nearly two decades in the industry and two national trophies under his technician belt, Hedges has honed a wealth of insight on what it takes to thrive in the trade.
“My biggest piece of advice would be that you should never stop growing, and don't stop being curious,” he said. “We see way too many people get into a frontline position, and they'll stay there for 20 years, and just never really grow.”
To get the most out of the industry, both financially and personally, Hedges says it’s best to be flexible and learn about more than one area of the work.
“There's a million places to move within any of these companies,” he continued. “They have so many different positions that most people don't even know about that could fit pretty much anybody's needs, depending on what type of work that you like.”
That exploration will help you build a wider resume and knowledge base, and “you're going to find more opportunities are going to be available to you, and you're going to see your pay and [benefits] increase with that.”
In that industry exploration, Hedges underscored the need to be ready for hard work.
Back when he was working as a frontline technician, he was driving nearly 100 miles a day to six or seven different homes and sites, rain or shine (which in Arizona often meant serious shine).
“It's not an easy job at all. When you're first starting off and you're digging and you're climbing through attics and working with customers. It's really hard work,” he explained.
But it’s the hard, hands-on work he really enjoys.
"I like to be outside working on my own. I don't have somebody standing right over my shoulder. You're not doing some factory job where you're doing the same thing repetitively, over and over. Everything's new, right? You get to drive around and go to different houses, and you're kind of free. That's the biggest thing that I enjoy with this job.”
The independence, the hands-on problem solving and the on-the-job variety was what captured Hedges' attention in the first place — turning his part-time job into a full-fledged career.
“It's just a great career,” he concluded. “I would urge anybody: if you're considering just starting a job, look at the cable industry. It's going to continue to grow and evolve, and there's always something that is for everybody.”
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