To the well wishers and critics, I really hope you can stay focused on the good stuff, technology & customers so Lumen can compete with the top tier in fiber based technology. I loved being on the 'bleeding edge of technology', out in the field, installing & turning up the newest transport gear, working with some great guys - knowing we were the competition ATT & VSZ were competing with. I knew I'd miss that the most.
Duke Oncologists told me, 'You'll have good days & bad days from the cancer treatments.' - and without going into details, all sorts of things I never expected from CTL (a rare Lymphoma of the skin that affects the blood). I look & feel like a wreck, and started apologizing to my co-worker(s) for my inability to carry the load like I once could. I was 'born to work' - loved to work, loved to build, even 'troubleshooted in my sleep' - you could say this was my dream job. I hung on as long as I could, I leave with the heavy heart. Cancer treatments are expensive - Duke has some of the best Oncologists, they've 'run out of bullets' to treat what I got & I've run out of money. I recently quit treatments, Lymphoma isn't fatal - it's the side effects that eventually do you in. I actually explained this to my manager, I'm too weak to work, the buy-out would have really helped clear some of my debts.
I do look back and already miss those wonderful years of competition in the industry, going head-to-head with VSZ & ATT on Network speed, Reliability & Robustness. We were true leaders, leveraging our fiber backbone, taking market share, creating a new customer base, because we were focused on the network & real customer care. We were BUILDING something new, big, better - building for the future. We had bragging rights, we were the best of the best. If your business needed/wanted internet speed, security & reliability, we were the top choice - maybe a little more expensive, but we guaranteed those 'data pipes' would deliver what the customer ordered. Those were the glory days of data transport, the voice stuff was sort of a side-hustle to us. We had a clear-cut vision of the future, becoming the biggest fiber optic backbone in the world - and we had the top tier minds at all levels, forging ahead. Who wouldn't love that, who wouldn't proudly say, "Yeah, I work for X company." I got asked several times, "How do I get a job at X company you work for?" I put myself through Ameritech school back in the '90s to get certification to get this job ... it was my dream job.
Just a couple optical rings I installed, turned up and delivered circuits on, Fujitsu 2400s, back in 2000 still carry traffic, remain. Back in those days, we field techs did everything, we were our own the NOC, so when things went wrong - we had to work together, scramble for a card, ride the fiber route looking for a squirrel chew, sweat it out in front of an anxious customer. But, we were more responsive, faster than VSZ or ATT, and the customers loved our SLA, we guaranteed we'd respond & be on-site in 2 or 4 hours. Slowly it all started changing, Customer Care, Leveraging the Backbone, Metrics, the crash kits (essential cards & local inventory), and local autonomy - changes. Customers started expressing their frustration with the NOC, slow response times, the auto-attendant maze, billing mistakes, prolonged outages, slowing data rates. We we're on the bleeding edge of technology, but, started acting like a little local ISP, chasing these tiny pipes, small stuff that requires a lot of work to install, years to pay off and loads of local tech support. We cheered when upper management said, we will NOT sell anything under 100meg, and the priority is Type 1, or 100% ON-NET, Type 2 was a huge no-no. "GOOD, we said, we're getting back on track!", it was energizing! The people who BUILT this company up, from the field to sales, the real visionaries, are ... where? What happened to 'Leveraging our Fiber Backbone?'
The last piece of transport gear I installed, for Lumen, I also installed a decade before - for a customer's network. 'They' carry more traffic than 'we' do. It use to be the other way around! Dark Fiber customers were unheard of, we sold Bandwidth, big pipes, not dark fiber. We LEVERAGED our fiber, for profitability & dominance in the industry. You wanted the best - come to us. We didn't compete with the local ISPs, we delivered bandwidth TO THEM, not dark fiber. Maybe it was desperation, financial distress, or the quick financial 'fix' that started the whole industry turning up-side down, we saw it coming & knew it probably would eventually make the whole telecom/data industry into a public utility like electric, water or sewer. A huge machine, with lots of arms & legs, kicking and waving moving slowly, unable to find a direction, cohesion & purpose.
Time to put it all behind me, my plane/train is coming - though I'm without a boarding schedule. God has given me a wonderful wife & 8 kids, a great job with the best of the best in the industry, it's hard to say bye - I wish I could name them here. A few nights ago, as I gazed up into the sky, I asked, "What's next, Lord?" I think the answer is to 'just live and leave this behind', you've got a family & family of friends from decades ago. I'll miss so many people, wish we could all keep in touch somehow - we had a lot of fun. I wasn't afraid to share my name, some will recognize me, I wish you all well, including detractors.
I just realized, I didn't leave a leading technology company, it left me.
Good Bye.