Last summer, the Fiber Optic Association (FOA) received a call for help from a state agency. It had a multi-
billion-dollar fiber optic project, but not enough contractors were bidding on the job. Could the FOA help get some more bidders? We tried, but contractors told us they were so busy and understaffed that they were unable to bid on more projects.

That’s not surprising. There are workforce shortages in many fields, especially as we have come out of the pandemic shutdowns.

All these new federally funded infrastructure projects will require many more trained and certified workers. We have a problem, or an opportunity perhaps: those IIJA/BEAD programs include funds for training.

Training and the fiber tech

When I helped create the FOA in 1995, the organization’s purpose was to help build a competent workforce for the fiber optic industry. At that point, many installers were former techs from the telcos, trained by them and highly experienced, but many more techs were needed.

Fiber optic manufacturers and network users started the FOA because they needed competent workers to install their products and thought an industry­-recognized certification program was an ideal solution.

Twenty-five years later, we have a fairly large fiber optic workforce. FOA alone has certified almost 90,000 fiber techs. But the fiber optic workforce has grown organically. Few fiber techs work for large companies. Most work for smaller companies—or themselves—doing fiber as part of their work in IT, CATV, cell towers or just pure fiber optic installation.

Many fiber techs are contract workers who follow the jobs. One installer we know has recently done jobs in California, Washington and on several Native American reservations in the Northwest. Another lives in Wyoming but has worked in Vermont, Ohio, Tennessee and Florida recently. Both are FOA-certified instructors who travel practically anywhere to teach FOA certification courses.

Only a fraction of today’s field techs have been formally trained in programs such as the JATC apprenticeships, where the FOA has been actively assisting for 25 years. Most fiber techs learn through on-the-job training (OJT), perhaps starting with some training online or by product manufacturers. There’s nothing wrong with OJT, and today there are so many online options to learn about fiber optics that can make it more effective.

Recruit, recruit, recruit

A bigger problem is recruiting workers. We’re still in a market where there are many more jobs than applicants. Many contractors I’ve talked with have been hiring “warm bodies” and using OJT to get them up to speed. (My column this month at ECmag.com, “Creating An OJT Program for Your Employees,” offers some guidelines on OJT and provides information on some online lessons.)

The FOA’s best success story is probably Kentucky Wired, the state-funded backbone network to connect all counties with fiber. When the project started in 2016, the state agency managing the program asked us how many FOA-­certified techs were in Kentucky. We counted exactly two. Working with state agencies and a network of nine community and technical colleges, FOA helped create programs that have trained and certified 1,200 fiber techs who have helped build Kentucky Wired. And yes, those schools have trained laid-off coal miners to become fiber techs.

Now FOA is working with state workforce development agencies to create more training programs like Kentucky Wired. Workforce development agencies are experienced at recruiting, so they know how to find workers needing retraining, veterans, high school students looking to join the trades and even those who were incarcerated.

Recruiting in high schools is important, but difficult. Students are usually told they need a college degree to succeed, even though working in the trades or joining an apprenticeship program like the IBEW/NECA JATCs will place them in a well-paying profession without the burden of college debt. We encourage the workforce development people to take that message to high schools.

Fiber optics has a gender gap, too. Like electricians, only about 3% of all fiber techs are women. A February 2021 article in ­ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR, “Leading by Example,” featured female electricians in Alaska. FOA interviewed some of those women about their work with fiber optics for our May 2021 newsletter. All of them enjoyed their jobs and the opportunities to learn while working and receive more training.

The women working in fiber also said they were actively helping the local IBEW apprenticeship program in recruiting new apprentices. That’s something we need more of—having young people, especially women, help recruit others into the trades.

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