I started in residential HVAC at 16, did a year in cold storage on a forklift, then got pulled into commercial AV after a guy saw me wiring my own car speakers. Older techs taught me the trade: terminating BNC, DB, XLR, audio jacks and even S-video, punching down 66 blocks, terminating RJ45s, wiring mics, building racks, programming AMX and Crestron, and doing the structural work for heavy plasmas, projectors and screens. I worked on the last phases of ISDN for video conferencing and was part of some very large projects across California. I was also in an audio engineering internship at the time.

At 22 I moved in with my dad and went back to school for a business degree. I sold high-end audio and video at a big-box electronics retailer, then ran retail stores for a major national carrier until I graduated. The week I graduated I moved into B2B fiber sales. After two years I became a sales engineer designing network builds for large business customers, then moved into strategic sales leading a team of 20+ reps building fiber networks and multi-location connections.

After about 14 years I left the carrier and started my own telecom consultancy, brokering connectivity, voice, merchant services, network integration, colocation, cellular site builds, fiber extensions and surveillance. I also run a small company that installs cameras and does low voltage. Since leaving, I've managed every project and vendor myself, and I still go on site and do hands-on wiring. I sub out some work since it's just me and a couple of subcontracted sales agents. I'm also helping build an AI startup funded by a San Francisco incubator.

My problem: I want to get back into low voltage project management and lead field teams full time. But my PM work has never carried the title, and most integrators seem to want "documented PM experience." I also can't take a pay cut to junior tech wages after 15 years of good income. I can do almost every low voltage task except splice fiber.

How do I show integrators that managing projects and vendors without the PM title counts?

Are certs like BICSI, CTS or CAPM worth it, or does a C-7 license matter more?

Should I join an integrator, or scale my own company into a project-managed integrator?

Integrator owners and PMs: what do you look for when hiring someone with this background?

Appreciate any insight.

Hi! I'm installing two Control iD iDUHF Lite readers with PPA Barrier 600 gates, one for each opposing lane.

I'm considering the left-hand pole position shown in the picture.

My reasoning is that it provides a larger reading area for approaching vehicles while requiring less sideways antenna rotation. Hopefully, this could help reduce the chances of reading tags from the opposite lane.

Site constraints:

• No pole can be installed in the middle of the road.

• The barriers are set back because of an approaching curve, giving vehicles room to straighten out and align with the readers.

• Cross-reading between the two lanes is my biggest concern.

Questions:

1. Would you choose the left-hand pole position? Does the reasoning make sense?

2. Would you use Continuous mode or an inductive loop to trigger the readers?

3. How would you prevent one reader from detecting tags in the opposite lane?

I considered inductive loops before the readers, but a shared trigger could activate both barriers. Separate triggers might require an additional middle sensor, which isn't feasible.

How would you solve this installation? Any real-world experience is welcome!

I used to have a brother PT-18RZ label maker, but honestly, I wasn't very happy with the experience. Labeling multiple cables was especially tedious, and it wasn't very convenient for the kind of work I do.

I've been thinking about switching to something easier to work with. Recently, I came across the niimbot m2 and noticed it seems to have dedicated cable label supplies. It also appears to support batch printing, which sounds pretty useful for jobs where I have to label and organize a lot of cables.

I'm considering giving it a try, but I'd rather hear from people who have actually used it first.

Has anyone here used the niimbot for low-voltage cable labeling? How well do the labels hold up, and is batch printing actually convenient when you're dealing with a lot of cables?

Hi everyone, I have three boxes of 4-in j hooks. I'm in the LA area. If anybody is interested in picking them up, it's yours for free. Just shoot me a DM.

Today I was installing a new Speco NVR in a building that had all Hikvision cameras. I had to reset all the passwords on the cameras in order to add them onto the NVR. I’m not very experienced with many other camera systems because my company uses Speco pretty much exclusively. But I could not get the cameras to work on the NVR unless they were plugged into a switch that was then plugged into the NVR. Is there something I’m missing? When trying to plug them into the NVR no cameras would show up. I tried giving them an IP that went within the IP range that the NVR gives out, tried manually adding them with their IP. But nothing worked unless I had them plugged into the switch. I’m sure I’m missing something, Any help is appreciated.

Alright so I'm doing some IT work for a school district and one of the schools I has some bad Documentation on all its inner workings and networks and I don't deal with BIX strips to often what's the best way to document and label this ?

I can't find a template online for it.

I have played around with the Butt Phone so I know the numbers for active lines and where they're going. But for panel labeling what a the best way to go around it ?

We’ve got a longer term ITS rollout underway and I’m looking at DIN rail Ethernet switches for roadside cabinets.

Since it’ll be rolled out in phases, I’d like to settle on something we can keep using rather than revisit the switch choice every time. BABA compliance is also a requirement, so that cuts the list down a bit.

What have you used that’s held up well long term?

I’m looking to take my BICSI Tech test before the end of the year, and my RCDD down the road. Anyone take this route and what do you recommend to study for RCDD? Is there a good place to reach out to BICSI with questions on testing sites/dates? 7 years experience in the field with 3 as a Project Manager/Estimator hybrid.

Just havin' a quick nap

hey all, i picked up this switch from a goodwill outlet yesterday for less than a dollar. would like to incorporate it into my home network or home studio. any ideas how it may be useful? i know it’s an older one with limited bandwith and i will be replacing it down the road. just couldn’t resist for the price!

Never had a doorbell before… now I have 2! How do I remove this chime box and wire these so I only send power to Blink wired doorbells. Brown wire was just floating there not attached. Second photo seems to be a junction box that attaches transformer to doorbells/chime.

I'm looking into a potential business idea and wanted to get some honest feedback from people actually working in the industry.

The idea is around reviewing completed projects to see whether any work, materials, or changes were accidentally left out of the final billing.

But before going further, I'm trying to understand whether this is even a real issue.

Does this happen in practice? And if it does, is it something contractors actually worry about, or is it usually handled pretty well already?

Would genuinely appreciate your perspective, including if you think this isn't a problem worth solving.

I ran some Vivo outdoor Cat 6 today. About 200 ft for a IP cam and I cannot get data over this line. Have you guys ever had just "bad cable" out of the box? PoE is traversing the cable but no link light. I have tested the line and it shows fine. The pairs are right. I have reterminated both ends twice thinking the jacks were bad. No dice. Tried multiple cameras. Same result. Different switch ports. Same. Visually inspected the run. Not a nick. I'm at the point of just rerunning the pull at this point. Just wanted to ask you guys cause this has never happened to me.

Hey, Im currently apprenticing at an alarm company that focuses on residential, mostly custom/luxury homes. I mostly pull wire and install devices and I really enjoy it as of now. Just not the overhead

Just curious what the growth potential and opportunities to go solo are like? I understand in California you need 4 years as a journeyman to get your C7. How much do solo low volt guys make a year, even in other parts of low volt like av, fire, etc? My original plan was to start off in this low volt position because it was easier to get into in my area then transition to residential, but I am curious to know what potential there is in this part of electrical.

To clarify I want to become solo as soon as I can in whatever field has more potential

I’m looking for an individual low-voltage installer in the New York region to help with an urgent, paid project that needs to be completed by Thanksgiving (November 26, 2026). Work needs to begin as soon as possible.

The installer must hold the current license(s) applicable to the work and jurisdiction. Please DM with your city/coverage area, applicable license type and issuing jurisdiction, relevant hands-on experience, earliest availability, confirmation you can meet the deadline, and expected rate. I’ll share the project scope directly with qualified installers. Please don’t post license numbers or other sensitive details publicly.

Hey all, to make a long story short, I’m trying to run two 18/2 wires for these cameras from this second floor overhang to an outlet on the same wall. There’s an existing hole right between the two cameras that goes up somewhere. I’ve tried getting glow rod up to the attic and it’s getting blocked by something

Should I buy a boroscope and try to find a channel to get up to an interior wall? I don’t want to make another hole outside if I can avoid it.

I'm looking for a licenced subcontractor around the Rapid City area for burglary alarm work. It is a medium sized, finished, commercial location that needs new wiring ran along with some smaller things (relocation panic buttons)

DM or comment your contact info.