Brad Stallins worked for years as a voice and data technician — helping run phone and network systems to schools, offices and hospitals. But when fiber optic technology began replacing the infrastructure he was trained on, his job went with it.
“Because I didn't have a lot of fusion experience, I got shoved out the door for someone else that had more experience," he told Broadband Nation (see video below).
Being let go is what brought him to The Fiber School — a national, instructor-led and online training group — where he enrolled in a five-day, hands-on course that teaches how to splice and test fiber lines. Stallins wasn't just eager to learn the new technology, he wanted to stay employable in a changing field where many industry experts advise staying adaptable to technological change.
“We’re at that precipice where copper is on the way out, and fiber is ever-expanding,” said Stallins. “So I wanted to do something for myself, to improve my skills — to make me more marketable.”
His wife found the course online, choosing the longer course to dive a bit deeper into the technology. And for Stallins, the investment was already paying off. “I’ve gotten to see problems as they came up in a classroom setting, and have someone explain: This is what happened, this is how you fix it. I feel I’ve got a better understanding.”
That practical, personal way of learning connected him back to what he loves about the work in the first place — knowing that behind hospital walls, what he builds matters.
“The work I did directly affected the health of someone else," he reflected on setting up a hospital's network systems. "As the doctors are using the technology that I'm putting in... giving them direct feedback so they know what to do to fix the medical issues, it just helps me to have a better appreciation of what I do, and how much it affects others.”
Watch the full training-site interview here:
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