Why fiber optic training courses?

Whether you are a manager, engineer or technician involved with the deployment of fiber optic infrastructure, designing, planning or maintaining of optical communication networks, you will require some fiber optic training or optical network training.

Unfortunately, your college education alone cannot adequately prepare you for a career in fiber optics or optical networking. Engineers must augment their academic training with more specific fiber optic training courses.

Fiber optics or optical communication technologies evolve rapidly. Communication systems have evolved from as low as 155Mbps in the long-haul back in the 80s to delivering 100Gbps and more per channel today. The optical fibers, optical components and transmission systems used in these networks are becoming more and more complex. Even the most experienced of optical engineers need periodic refresher training in fiber optics to keep themselves up to date with the rapid changes.

There is a wide range of courses designed for different purposes and roles. There are training courses for installers, measurement engineers, planners and designers. Training can also be classified as vendor neutral of vendor specific.

Vendor neutral fiber optic training courses

Whether you are still on the job market or you just landed a new job, you must take a vendor neutral fiber optic training course closely related to your job function. Vendor neutral courses are developed and facilitated by organizations that are independent of fiber optic or optical system equipment suppliers. Such courses offer unbiased and deliver comprehensive content that provides the basic knowledge required of successful optical communication engineers.

For those still looking for a position, a vendor neutral certificate in optical networking will not only show your commitment to the field but will also demonstrate your depth of subject matter knowledge to prospective employers. You can therefore give yourself a competitive advantage over your peers going after the same positions.

If you are already on the job, a vendor neutral course will prepare you to be more efficient in your job. In many cases, employers will sponsor the training for you. However, in the event that the training department at your company is not aware of some of the courses available in your field, the onus is on you to point them to the right courses. You are probably more knowledgeable of the courses in your area than the HR department.

Certified Optical Network Associate (CONA) and Certified Optical Network Engineer (CONE) from OTT are the two leading vendor neutral course offerings for optical network engineers. OTT also offers fiber optic training courses for installers and characterization engineers. Visit OTT for more details.

Vendor specific fiber optic training courses

In order to be efficient in using equipment or systems from a given vendor, employers will endeavor to get you trained in the specific equipment. Vendors supplying different types of fiber optic related equipment develop relevant courses for that purpose. We will soon be adding Cisco Optical Technology Intermediate (OPT200), one of the vendor specific fiber optic system training courses to our offerings.

Why fiber optic training classes with FiberGuide?

At FiberGuide, we are very passionate about optical communications and fiber optic training. Through our consulting services in wide area network services, we deal with different challenges and interact with multiple global carriers. This gives us ongoing real-world experience that benefits our delegates.

While for many people, fiber optic training is about splicing and installation, our fiber optic and optical network training classes go deeper into the intricacies of optical communications for designers, planners and operation staff of today’s networks and next generation networks. Of course, we collaborate with others with many years of experience in fiber optic installation training to bring such training to those whose roles focus on fiber optic installation.

FiberGuide collaborates with Optical Technology Training (OTT) to leverage their optical network training content development expertise.

Our certified optical network training does not end with the 5-day training sessions. We encourage our trainees to join our trainee forums and to contact us to discuss issues they may be running into. We endeavor to write articles relevant to our trainees to address the ever-changing industry.

About our fiber optic training instructor – Jabulani Dhliwayo

Jabulani is the founder and consultant at FiberGuide. He has over twenty years of experience in the fiber optic industry and has held a wide range of roles including college lecturer, senior research scientist, product manager and market development director.

As a research scientist, Jabulani developed novel measurement systems for fiber optics and photonics. He was involved in many projects including a liquid crystal wavelength switch, suppression of stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fiber, measurement of PMD and PDL in fiber Bragg gratings and characterization of a photonic bandgap fiber.

Jabulani led Corning’s 100 Gbps project in support of the IEEE standards development for 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps in premises networks.

As part of a previous marketing role, Jabulani has conducted over 40 fiber optic training workshops in more than twenty countries.

Jabulani holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK

Connect with Jabulani on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jabulani-dhliwayo-1570b5b

Why did FiberGuide partner with OTT to deliver fiber optic training?

OTT has been developing and delivering certified training programs in fiber optics and optical networking for almost two decades. FiberGuide was interested in a partner who has the experience and can develop fiber optic training content, manuals and offer certifications that meet the level of quality and depth that we are accustomed to. OTT is exactly what we were looking for. This partnership allows us to focus on delivering rich fiber optic training content while leveraging OTT’s experience and passion in developing up to date, high quality training presentations and trainee manuals.

OTT fiber optic training and optical networking content is well regarded all over the world. In Africa, the program is accredited by the Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA).

Are there hands-on activities during the fiber optic training sessions?

OTT fiber training courses are well designed for professionals in different optical communication roles. CONA and CONE courses primarily target those professionals responsible for the design, planning and operation of optical communication networks. The objective of these courses is to go deeper into the advanced concepts of optical networking. While scenario based exercises and demo units (such as Whizziekit and loss test sets) are used to demonstrate these concepts, most time is spent discussing the concepts.

Other courses such as COFI and CFCE designed for installers, testers and network maintainers are mostly hands on.

How does FiberGuide evaluate their training in fiber optics?

Trainees will work on assignments in class that may include fiber and system component specification and the design of a network scenario. Attendees are also required to take an examination at the end of the 5-day class. Assignment and examination documentations are sent to OTT for evaluation before certificates can be issued.

Are your fiber optical training courses industry recognized?

OTT has been approved as a preferred provider for the IEEE Certificates Program. Being part of the program allows our training partners to offer IEEE Continuing Education Units (CEUs) or Professional Development Hours (PDHs) certificates for all 5-day fiber optic training courses – COFI, CFCE and CONA. The CEUs and PDHs may be used by professional engineers to contribute towards their continuing professional development (CPD) goals.

Where do I find my fiber optic training (or fibre optic training) program of choice?

At the top of the page there are three programs including CONA, CONE and COFI which is offered in collaboration with our partners. If you are looking for a different program, please visit the OTT web page.

Why has a class not been scheduled near me?

FiberGuide has two training models, open enrollment and custom corporate training. In open enrollment, a class is scheduled and anyone interested in the course can register and attend. We can only schedule these classes in limited regions based on our understanding demand for the course in that region. Complete our fiber optic training course request form to be notified when a class is scheduled near you.

In custom corporate training, we offer training to companies with teams that need to be trained. We will endeavor to have our instructor plan to visit the company and deliver the training. Interested companies should also complete the CONA course request form.

Contact FiberGuide to let us know if you are interested in a course

If you are interested in the CONA training, let us know by completing our contact us form. This will help guide us on where we should be scheduling our classes.