Honest answer- you gotta jump fences, take chances and NEVER burn bridges. In my personal experience I started inhouse as an installer. Saw that that was always going to be installs and nothing else so I joined a contractor as a lineman. Much harder work and about the same pay but you GOTTA pay your dues. Saw the splicers making twice the money I was and in the bar 2 hours before I was so I got to be friends with them until one good guy took me out there and showed me how it's done. Starved for about a month before I caught on then made a really good living. Then I saw that the sweep guys were making 3 times the money I was making and in the bar by noon so I tried to be friends with them and nobody would give up any info. So I took a job inhouse while a rebuild was going on and being the only inhouse tech with contractor experience and access to all technical info (paid hourly for the first time in my long career) was appointed engineer in charge of the sweep contractors. Absorbed every bit of advice and knowlege I could get and never was vengeful or arrogant (As I've seen a lot of inhouse techs and top dog contractors act). Jumped back into contracting as a sweep contractor for about 2 years before the price of sweep went to nothing and had to turn around and go back to splicing then get span replacement and fiber replacement thrown in. Long story longer - 22 years later I wouldn't wish this crap on my worst enemy.
This is CABL.com posting #226418. Tiny Link: cabl.co/m634
