How Fiber Optics Designer Olena builds fibre networks at Circet

Colleague Olena Naumets moved from Poland to Belgium just 2 years ago. She quickly made a name for herself as a Fiber Optics Designer. Lately, she’s been exploring this function further in the Circet Academy. With the Speer IT training and its Cocon asset management software, she’s given her work a whole new dimension.

In Circet Alumni, a colleague tells the story of his or her training at the Circet Academy, in short and in detail.

Who is Olena?

• Professionally: Fiber Optics Designer at Circet Projects

• Privately: Olena is Ukrainian with a Polish background. As a true workaholic, she has little time for hobbies. Still, she is improving her Dutch and French in her spare time, and she has just learnt to swim. Always driven by her motto “Never too old to learn!”

IN SHORT

• Training? “Spear IT: learn how to work with the Cocon asset management program.” 

• Her take-away? “Pretty much everything about making physical fibre networks visible, capturing and managing them with a convenient software program.”

• Score? “10/10. In addition to the useful content, I also loved the way the course was taught.”

• Tip for those who want to keep learning? “Take every opportunity you get. You never know what you might need the knowledge for!” 

IN DETAIL

👉 Why did you take this course? 

“As a Fiber Optics Designer, I am always designing fibre networks from behind my desk. We don’t get the opportunity to test out our ideas and sketches in real-life situations. Now, with a tool like Cocon (part of Speer IT), I effortlessly create simulations of networks and situations. As a result, I immediately know if my plans are actually feasible. This gives me, as well as my colleagues in the field, a much better overview of the network.”

👉 What did you learn?  

“With Cocon, we learn how to design higher quality fibre networks and connections. You put all your data into it: the type of equipment you want to use, the cables you are going to use, the additional equipment needed... Then, when you begin the design stage, the system tells you whether a particular connection will cause problems in real life.”

👉 What did the training consist of?

“Speer IT is a three-day training course. On day one, we started with a kind of ‘alphabet of fibre optic networks’. This helped us master all the terminology in the software. After that, we were given a number of basic exercises. On day two, those exercises became increasingly difficult, and we got to work with more complex networks. On day three, we designed very complicated networks as they exist in the field.”

“I found it very challenging. In my role, suddenly getting real-time visual insights into every part of a fibre network is a huge breakthrough. We also learnt to name materials and equipment correctly. That makes things a lot easier for our people in the field. After all, they have to implement our ideas and designs.”

👉 You give the training the maximum score. Why? 

“First and foremost, the content was perfectly tailored to my role. I learnt new things every day, never felt like I was wasting my time. In addition, I found the teaching method very pleasant: my coach was calm coach and answered all questions with a lot of patience. We worked independently in a small group, but there was always room for questions, and we also constantly helped each other. That combination of independence and a strong sense of collective effort is something I enjoy.”

👉Do you have a tip for those who want to keep learning?  

“I’d like to encourage people to really go for it. As adults, we often have our hands full with family, children and other responsibilities. This can impact our ‘learning time’. So, attending a training through Circet to keep growing in your function is really a gift.”