As of this morning, the remaining 3 switch techs, which includes me have been laid off, SWOPS is no more. I would like to wish FOPS and the security guard good luck, please do not call me for questions.
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20 years next month, and today the Switch team was dismantled. Why isn't the media saying anything about the quiet layoffs taking place? I would have to agree, for the last 5 years I have done nothing but collect a paycheck, I was a self starter and did what I could, but everything is done by contractors, I have been an overpaid door man. We were told not to say anything on this website, its funny management reads these posts. I'd like to say one thing, why do we need so many managers, what exactly is your job, you too should be let go, and do we really need all these Directors? Good luck TMobile it was fun while it lasted thank you for the ride.
T-Mobile will lay off Christians during holy week. I wonder how many sons of Muhammad will be laid off during Ramadan?
The 22 year guy here.. gonna give ya pink twinks a minute to reflect .. then we'll have a grown-up discussion..
To the yahoo "network operations" tech with only 22 years, take it from someone who started out in Intercel (predecessor to Powertel) and has been building telco networks for over 30 years. X.25 and SS7 to begin with before the long tech crawl. You keep up, learn as it changes or get left behind with the point to point 56k voice channels on T-1's.
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Says the sprint guy who couldn't after ten years integrate nextel into their network. Which is why they were fodder to be bought by T-Mobile.
Go boil your head.
In regards to laying off switch folk and having vendors/FOPS pick up issues I can tell you it doesn’t work. We did that when we were Ericsson and I was a hybrid tech to do just that - basically it came down to having to go to the switch every day and not being able to address my site issues. They realized it was not practical and went back to having at least one dedicated switch tech.
I'm in network operations, 22 years.
This is sad news regardless of the people stating switch ops provides no value..
how would you know? What does your org/dept support or provide? Who are you and what department for how long?
We worked with the switch daily maintaining the network for many years.
Guessing these are d-mb ares back office legacy tmo folks that never have and wouldn't know how to turn up a network or maintain it..
Goodluck to the hands on the network. Been a pleasure working with you.
Was the switch team split into CRT/RTP roles and the techs left manning the switch layed off? Also did you experience switch layoffs last Sept as well?
Last Sept our team was split into "new" roles. The techs that were assigned switch/facilities were layed off. Currently the RTP/CRT assigned techs have jobs.
My team was laid off, In our market, 2 Switches are now dark, 3 of us got laid off this morning. We were not Sprint locations, Fops will now get the calls to work what is needed or to let contractors in. TMO is doing this quietly.
There was a time when the switch team did meaningful work. It has now all been outsourced to the MIT or other contractors. It's only a matter of time before the field team is replaced by scopeworker field services. They have also had their work cut, and are so disgruntled they don't want to work anyway. RF should have already been replaced. FES is doing a better job than local RF and at a lower cost. Nokia will be taking over a large part of Dev. We're all SOL, get your resumes updated and start interviewing elsewhere.
I am a Switch Tech and we do nothing, I am hoping for the package to hit the road. I feel worthless on a daily basis and go home feeling that I accomplished nothing. I let people in then Slack with buddies, I dread coming in weekly.
You're right, everything we do either involves a contractor or a contractor has been hired to take over. The company could lay us all off and not skip a beat.
To the two naysayers who think switch technicians and managers actually have a function, please list out what you do that doesn’t involve a contractor. If there is a list, it’s gonna be like one line item….
Less complaining and more working. So STFU and make yourself valuable.
To say "They don’t bring anything worthwhile to the table and are floundering trying to figure out how to do things they should have known for years."
Shows you don't understand what functions other departments perform besides your own. People could say the same for RF, FST, DEV, and so on, but it would be incorrect. Every department holds value and contributes to the company's success. Babysitting contractors may have been a waste of the switches time, but that was a function performed while doing other duties. Now the company is still paying switch techs to perform their other functions but paying contractors to babysit other contractors. Seems logical.
I hope and pray that all of us Switch people get laid off. We don’t do anything but keep the network running
Let’s be honest folks. Those people who were “working” at the Switches as either “technicians” or “managers” weren’t performing any vital work. Most of the work being performed there was being done by contractors, unless you consider granting access to contractors or monitoring work of contractors to be work. Those people who were there were lucky if they were able to transition into some area model job as they didn’t really serve any purpose aside from what I mentioned. As for those that worked in the Sprint switches, they should have been canned immediately, but instead they were allowed to remain, retaining their ridiculously high salaries and not contributing to anything, aside from higher OPEX costs as it relates to their pay. The same thing is true about those T-Mobile switch people. They don’t bring anything worthwhile to the table and are floundering trying to figure out how to do things they should have known for years. Yes, it’s time to cut off the leeches that are here for the money, but don’t do Jack-sh-t.
Which market? Were they contracters?
It was a former Sprint site. I bet you'll see more of these type when the data centers start shutting down in a while. Duplicated excess capacity that can be sold.
"laying off all employees on site at once, and replacing with all new contractors on site, has so much risk attached to it that it would be, without question, reckless and uninformed."
The company doesn't care as long as they save money. They're preparing to do this samething across the board. The new Central/West is next, it's only a matter of time. Contractors are already badged and facility "managers" have taken on PM responsibilities.
Sorry to hear if anyone was laid off, and I pray that better opportunities await, but I can't imagine this is at National, or even Regional scale. Can you please add more perspective? Like, was it a Switch in a city/town/market that had dual or overlapping Switches? It doesn't make sense that a Switch would suddenly, without warning, shutdown/lay off all techs, without months, or even years of work consolidating Switch functions, etc. And laying off all employees on site at once, and replacing with all new contractors on site, has so much risk attached to it that it would be, without question, reckless and uninformed. I understand the former Sprint Switch model (especially near the end) was to keep a skeleton crew at Switches. Even with those supposed cost savings, we see how that worked out.
It sounds like a Sprint Switch was shut down. If not I hope that I am chosen for this round.
This is very sad. Sorry to hear this shocking event. Were you not having any area level responsibilities as a result of the area model that was implemented last year?
4 more lay offs within the Appalachian Area coming next week.
Can confirm a person that used to work at our CEC and went on to work in a switch is no longer showing in any internal systems.
what market?