How I became a Troubleshooting Specialist.
Hey! Miguel here and I am the Founder of Nulevul. I wanted to write up a little piece on my personal technical history. I wanted to give you an idea of why we call ourselves troubleshooting specialists.
When did it start? As a kid, I was always into figuring out how or why things worked. I liked to see it taken apart and put back together again. I wasn't really trying to make it better at times but was more interested in figuring out how it worked so I can use it to the best of my abilities.
Fast forward a few decades and I’m at my first job out of technical school( I graduated as an Electronics and Computer technician). It was a huge building and I worked in the lab. That is where printers came in for repair or troubleshooting to see what the cause was for it not working properly. My job was to confirm and diagnose the issue with the printer and see if it was repairable or parts needed to be ordered. I would troubleshoot down to the component level, swapping out capacitors, resistors, or integrated circuits( referred to as IC). This consisted of desoldering the bad components and resoldering the new ones in place. After that, I would take the silicon or wafer board with all the electronic components attached to it over to a test bench. It was here that I would run various tests with printers, oscilloscopes, and power supplies to see if it passed every aspect of the testing processes that were run. I did this for a couple of years and didn’t feel challenged enough so I moved on to another challenge.
I found a position at another company in the QC (Quality Control) department where I tested various transformers and semiconductor coils. I tested them after the manufacturing process but before it went into varnishing for the final QC. Once varnished, I tested the components to confirm they stayed within the specs for tolerance. I then signed off on the final product and it went to shipping. I did this for a couple of years as well. Again, I didn’t feel challenged enough. See the pattern here yet? I decided to go completely left off the track of computers and electronics( sort of) to venture into another avenue that would challenge me a bit more.
The next avenue was custom car audio installations. I had a friend who was in the business and I was intrigued so I took a shot. I used to install radios, amplifiers, and speakers for friends anyways over the years so I figured why not get paid for it! I learned A LOT as a car audio installer. I learned how to use fiberglass and MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) to create custom installations in all types of vehicles. I installed multiple amplifiers, capacitors, batteries, custom screens, and speakers of all shapes and sizes. I met a gentleman named Dave one day that needed a custom MDF install. He was blown away by my creativity, work ethic, and attention to detail. He asked me if I ever worked in Telecom. I said no but I do have a background in computer and electronics. He mentioned he would like to give me an opportunity if I was interested in pursuing a career in Telecom. I went home, thought about it, and jumped at the opportunity to be challenged yet again. Believe it or not, this decision in my career would open the door that led me into telecommunications and would span over the next 20 years.
It was a big learning curve at first since I didn’t know anything at all about telecom. I went all in and studied what I could during off-hours. Dave trained me as I shadowed him for a few weeks. I learned about POTS Lines, DSL, ISDN Lines, T-1’s, bonded T-1’s, OC-3’s, and more. You named it and I most likely learned about it. I’ve worked for various companies installing, troubleshooting, and upgrading various systems and networks as well as learning how to do mechanical splicing by Corning.
My experiences continued as I went on to learn more about fiber optics and networking with a couple of other companies. I finally found my calling. It was with a company where I stayed 10 years( shocking I know given my previous 2-year stints with most companies before this) and worked my way up the ladder after starting as a Technician 2. I was troubleshooting Cisco and Nortel equipment on 10Gb networks which consisted of logging equipment as well as checking logs and scripts. Locally, I troubleshot cabling and it didn't matter if it was Ethernet or Fiber optics. After a few years, I was promoted to Technician 3, which was heavily involved in Fiber splicing, testing, and troubleshooting. I became certified by the ETA (Electronics Technicians Association) in splicing and testing. I was splicing many different counts of fiber optic cables ( 12, 24, 48, 144, 432, 864, etc) in loose tube single fibers and also ribbon fibers. I was well versed in fiber optics after many successful projects. There were some hiccups on a few but overall I had more successes. I was promoted to a Working Supervisor that afforded me the ability to manage a team full of techs. I still spliced and tested with the teams to show them I was more than just their Supervisor. I did this to keep my skills on point and also to gain the respect and trust of my team. Aside from the splicing and testing, other aspects of my job description included doing proposals, material inventory, equipment maintenance, and calibrations. There were more but these were the biggest ones. All in all, things were going pretty well. We were super busy and running all types of projects. I was happy with my position until I got another opportunity to work with a different company that needed someone to install, troubleshoot and upgrade long-haul fiber-optic networks. If you know me by now and my need to be challenged then you already know I gave my 2 weeks’ notice with them to explore this new opportunity. I enjoyed my time at that company and learned a lot of great things that would further assist me in my career.
I was now working for a new employer learning about all types of new equipment and technologies. I used what I learned over the years and implemented that into this new position I was in. Let me tell you it helped tremendously! I learned various troubleshooting techniques on equipment and fiber optics that I didn't know existed. After a few years at this company, I decided to open up my own company and use my knowledge to help others while bringing interest to this line of work. As you can see it's been a pretty awesome ride these past 20 years and the knowledge I gained on top of where I am in life far surpasses anything I ever dreamed of. Not bad for a kid from Long Branch, NJ!
I started Nulevul to help others fix the problems they had in the industry, including but not limited to, giving opportunities, helping train new techs in the business, and generally to help anyone who needed a hand. Someone gave us an opportunity and we made the best out of it. Now, it’s our turn to give others that same opportunity that we were afforded when we started. Let us help you take care of your Telecom needs and please feel free to reach out to us with any inquiries or concerns. We will be more than excited to help using our specialized skills and expertise.
