So what's the road map after Lumen is done laying off and restructuring the company? I'm just an IR guy and I'm not sure if I should make a dash to the fiber splicing teams and learn that - or just exit telecom all together. It seems like every week my coworkers are waiting for their name to be called for a layoff.
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Go into fiber splicing if you can. Stay there for a year or two to get experience and training then get a job in the telecom dept of a large company.
There will be very few jobs as a company splicer when restructuring completes. Maintenance/Repair, company wants to build out, lay-off and sit to collect millions for executive compensation.
@j6
Definitely a grab bag of quality and experience. I personally know 4 ex company splicers who left to start their own contract splicing outfit. They are now ba--s to the wall with work from lumen and another smaller fiber company plus some work from a city fiber job going on. 2 travel and 2 stay home. They make almost 3 times what i make in house but of course pay for everything themselves. Good gig if the goal is loading up on cash.
@h3
Lol, and you being one of those layoff experts? Expert at anything or just a bitter unempoyed ex desk jockey?
@gp
You sound like a guy with knee pads and a full mouth. Made it to the top yet...or just the tip?
@n6
Hello Lumen executive! Nice copy and paste advertisement.
@h8 BS Lumen has the largest ultra-low-loss intercity fiber network in North America, with 530+ sites providing up to 400G connectivity. Massive intercity footprint: Deployed 17 million intercity fiber miles by the end of 2025.Aggressive expansion: Targeting 47 million fiber miles by 2028 and 58 million by 2031.
Don't disagree with Lumen's direction, but contractors are a mixed bag at best.
@cw The filling misses the point: Lumen’s Metro Enterprise market is largely running on leased fiber, not fiber Lumen owns, and there are essentially no Lumen fiber splicers on the Enterprise side. Fiber splicing isn’t going away—the work is exploding with data centers, cell towers, and network expansion. What’s disappearing is Lumen’s willingness to employ the people doing that work, as more gets pushed to contractors and the SIA model. Don’t confuse Lumen eliminating fiber jobs with eliminating fiber work. The work has a future; Lumen just wants someone else holding the splice trailer and collecting the paycheck.
Fiber splicing is now an temporary, on-demand, gig worker job! It is the gold rush job of the times and competition is fierce at the moment. There will be some winners and many losers, as in all competitive environments.
It is not the physical fiber that is limiting the super-intelligence build out, it is the hardware limitations.
A single fiber strand still has no throughput limitations, it is all the "leaky" connections (& Hardware) in between that does. AI's real-time protocol structure HATES network latency (the realized benefit of AI). Take that and make any assumptions u want about future work, as layoff experts do!
Sounds like a "yes man"! You'll never learn...
@ek
Thanks but i'll take my chances from my own experience and the people i know in the industry who are making 10-15k a week. Not from an anonymous person on a layoff forum. And nursing? Not for me dude. For my daughter, yes.
Don't think you will get rich splicing fiber.
They'll pay you pennies to the dollar.
The smartest thing to do is to get away from Telecom and pursue other adventures. There's a huge demand for nurses around the country. The AI won't be targeting them for couple of decades.
@cw
There will always be fiber splicing work available. Forever. All over the world. But correct, it will be contract work. As the need for more data continues more fiber will be placed and spliced. Most notably to cell towers and data centers. I’m not 55 yet but once I’m there… if I’m still with this company in 2 years I’ll retire and take my pension and ride off into the contract fiber sunset. I can make 5 times the money albeit without benefits but it’ll be an easy cash cruise til real retirement. He-l, maybe even travel the world for a couple years working disasters. Don’t try to fool people by saying there’s no future in fiber. Rediculous.
Honestly, I’d be looking beyond telecom altogether. Fiber splicing might buy you some time, but it’s still another skill inside an industry that’s been cutting headcount, outsourcing field work, and restructuring for years. If you’re going to invest the time to learn something new, I’d put that effort into a skill that gives you a clean exit from telecom and opens the door to a more stable career path.
At this point, the goal shouldn’t just be finding a different seat on the same sinking ship. It should be learning something that gives you options outside of it.
Heeeeellllloooooo, believe what the Tech companies & union (see your recent contract (how it was forced for the MM selloff) & FF37 active negotiations for reference) are showing you!
We are in the gold rush of the next industrial divide. Once facilities are laid, all but a few company splicers will be sunset for lowest bid contracting... nothing new to this management! There are many examples of this scrubbing all around us. This mgmt has shown that quality work and home grown people is NOT something they entertain. Accelerated Transformation is the buzz word, so believe that!
@a4
No security at NewCo either. Nothing more than a wall street underbelly... anybody paying attention out there at all!?!?!? The AI the public gets is extremely flawed, frustrating and easily recognizable.
AI transperancy announcement:
Technology is now a we-pon of mass destruction!! Control and Surveillance are the biggest proponents of use under the guise of National Security.
Do you really think the “New” company will be around after they finish their build….
If youre worried about getting laid off you should have gone to the new company. Is lumen hiring fiber splicers? Havnt heard of openings for splicers in my neck of the woods. For either company.