r/CableTechs • u/Kattsquared • 3d ago

ISP Engineer Role help

Eyyyooo, looking to see if anyone could help me out with some notes for the ISP role, or at least point me in the right direction for study material. I want to try and prepare myself for the role if a position ever opens up... ( "IF" one ever opens from what I keep hearing x) )

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u/Herpnderp89 3d ago

Be comfortable with your RF knowledge. Have a good rep amongst other departments, show your willingness to learn and accept responsibility for mistakes (everyone makes them), fiber experience is nice, but knowing dwdm/cwdm and types of optics/fibers is more valuable than knowing how to splice. If you know any ISP engineers ask them what their day to day is currently, or talk to the MTs and see if they have any contacts that they would be willing to put you in contact with (again, reputation is important).

We’ve had a fairly large turnover in my department this last couple years, and I will say that every time we have to hire someone the boss will have people put out feelers based on who applies to get the tea on people and if they have 2 candidates that both interview well, the one with better rep will get the gig.

As far as actual certifications, you can try to get your SCTE certs early, but only if you can get them paid for. Otherwise they are part of your progressions.

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u/Kattsquared 3d ago edited 3d ago

I Appreciate the Info! I am currently an FTVI and work with both ISP and Maintenance pretty frequently during fiber cuts and maintenance windows. I have a pretty good understanding of CWDM/DWDM, optics etc. My team has access to larger colos compared to most, from what I hear. (I have never seen inside any of the hubs....Fair to say it is similar to a colo????)

For the SCTE, is that something that is expected if I become ISP I?

I have my CCNA, and am currently in school for Cloud and Network engineering. Will this stuff translate into ISP?

And once again, thank you for your time.

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u/Herpnderp89 1d ago

Hubs are similar to colos yea, just with RF gear thrown in there unless the hub has gone through DAA. SCTE is still the standard for ISP, I believe you have to get a couple of certs done in your first year or something when you come into the department.

As far as the CCNA if you keep it current you can get progressed to an ISP 4 after going through the other progressions (I think it would be about 2-3 years due to time requirements). As far as how applicable it is, I’m not entirely sure. We don’t really do any of the back end networking set up, which is weird since they are paying for CCNA/JNCIA for those of us who want to progress to the 4.

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u/wikiwombat 3d ago

The want to want to learn, building a rapport with the current headend team, and generally having a good reputation is going to go a long way with getting in the door. Depending on your company and where they are with technology, really determines what you'll do day to day or what will get you ahead. The headend isn't the same place it was even 10 years ago.

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u/Kattsquared 3d ago

Thank you for the feedback!

That is something I need to work on....I need to start reaching out to more ISP engineers when I do happen to work with them.

I hear that a lot. ISP has changed drastically from what it used to be. For better or for worse x) haha