Every year on December 9th is International Anti-Corruption Day, an unfortunately little-known but tremendously important annual observance of the importance of our global work to enact the institutional systems necessary to prevent corruption. Each year, I will share some reflections from the previous year on the progress and setbacks toward the goal of a corruption-free World.
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Originally published on November 25, 2023 on Medium, now updated and hosted here.
I ❤️ data. So it’s no surprise when I say I love data centers—those amazing buildings that store most of the World’s data and make it available to us all as the Internet and the “Cloud.” The Internet itself is technically a massive network connecting data centers, and the Cloud is technically someone else’s computers, which are typically stored—no surprise again—in data centers.
In this certification review, I’m going to cover the BICSI Data Center Design Design Consultant (DCDC) certification. It’s been 18 months since my BICSI OSP certification, and it felt especially good to now complete the DCDC.
Early in my career I got pulled into the unfamiliar world of OSP and had to crash course it, so getting the OSP designation gave me confidence in and validation of new topics I needed to learn. But in getting the DCDC, it felt like coming home to some of the things I know and do best: managing racks of servers and the network equipment that connect them, along with the critical systems and building envelope that keep everything working.
One of my first responsibilities in my ICT career was being the project manager for the construction of two telecommunication huts that would deliver FTTX services across a small city. Each one was fed with diverse network and power sources; housed cable plant, network equipment, and servers; and required HVAC equipment to clean and cool the space. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was building data centers.
I found the project both fascinating and stressful. I was still trying to understand the fundamentals involved, so it was helpful to observe everything literally being designed, constructed, and connected. The many move/add/change issues created challenges and even conflicts, and as PM I had to mediate and resolve them without truly understanding.
Just as with OSP, learning how to design and operate data centers was a complicated process, and had to be delayed while I focusing on learning many other aspects of the job. Having already gotten involved in BICSI and completed the OSP Designer in 2021, I decided to pursue the DCDC credential, and will share my experience with you.
For full disclosure, while I am a dues-paying BICSI member and certification holder, this review is completely independent and not affiliated with or sponsored by BICSI in any way. All opinions are my own and are intended to inform readers about this certification and provide honest feedback about my experience in obtaining it.
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Originally published on October 2, 2022 on Medium, now updated and hosted here.
In the early years of my journey into telecom, understanding the outside plant (OSP) was one of the most time-consuming things to learn. This was primarily due to the relatively obscure nature of the trade, compared to the more common topics of inside plant (ISP)/premises cabling and what we commonly call network engineering. These other disciplines each have a wealth of books, training material, and overall online content, so it was much easier to get started.
I was somewhat aware of BICSI in 2018, and familiar with the RCDD certification, but somehow I overlooked their OSP offerings for the first two years of my self-study efforts. When I finally looked into it, however, I realized this content could hold the key to my development and I dove in from there. You can read more about my overall BICSI OSP Designer certification review here.
The focus of this resource review, however, is to drill down into the main material for the BICSI OSP Designer curriculum: the BICSI Outside Plant Design Reference Manual, or OSPDRM. In this review I’m going to take an in-depth look at what it is, where you can get it, what makes this a great resource but also where it falls short, and whether or not I recommend it.
For full disclosure, while I am a dues-paying BICSI member and certification holder, this review is completely independent and not affiliated with or sponsored by BICSI in any way—it’s just my honest review. If I ever do sponsored promotional content, you’ll be told upfront.
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Originally published on March 23, 2023 on Medium, now updated and hosted here.
My name is Eron Lloyd, and I’ve been working in the telecommunications industry for seven years. When I first started in 2016, I entered as a business analyst while working on my Master’s degree in data science. I had many years of experience in the information technology field, and assumed telecommunications would be a straightforward lateral move.
It wasn’t. I entered into what felt like a new realm. Sure, there were switches, servers, and many other familiar layers, but it wasn’t a typical enterprise environment. ILEC? CLEC? CLLI codes? Tariffs? Public Utility Commission? Working for a service provider is definitely a different world, and I quickly realized I had a lot to learn and needed to learn it quick.
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Originally published on March 20, 2023 on Medium, now updated and hosted here.
As in nearly any field within the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, a telecommunications engineer must develop and maintain a lifelong learning attitude and the necessary habits and practices to be successful. In this article, I will share the tools, tips, and tricks I’ve used to quickly acquire my growing list of certifications, and I believe they will work for you if you apply the commitment and discipline needed.
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Originally published on October 19, 2022 on Medium, now updated and hosted here.
The BICSI Outside Plant (OSP) Designer certification was developed to help OSP engineers design and build outside plant facilities on either private property or the public Right of Way (ROW). On August 5th, 2021, I passed the BICSI OSP exam and earned my first major telecommunications certification.
Early in my career I was thrown into the world of OSP, but I didn’t actually know the best way to get started. Compared to network engineering, OSP is not a very popular trade that technical people consider when looking for career options in telecommunications engineering.
As a result, you can’t walk into a bookstore and buy a reference manual or training guide like you can for the Cisco CCNA. You won’t find extensive tutorials or videos online like you would for routing and switching content (but I hope to change that). When I did fortunately find the OSP Designer resources, I wished I had it much earlier in the process of getting oriented in OSP.
Realizing that challenge is part of what motivated me to start Telecom Craft and promote the resources and materials to help bring more people into the telecommunications engineering field and give them a path forward. So let’s start with a review of the BICSI OSP Designer certification, including what it is, where to find the related resources, who should pursue it, and how to pass.
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Originally published on January 14, 2022 on Medium, now updated and hosted here.
Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent.
— Deuteronomy 16:19 (New International Version)
My name is Eron Lloyd. I was born and raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, and I spent the majority of my life living in and working to improve my hometown. On November 30th, 2015, I plead guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Commit Bribery in Federal court, and became a felon for my actions as a public official of the City of Reading.
Having my career and much of my life’s work end this way was a heartbreaking and personally devastating experience for me and my family. It was a shock to the many friends and allies I worked closely with on nearly a decade of efforts, and signaled the end of what I hoped to be a lifetime of public service continuing the work I started in the city.
It’s now been nine years since that happened and, despite the hardship I experienced, I believe I’m a much better person having gone through what I did. It was the most costly education I’ve ever paid for, but I would not give up what I’ve learned to go back in time and avoid it. I’ve stayed relatively silent for the first six years while I pieced my life back together, but I’m ready to share my story.
It's time to start writing again. Not just quick updates on LinkedIn, but the more detailed and involving pieces that I love to produce. A good old-fashioned blog, in fact.
Over the years I've scattered work around other platforms like Medium and LinkedIn, and while generally they provide the tools needed to easily share content, I wanted more control over creating, organizing, and preserving my content. Having a personal website is the ideal way to do that.
From the look of the pages to the URL used to link back too, it empowers more creativity in the creation and curation of your work, without having the platform make decisions in ways that could change or break your intented presentation, which they often do. So while I have many new ideas for things to write, I'm going to first re-publish some existing pieces here first, updating and revising them where possible.
For anyone curious about the technical details of the site, I'm using the fantastic Material for MkDocs static page generator, hosted for free on GitHub. I currently use it for all my documentation and project websites, and give thanks to the open source community that supports it.