A popular belief in the fiber optic industry is that for every three skilled technicians who retire, only one person is replacing them. The difficult reality to this belief is that when that one new technician shows up at work the first day, the existing technicians can be so busy that they don’t have time to properly train someone new. This newbie often (understandably) makes more mistakes, resulting in more customer visits to correct problems and more bills for the customer. The now-unhappy customer may switch to a different company, leaving the original firm to wonder what went wrong.
Even those with lots of telecommunications experience can have gaps in knowledge. It’s not uncommon for people to hold different positions throughout their career, picking up information along the way. But undergoing organized training helps put together pieces of the puzzle that they didn’t even know were missing.
To address this growing need for properly trained fiber professionals, Clearfield® developed Fiber Optic Association (FOA)-approved Certified Fiber Optic Technician (CFOT®) training. Our trainers have many years of hands-on experience in the field and know how valuable your time is; we work hard not to waste it.
Why take FOA-certified training from Clearfield?
- Condensed course. So you miss as little work as possible, we’ve put this information into a 3-day course (some companies take 4-5 days). We’ll cover everything needed without overdoing it.
- Training at your level. Our training is at the introductory level that our attendees say they want. We cover how fiber optics work, building on this through fiber termination and splicing.
- 50% hands-on practice. Theory is useful, but hands-on experience is the true test (besides, it’s the fun part).
- We come to your business. Although we offer regional sessions throughout the U.S., we realize this isn’t ideal for everyone (those in Canada and Central America/Latin America, for example, need visas to travel). If our regional sessions don’t work for your team, we want to see what will! Call us at (763) 519-9815 or email foa@seeclearfield.com.
- CFOT certification stays with you. An optional FOA CFOT certification test is issued at the end of the course (the tuition cost covers the exam fee). You can put your new skills to work immediately and the CFOT certification is in your name.
If you want to know more about our CFOT training, we’d love to hear from you! See our Industry Certification Training page for more information, including a list of regional training locations/dates. If you need anything else, please reach out to Clearfield. We’re happy to help.
By Kelly Weissmann
Kelly Weissmann, Sr. Manager—Technical Support, has over 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Kelly came to Clearfield over 6 years ago to oversee and grow the technical training program that we offer to customers. She is a Certified Fiber Optic Technician (CFOT).
Kelly provides classroom, hands-on training for our customers on the proper installation methods for all of our products. Kelly’s vast knowledge also allows her to provide a variety of curriculum to cover fiber optic technology, fiber management, the need to inspect and clean connectors when necessary and more.
Kelly’s experience includes working as a universal tech/ splicer in the network, plus as a team leader for repair crews and for the ADSL Qualification/Installation crew. She then moved to technical training, where Kelly thoroughly trained all technicians in safe pole climbing/ladder safety and all OSP technicians in construction, maintenance and repair of fiber optic networks, copper networks and premise coax networks.