Thread: Serious Doubts About Fibre / Cabling Jobs “CTTS�

CDT_Dodger, thanks for taking the time to reply, your feedback has been really helpful.

I will have to get my head stuck into a few Cisco books and get clued-up on the WAN side, if you do come across any vacancies please PM me.

Cheers Mate

bootneck01
I would be intrested to know how the course is going, and what the general vibe is with regards to securing work once you finish.

alright mate, its been very good so far, its usually powerpoint point lectures, with parctical exams on the Thursday and a exam every friday but its been very good so far, i am about to start week 3 so i have 3 more left. Last week they had some contract work for Russia and Brazil, but me and the other ex-marines are looking mainly at the middle east saudia arabia way and have been told there is loads of work goin on the moment other there, as for permanent work i have not looked to far in to it yet, but i am looking at a few SDH jobs mainly browsing, i think this course has defo got the potential to get in the industry but i will just have ti wait and see.
If you have anymore questions feel free to ask

bootneck01
cheers for taking the time to reply, hope all goes well with the rest of the course.

Please let me know how the job hunting goes, good luck with the exam 2moz.

Just completed the Linbrooke Course, 6 week fibre and copper!
wouldnt bother getting into civvy comms!! no jobs not best paid!
these people who are offering all this want out money its a business!

best advise and lesson learnt from myself is get a real trade i.e. electrician top pay and there wanted everywhere!! just look at the jobs on offer,
the 6 weeks i wasted with linbrooke could of got me a registered electrician cert the lot!! good look to you all!

I did the ctts course and most of the lads from my course have found some sort of employment. these are difficult times but there is deffo work out there. as for me im trying for the middle east. hoping to find work out there.if not gotta look else where.

I have just left the R Sigs, and am looking for some infrastructure planning /engineering type jobs in Yorkshire (already qualified Copper/Fibre etc) but as you say there are not many out there. Those that are offer £8-12 an hour and expect you to drive 50+ mile to the contract, and supply own tools etc.

I approached CTTS in Sep regarding the SDH course, they asked how I was paying. I said ELC, they said that will be "2 grand plus accommodation" (Strange that!) for a week I declined very politely.

I went on to another provider, CCTV, Intruder Alarms and Access Control with some Domestic Electrical training instead.

So I too believe the way forward would have been 17th Edition, 2381 Test & Inspection etc.

Serious Doubts

I did the course about two and a half years ago with CTTS and over the last six months or so I've had hardly any work at all on the cabling side of things and I've never been offered a fibre position. Nowadays I'm mainly doing EPOS(tills, printers) and rollouts such as the one where all the new lottery machines were installed.

Yes all the quals look very nice at an interview but doing a CTTS course does NOT teach you how to do the job. That is done when you get out there in to the contracts themselves. Unfortunately, as I found out myself in the early days, those with little experience often get 'pumped' due to mistakes, being too slow etc,etc. The civilian contract business is a very harsh place indeed where you have no real rights and, if your face doesn't fit or you just don't cut the mustard you're gone, instantly!!

I'm very seriously worried about my future in the cabling industry, so much so that I've started self study for a Cisco CCNA course that I will augment with a bootcamp at some stage and then do the exam.


My personal advice as an ex squaddie(both reg and TA) - Please do not waste your money or resettlement credit doing any course that involves Copper and Fibre Optics telecoms cabling. The market currently is saturated with people looking for work that just isn't there to satisfy everyone and CTTS, Linbrook etc are just adding to the problem as each new course goes through.

CTTS are a profit making limited company whose director, Martin Cook, has become a very wealthy man(courtesy of the the resettlement system) because of good eggs like yourselves wanting to get on in life. As soon as you get there, all they want to discuss are the payment methods you're using to pay for the course and that summed it allup for me!!

There was about 20 on my course and very few are still involved in Data/Fibre/Voice and very soon neither will I !!

Originally Posted by spike7451

I agree, I trained & worked for NTL first as an Cable TV/Phone & BBand installer then as a Field Service Tech & gained some network experience.
In 2005,NTL closed our department & went soley contractors just before merging with Telewest.I along with my collegues was made redundent.
Luckily I was able to walk straight into a job with the contractors Sky employs to install & maintain Sky TV.Sadly tho I dont get on well with heights so I then moved to Sky Broadband.
Anyway,While I have been unemployed I applied for shed loads of Telecomms jobs & jobs with AV installers and did'nt get anywhere.I heard from a friend that one job had even went before I applied,promised to a relative or friend of the firms manager.
My old job at NTL (now VM) was advertised before Christmas & I applied,got an interview date & then the whole lot was cancelled till a later date & I still have'nt heard a peep out of them.
Anyway,I'm now in a Supervisors job with Sainsbury's looking after the online delivery side at the local store.
Regards
Spike

I did vertually the same route as you spike, resettlement in 99 with a firm in Lincoln (can't remember the name) Then worked for Telewest as a subbie, started as an analogue TV and telephony installer on price work. In those days the money was fairly decent £130 - £160 a day. Seems I turned to this trade as it was dying.. After jumping from various contractor firms (kelly's etc) I finally got in house with Telewest, just in time for the digital launch, moved up to service technician (or broadband service tech as it was renamed), went through about 3 or 4 redundancy consultations, in the end I got sick of it. Telewest at the time going through the merger with NTL, uncertainty of redudndency, low wages and increased number of service calls (The digi boxes were reconditioned and would fail within 7 days of install!) I did some fibre splicing on the course and wished I'd followed that route, a lot of guys I worked with moved on into networking (CAT5) and seemed to do ok.
I left the cable game 5 years ago when it seemed, to me anyway, to be a lost cause, by that I mean no new areas were being cabled, Telewest didn't seem to have the money or resourses to maintain or upgrade the copper networks, especially in south London where it was really bad, iirc they blew a fortune in the rebranding to Telewest Broadband and were in massive debt.

The best move I made was getting out at that time, I still speak to some of the guys I worked with, those who are there haven't really progressed in the last 5 years, seems like a 'dead man's shoes' situation.

Like I said, I've been away from it for 5 years now so not fully up to speed on the industry, from what I remember, trying to progress and find work within the industry back then was difficult. So it doesn't really surprise me that the work is a bit thin on the ground.

Good luck in what ever you choose to do.

Ah! Martin Cook, that's the guy I did my course with! North Licolnshire College, 4 weeks in the classroom, Ohms law etc, then 2 weeks on site with a cable firm!
Hahaha!! I remember when I did it we were staying in the student halls of residence, opposite the student union, had a fair few cheep nights in there!

The course was ok, I learnt a lot, it did get me a job - BUT, that was 10 years ago!

CTTS have moved on massively since then with a new training school in a business park at North Hykeham, just outside Lincoln. The course taught me how to pass the City and Guilds exams but I found myself forgetting various bits when I got on the job. I would love to have done some fibre work but I have no experience whatsoever, except for what I did with Martyn Cook.

I could do with some guidance from the comms guys on here to maybe get my career moving again as it seems to have stalled, certainly through no lack of effort on my part.

Any help and advice would be really appreciated please!!

Thanks

I am currently 4 weeks into a six week course at CTTS. I really should have saved a few grand and bought a car. Or failing that just burned the notes on an open fire to keep warm as I sleep in my cardboard box after leaving the army. :(

I looked at the course 2001 phoned them but as they could not tell me about follow up jobs and had a lot of gaps in the future planning so I left it. I have spoken to other guys and few if any found work due to lack of experience. CTTS found a nice little resettlement earner and good luck to them I’m glad I never went.

I did the course last year, but only just left so i am starting to look, but the lads that i kept in contact with have all found employment, the last one i herd was a mate that managed to get a job as a satalite engineer for the MOD doing the fiber side of things, so there are jobs out there you just gotta look long and hard and eventually you will get there, fingers crossed.
Saintly how you finding the course, what do you think?, wait till you do the SDH bit, its a head f^&K, have they mentioned anything bout the work situation or anything that they know of that is coming up in the near future.

Originally Posted by bootneck01

I did the course last year, but only just left so i am starting to look, but the lads that i kept in contact with have all found employment, the last one i herd was a mate that managed to get a job as a satalite engineer for the MOD doing the fiber side of things, so there are jobs out there you just gotta look long and hard and eventually you will get there, fingers crossed.
Saintly how you finding the course, what do you think?, wait till you do the SDH bit, its a head f^&K, have they mentioned anything bout the work situation or anything that they know of that is coming up in the near future.

I've worked with SDH equipment for about 8 years. All I can say is look very closely at the industry before spending over 2 grand on a course that only lasts a week.
Also if anyone does decide to go this route, ensure that you have the prior knowledge required (according to CTTS website) also good luck.