To meet the coming needs of the broadband workforce, training future workers should begin now, not after upcoming build-outs have already begun. That’s what Deborah Kish — Vice President, Research and Workforce Development for the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) — told Telecompetitor in an interview last week.
The number of workers needed in the broadband workforce in the next five years is “the number everyone has been chasing,” Kish said. She recounted the process — over the past two years or so — of refining an initial estimate of 350,000 workers down to the FBA’s current figure: 180,000.
The OpTIC Path Program: Training Tomorrow’s Broadband Workforce
Training that many workers won’t be easy, and it won’t happen overnight. That’s why the FBA created a future-focused training program to help create the broadband workforce needed in the coming years.
After more than two decades at Gartner, Kish eventually landed at the FBA, where — given her background in technology — she was put on a committee to help create the curriculum for what became the FBA’s OpTIC Path training program.
With decades of industry expertise, Kish believes it’s important to “train deep,” i.e., to teach your workforce the knowledge and understanding of fiber and broadband connectivity alongside the practical skills they need to do the job.
As a result, the OpTIC Path course has a nearly evenly split approach, with roughly 40% dedicated to theoretical training, like how fiber is made, and 60% dedicated to hands-on training, such as learning trade-critical abilities like fiber splicing.
“The criticism I’ve gotten is: Isn’t that too much information? Shouldn’t you just teach them how to be fiber splicers? I say no, you’re thinking about that all wrong. You could have a class of ten people, and maybe some of them discover fieldwork isn’t for them. But they’ve heard about the rest of the process, so maybe they decide to pursue an engineering degree. Knowledge creates other opportunities and sparks interest in several paths.”
Kish also believes that teaching knowledge alongside skills helps improve the quality of a person’s work. With that in mind, the FBA added a module toward the end of the OpTIC Path training called “Documentation, Values, and Success in the Field.” “We want to make sure individuals take pride in their work,” said Kish, “so five to ten years later, when they’re driving down the highway, they can say, ‘I put in fiber along this road.’”
The OpTIC Path training program is currently offered in 15 community colleges and learning institutions across 12 states, with that number set to rise soon.
Training Tomorrow’s Broadband Workforce: The Challenges
Kish identified two primary challenges in training the broadband workforce: inspiring the next generation of workers, and convincing providers and other entities that the time to train is now.
Convincing young people to pursue a career in broadband can be difficult because people don’t necessarily associate the devices they use every day with the industry and workforce that make them possible. “You need to explain to young people how these things work, show them the mystery and the magic of it,” Kish said.
She told a story of a recent training at which she and a co-instructor taught a small group of young people about how fiber works. Kish said that, while the trainees showed little enthusiasm at first, it began to click after they saw light being shined down the length of a fiber cable.
“You could see how they felt a little bit differently about being there. They were just shocked. We explained to them, ‘Isn’t it amazing how your internet is traveling through that light? All the data you consume, every time you search or you’re making phone calls or whatever, that little light is what gets you there.’”
Kish thinks a concerted effort among middle and high school teachers, guidance counselors, providers, and communities is needed to help market careers in broadband to young people who could one day join that workforce.
A bigger challenge, though, is convincing the industry as a whole that the time to train is now. “Part of the issue is that everyone is waiting on this BEAD money to roll out, but you can’t build out without a workforce. And you can’t build with the workforce we have today.”
Kish reported that she hears from some providers that it is difficult to commit to hiring new workers right now, because, with BEAD Program funding still up in the air, providers are not sure where and when broadband expansion will happen.
Nevertheless, Kish said that, while she understands this point of view, the time to build the broadband workforce is now. “Push is going to come to shove. They’re going to need to lay a lot of fiber, and they’re going to need quality, trained people to get it done. And that’s what keeps me up at night. I’m afraid we’re going to go back to what we’ve been doing — finding a warm body, training them to do a task, then letting them go.
“But I think: train them and give them something to do. Cross-train them on something else — you want these people ready to go. If they’re not, there’s going to be missed deadlines when it’s time to get fiber out.”
