rcdd success stories?

It is not a silly question, and BICSI came prepared to answer this one. They have a brochure that is appropriately called "Why hire an RCDD?". If you did not read it yet, you should do it right away as it simply answers your question:

The brochure does not have real life stories, but you can look at their points and see how they apply to your situation. BTW, in my case I got hired here largely due to the fact that the company needed to have one on staff to be able to bid on larger cabling projects. RCDD on staff is often one of the bidder's qualifications. Just as simple as that.

I haven't been much of a freelancer after getting the RCDD, so let's see if other people post here on this part of your question.

Dmitri, I did a quick search on hotjobs and only found 4 hits of rcdd, non of which are in the NY/NJ area. What I would like to do is LAN and VoIP setup for small to mid size co's. And while I do not ever see myself pulling cable, I can see myself doing takeoffs from blueprints and contracting with cable pullers. Does this sound realistic or outlandish?

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It actually sounds like you need to look at the Cisco certification first and only then RCDD, and if you feel like you need more in-depth knowledge of the passive network infrastructure. BICSI has their own RCDD/NTS Specialists certification (second step after RCDD, stands for Network Transport Systems). The way I understand it (which may be different from the way BICSI designed it) is that it is designed for a primarily cabling guy like me to get some additional understanding of the ways LAN/WAN networks are designed so I know what is expected of my cabling system. This certification is based on generic, vendor-independent information which, by design, limits applicability of that information.

For VoIP part you may want to consider investing time and money into Avaya's ACS certification.

With that I'm not saying that RCDD certification is a useless addition to your resume/set of skills (quite opposite, see previous message in this thread). Especially considering that you've probably lined up your classes and the exam already ;-) I'm trying to say that, given your area of interest and limited amount of time and money that's normally available, you may want to get other skills and certificates first and only then arrive an the RCDD class.

Yes. I am on the Cisco path, and have an exam setup for Monday morning. My problem with Cisco cert is more of a paranoia than anything else. With Cisco training being done cheaply in Banglore there will be so many "experts" in that speciality, that I'm not sure that it will be worth much. Now, I did look at the "low voltage" requirements for NJ and saw that I will still need a "master electrician" to ok my wiring plans. What is the story with this? It is really starting piss me off that people who go directly from high school to being an electrical apprentice and then master and skip the years of training in electronics, solid state circuits, and physics of an engineering degree (not to mention LAN's) get to nay/ok (for a fee of course) the rest of us. Is there any justice in this?

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Well, there will always be less RCDDs than CCNAs, and I think it's quite natural since you install cable once in a few years, but you have to deal with networking issues most every day.

Would you elaborate on the NJ requirement you were talking about? Any cabling should abide to NEC rules for safety, but that's checked after the system is installed. So, you were talking about something else, and that got me worried. We do a lot of business in NJ, and that question never came up, so I might be ignorant of an important issue.

On a second thought: are you talking about the rule (that's never enforced unless it's a big public project) that requires a PE to verify your design documents? Well, if that's the case, a PE (Professional Engineer) has to have as much education as you've mentioned (well, sans LAN design ;-)) and much more, plus go through several stages of exams of their own. So don't worry about PEs, they are good guys. If they advise you to correct your plans, then it must be something important you overlooked. However, the number of PEs available to check your documents is so limited that you may spend years in business without ever meeting one.

If that was NOT a PE you were talking about, please, by all means, post more information on the NJ regulation here.

Thanks!

Sorry, I can't find where I saw that requirement. I have not signed up for the DD102 education yet, but I am just about ready to. I think that hanging out a shingle "CCNA" may get you certain types of jobs, but most co's have CCNA's on staff. It is that common. Now CCIE might not be that common, but the requirements are huge, and I see companies advertising jobs for them, that have absolutely no need for that type of expertise. Jeez, they are looking for sales engineers who "must have CCIE". Now, the RCDD is much less common, and as such, most companies won't have them on staff, and I suspect that most people who do LAN maint, don't have them either.

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The disconnect is that low-voltage cabling is considered by many states as electrical wiring - after all, it is addressed in the NEC. Since it is in the NEC, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Electrical Contracting requirements of many states and therefore requires someone with a Master Electrician license (or its equivalent) to pull an electrical permit to do the job.

In some instances the requirement for a master electrician is waived if a PE pulls the permit, but it does require someone who is familiar with all the rules and regulations involving electrical wiring. There are states that require all low-voltage cable installers to have passed an electrician's test in order to pull cable as it is treated as a life-safety issue.

Really, once you get down to it, it does make some sense. If you are going to be mucking around where the electrical current flows, you should know what you are doing. Most telephone and alarm installers don't know anything about electrical code or even TIA/EIA standards. And yes, there are levels of people certified to pull low-voltage cable. There are installers, journeymen and even masters who can pull a low-voltage permit.

I don't know the requirements in NJ, but if the state certifies low-voltage installers, then they probably will allow a person holding a master level low-voltage license to pull a low-voltage permit.

In NJ we often pull a permit by just calling the township and faxing over our telecommunication wiring exemption certificate (and mailing the check, obviously). Sometimes, they don't even ask for anything, just the check. Sometimes you have to go to the county or even the state. However, we do not have a master electrician on staff, and I cannot recall an occasion when it would prevent us from pulling the permit. A clerk in the office does that, not a master electrician or PE.

Alarm installers? Well, agree. I could not disagree with you more on the telephone installer tough. The TIA part in the standard's names is actually Telecommunication Industry Association , so you might generally expect some considerable degree of knowledge about the standards from someone in the industry that creates the standards!

In NJ you are not required to be a licensed electrician, but you have to get a Telecommunication Wiring Exemption from the NJ Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors.

All you have to do is fill out the form swearing you know what your doing. ( really that's it ) have it notarized and pay them there money around $100 if memory serves me.

Two to three weeks by mail or you can drive up there and it takes around 1/2 hour. no background check or test, this is jersey, all they want are the bucks.

Sonny

Dmitri, Where do you work out of , Jersey ? I'm in Cherry Hill

And in order to get that, you must have an RCDD on staff???? Again, I am looking to be able to service small businesses by both (re) designing their data/voip network completely from the installation of the switches and routers, to configuring of the routing protocols and VLANs, to pulling the cable. This is my goal.

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We are a PA company, but 50%+ of the business is in NJ.

Not at all. The thing is: BICSI is a private (although non-profit) organization. That would explain why a state, NJ or other, could care less about RCDD from licensing stand point. BICSI is a very influential organization, however, so whatever it lacks in government support, it makes up in support from its members like you and I, as well as several thousands more in key positions throughout the industry, especially in the US. So, although status of an RCDD in a state official's mind is next to nothing, a consultant that writes cabling spec for a state project may very well be an RCDD himself, and therefore have no problem writing a spec that says "must have an RCDD on staff".

And, again, you do not have to have an RCDD stamp handy to pull a low-voltage wiring permit. All you need is the township's phone number, couple hundred bucks (depending on the size and the place) and some time to kill waiting on hold.

Perhaps my statement regarding "telephone installers" was a little broad, but I had the old telephone company installers more in mind than the people who are in the business of selling and installing business telephone systems and their associated wiring. I have seen some really shoddy work done by the "regulated" installers for the major LEC here on the East coast, Verizon. And to balance the scale, I have seen work that was truly installed with an eye for craftsmanship.

Another group that can be lumped into the poor practice fold almost without exception are the cable TV installers. I had to go to the city department that regulates cable television in this city to have the franchise holder come back into a city building and clean up their installation and bring it to code - and this was in City Hall!

Rodgers Platt

I hear you, Rodgers.

I guess, poor craftsmanship that can be observed sometimes when utility guys are at work has a lot to do with couple issues:

#1 - the inside wiring is not of their concern, therefore they take no pride in hooking up to it any which way they can - sloppy cross-connects galore. #2 - the way they run the business only works on massive scale, so the techs have to cover great distances and visit many places every day. Therefore they are highly motivated to get outta there as soon (or earlier) as things slapped together start showing some kind of dial-tone or TV picture. Not sure about Comcast etc., but Verizon seems highly understaffed. So, they are always in a rush.

And there is always couple more underlying issues, such as Unions and low bids (I bet that City Hall was a low bid job), and just general sloppiness as a state of mind of some individuals.

Actually the City Hall work is done under the license granted with the franchise. The cable company, Comcast in this case, is required to provide cable connections to all city buildings and offices that request service.