How is it different from K-12? Why is this important to us? Discuss andragogy and life-long learning.

Adult education, how is it different? Before we discuss the practical differences, let’s first address the two primary categories of education – pedagogy, and andragogy. Simply stated, in Merriam Webster’s online dictionary, pedagogy is the art science or profession of teaching. Within the profession, however, pedagogy, more often refers to the K through 12 type of approach; the Socratic approach, if you will, where teachers teach and learners listen. The information is passed from the instructor to student – more of a rote learning approach, where the learner is dependent upon the instructor for all learning. The teacher or instructor assumes full responsibility for what is taught.

Andragogy, however, assumes that the learner is self-directed. The learner is responsible for his or her own learning. Self-evaluation is characteristic of this approach. With Andragogy, the learner brings his own experience to the learning process. Each adult learner is a source of knowledge and contributes to the overall learning experience. With this approach is more of a built in readiness to learn than in the pedagogical model. This self-motivation comes from the need to know in order to perform more effectively or to accomplish one’s goals.

So, adult education is focus more on learning what we need to know to accomplish our different life goals. The other education approach is more of a required process to gain certain basic credentials. It is often much less student centered and focuses more on specific outcomes centered around a set curriculum. Adult education in comparison to K-12 is more learner centered in the expectation is more participation based on life experience.

The adult education approach becomes important to us since the goals are primarily different. The goals are centered on achieving a specific task outcome, or learning new behaviors. The adult becomes less motivated by grade point averages, and more motivated by achieving specific goals. Most often these goals are more pragmatic, and are centered around specific outcomes at the learner wants to achieve.

In this 21st century world of complexity, all of our senses are continually being assaulted with multiple types of information. To survive and possibly even to prosper, learning becomes a lifelong process. Most of us become lifelong learners, whether we recognize that specific term or not. In essence, adult education is different primarily from our K-12 experience, and possibly early college, by both our motivation and our need. Adult education becomes a choice, not a responsibility.

Copyright November 4, 2009 Boyd K. Smith, Ph.D. All rights Reserved

Tip #1 Set Powerful Goals

Your goal, a vision of where you want to be is your greatest asset. Setting powerful goals is not enough, you have to know the fundamentals of setting an awesome goal and more importantly, learn how to create a complete and realistic plan for achieving it. Make sure your goals are specific, realistic, measurable, plain, actionable and continuous.

Specific: your goal should be as specific as possible. There should be a particular aspect of your training you intend to work on. Narrow your goals to two or three to help you stay focused and simplify your training and regenerative efforts.

Realistic: set realistic yet challenging goals, this will make you work really hard to achieve them. Avoid setting easy goals which can make you develop a fear of setting future goals with a high risk of non-achievement. However challenging your goals may be, set them based on your level of athletic and competitive abilities.

Measurable: be objective and make sure your goal is performance oriented. For you to keep track of your performance, set time, date, precise amount of change you intend to see and so on, so you don’t miss out on the celebration that comes with your achievement.

Plain: write out your goals and place them in conspicuous places around you for example your bathroom, kitchen, training bag, seeing them will often remind you of your goals at practice. An example of a goal is “to achieve the best time in the 50 yard freestyle competition in the next one month”. Put it into writing and stick it around you.

Actionable: map out an action plan on how you want to achieve your goal. It could range from day-to-day practice to different training methods, to be included in your routine. Training methods could be to:

• Include maximum speed work in practice at a volume of certain meters per week or
• Include extra quality kick each day equal to an amount of yards per week

Continuous: make sure your goal setting is an ongoing thing and stick with the plan. Build reminders to keep yourself on track and make out time to regularly review your goals.

Tip #2 Break Bad Habits

Habits good or bad make up who we are. How we react to things, what we focus our energy on, what we eat, how we train and so on are pointers to our habits. However, with a commitment to daily actions, bad habits can be transformed into new better ones. There are 4 steps you can take to smash your bad habits:

• Identify: search within yourself to determine what harmful habits you indulge in that is affecting your performance and when it normally happens. For example, do you give up on difficult sets when you fall behind your teammates or do you eat junk food lunches when you are at school?
• What’s the payoff?: what do you stand to gain from the bad habits that you hold on so tight to them. In the first example, the payoff is the pride that a full effort wasn’t worth placing behind teammates, so you would rather not put in much effort and place second than to exert all energy and fall behind after all. The second scenario’s payoff is convenience; the 5 minutes before school it will take you to prepare a healthy lunch.
• What’s the trade-off?: what are you giving up for the pride and convenience? when you hold on to pride you are giving up a better level of fitness and the confidence that would come with a job well done while if you go for the convenience, you would be giving up the proper fuel for your body to perform at optimal level.

Our bad habits are not neutral, they pull us in the opposite direction of where we are supposed to go.

• Commit: make the commitment to change the bad habits, gradually change them into the form of a new better one. Do a positive self talk whenever the negative thought of “I CAN’T” creeps in. Every time you tell yourself that you can’t, that it’s too difficult, insert a “BUT” and a positive statement at the end. For instance, I can’t finish this set, it’s too hard… but if I did, it would make me a better swimmer.

Tip #3 Motivate Yourself

We all experience those moments where we have doubt. Both in training and competition, where things feel hopelessly stacked up against us. Having a history of your workouts can give you that push to help you get back on track, so to stay motivated, record all of your best times, from the short course and un-shaved off event, to your best 100 free kick (without board), it will help you to track and celebrate them.

Tip #4 Stay Focused

What distinguishes the great from the rest is the ability to focus when it matters most, to be able to shut out the world and make all the noise around disappear. So, to stay focused;

• Do away with any form of distraction at practice or during competition, log out of your social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snap chat and so on, turn off your mobile phones and any other gadgets.
• Turn off all mental distractions within and outside you.
• Don’t hinge on your time by going for long swim sessions, take frequent breaks to refresh yourself mentally and physically.

Tip #5 Track Your Performance

One of the biggest benefits of tracking your performance in the pool is getting accountability for your swimming. Regular evaluation is a must over the course of a training cycle or a season. This will help you to;

• Stay on track with your goals.
• Know where you are kicking butt.
• Conquer the weak spots of your training and swimming.

The faster you improve, the more likely you are to beat the competition. At the end of the day, that’s how races are decided, it’s how personal bests are made.

Although most people may not know it by its name, restaurant china is easy to recognize and familiar to most people. This is the china that you might typically find in restaurants which has the heavy, thick, solid feeling when you hold it in your hands. It always looks like it could withstand a lot of abuse because it was made to do just that. It had to be durable because it was going to be used on a daily basis. You could also find it in other institutions, such as cafeterias, hospitals and schools, as well as on ships and trains. Although it was made to be functional, it often managed to be attractive, too, with pleasing designs and colors. Over the years restaurant china has become very collectible, with interest centered on specific designs, themes or manufacturers.

The restaurant china manufacturing industry goes back to the late 19th century when there was an increased need for hotel chinaware. As hotels became bigger the patrons demanded more places to eat in addition to the hotel’s own dining room. Restaurants and cafes became popular and there was high demand for attractive, durable china that could be used in these commercial settings. By the early 20th century there were many companies manufacturing restaurant china, including Syracuse China, The Sterling China Company, and Lenox, Inc.

Collectors of restaurant china can choose from many different kinds of pieces. Many choose to collect only specific items, such as creamers, teacups or bowls. Each of these items have several variations and subsets, which can lead to even more specific specialties. For instance, bowls alone have many designations, such as soup, bakers, fruit, cereal and many more. A collector can choose to concentrate on one kind of piece, or on a certain design pattern, or even on the original user of the china, such as a specific railway company. Others limit themselves to pieces made by a specific company, or even a certain color.

Whether a collector seeks out restaurant china for its monetary value, its beauty, or for nostalgic reasons, they will find no shortage of pieces to collect. Interest in collecting this type of china is growing and many enthusiasts routinely spend time in antique shops and libraries researching patterns and markings. Online auction sites such as eBay routinely have thousands of restaurant china listings and are a good place to see and study the various styles and patterns.

“Keep the teachings as given. Each kriya is whole unto itself, a perfect jewel that acts to create a flow. [Kriyas] are perfectly designed sets meant to produce predictable and subtle impacts on the total Self.” ~ Yogi Bhajan

Kundalini Yoga is more than just exercise to stimulate the body. This yoga moves energy! KY is all about having an energetic experience. It is important to deliver the teachings correctly to produce expected results. How can we be pure vessels for the teachings if we mess around with the formula? It is specific and proven. It ain’t called a science for nothing!

To give you a bit of background, Kundalini Yoga classes have a specific 6-part teaching structure to follow, as outlined below.

1. Tune in with the Adi Mantra
2. Pranayam (breath work) and/or appropriate warm-up
3. The Kriya (the exercise set)
4. Relaxation
5. Meditation
6. Ending prayer and Long Sat Naams

Within this teaching structure is a critical piece involving the third point, the Kriya. The critical piece is not to omit or alter the Kriya in any way other than duration.

That means that we teach the exact sequence of exercises in each set. We do not change the order or add or subtract poses. Kundalini Yoga is a science to bring a specific outcome. Don’t mess with what works.

Another important point to acknowledge is that we really are honor-bound to maintain the integrity and sacredness of the Kundalini Yoga Teachings, especially now that Yogi Bhajan has passed on. It is the legacy of every teacher to preserve the purity of the teachings.

The system and techniques are proven to work. Period. Why be so arrogant as to think that you should change them? Can you do any better than perfection? Yogi Bhajan tells us, “It is a three-thousand-year-old proven path – it’s not going to stop.” So stick with the program…because it works. The only way you’ll reach Infinity is to give yourself the capacity to experience the teachings as they were meant to be taught.

©Copyright 2010 Kundalini Yoga With Sharlene Starr. All Rights Reserved.

When you consider the variety of merchandise available for Jimi Hendrix, for anyone to look for a specific product it would be very convenient to be able to go to a website that provides all this information without any pressure to buy. You, and you alone will decide whether or not you are ready to spend your money online. That is no concern of mine. However what you should expect to find online, is an honest overview of all the available merchandise.

This article will specifically go into the variety of T-shirts that are available with Jimi’s image on them. You can search for the color of the T-shirts, like a purple, light red or even orange T-shirt. Or even more specific, you can search for a T-shirt that shows the name of one of the songs. For example you could be looking for a Stone Free T-shirt, or one that says Foxy Lady. Another way to find what you need, is to look for the places that Jimi played. We all remember Woodstock or Monterey. There are specific T-shirts available on these subjects.

Now it would be pretty obvious to find a purple shirt that says Purple Haze now wouldn’t it? But it’s not like that. There are many combinations that you can imagine for colors, names of songs or just a picture of the band on it. How about a Jimi Hendrix T-shirt of the song Little Wing that shows little wings? Sure, you can find those as well. Popular songs like Foxy Lady or Machine Gun will have their own versions available. And even specific songs from the Band of Gypsies album, like Power of Love can be found on a T-shirt.

Although most of the shirts are short sleeve, you can also find some long sleeve shirts. What I like about the variety available online, is that even though most of the shirts are black, there are also a number of shirts available in different kinds of colors. And to be honest some pictures will look better on a black shirt then for example on a white shirt. A very special one to me is the army colored shirt with the face of Hendrix on it. Anyone who knows anything about Hendrix and the timeframe he was in, will understand that this shirt is the biggest contradiction you can imagine.

Furthermore there are shirts that represent the different gigs that he did. For example there is Monterey, Copenhagen and of course Woodstock. And since there was a Hendrix tribute tour in 2012, that specific shirt is also available on the Official Hendrix website. This shirt will show all the 21 gigs that Billy Cox and his friends did to honor this great guitar player. It doesn’t get any more special than this!

So if you are looking for a specific Jimi Hendrix T-shirt you can do your search on google or any other browser you prefer. What you will come up with is an overview of online shops that offer the same shirt, for different prices. So what is the best deal? You will have to compare the quality and look for additional charges for shipping. Do you want to do that? Or do you want to have a selection of shirts available to you in one place?

Are you looking to take your baseball skills to the next level? Do you dream of throwing harder, batting better, and fielding with ease? These are skills that can be learned, honed, and perfected and baseball-training aids can make it possible.

Practice is the key to success in any athletic endeavor, and baseball is no exception.

The old adage “practice makes perfect” may be cliché, but it is true. Unfortunately, many sports, specifically a team sport like baseball, typically require a group of people to practice effectively. Conventional wisdom tells us that effective baseball training requires at least two athletes. Fortunately, this is no longer true as baseball training aids allow athletes to perform effective and efficient training without a partner or team.

Baseball and softball training aids are athletic training tools designed to develop and improve baseball specific skills. There are a variety of different training aids, each designed to perfect a specific area of your game. Each training tool improves skill-specific muscle memory; so effective training with these tools will vastly improve game performance.

Muscle memory is a form of procedural memory that stores the physical mechanics behind a specific task inside the brain. Muscle memory training is a very important part of athletic success. While it is always great to get faster and stronger, an athlete should really focus on getting faster and stronger in a way that is relevant to his or her specific sport or even his or her specific position.

Baseball training aids not only improve strength, conditioning, and hand-eye-coordination, they do so in a way that directly correlates to baseball success. For example, the Swift Stik lightweight training bat allows hitters to practice hundred of swings in one training session without the injury risks of a heavier bat. This type of repetition is the most important factor in building effective muscle memory.

Another training tool, the Arm Strong, improves throwing strength, accuracy and speed by combining light resistance training with a natural throwing motion. The benefits of this type of training are plain to see. In order to see the same results with an outdated training regimen, an athlete would have to spend hours in the gym, followed by hours playing catch and taking batting practice. That’s not exactly efficient.

While no training tool can ever replace real-game experience, there is no reason to risk injury and waste time by treating skill and strength conditioning as different types of training. With baseball training aids, all of these necessary training steps can be combined into one simple program.

That’s not all. The best part about these types of training tools is the fact that they can be used alone. There are no more excuses to slack off in the off-season. These training tools put success squarely in the hands of the competitor. It is time to gain a competitive edge with professional baseball and softball training aids.

[This article is neither designed to extol nor defame Kim Kardashian. Its purpose is simply to reveal the correlation between one’s numbers, life and destiny.]

How does someone get divorced after only seventy-two days of being married? It seems unbelievable, but is it? Can such an event be seen in someone’s numbers? The answer is Yes. In a very simple way, Kim Kardashian’s marriage was doomed before it could really begin, and this is visible in the 599 number pattern of her Lifetime Monthly Timeline.

The Lifetime Monthly Timeline (LMT) is one major thread of an individual’s destiny revealed in their “numbers” based on the full birth name and birth date. The LMT is a function of the actual months a person is alive plus the Specific Expression-the sum of the specific letter values in the full birth name. The LMT has two parts: an Influence and an Outcome.

Kimberly Noel Kardashian was born on 21 October 1980 (Wikipedia). Given this simple birth data, we can compute her Lifetime Monthly Timeline which reveals a major key to her romantic life and its issues.

The Influence aspect of Kardashian’s LMT is revealed in the number of months she has been alive. This LMT Influence is calculated by simply multiplying her age, 31, times 12 (months in a year) equaling 372-the actual number of months she has lived up to her 31st birthday. She filed for divorce on 31 October 2011 (Halloween), just ten days after turning 31. The number 372 indicates marriage (3) undergoing concern and examination (7) in relationship (2). Together, these numbers equal a 3 in reduction (3 + 7 + 2 = 12; 1 + 2 = 3). Here again is the influence of the 3 of marriage.

The Outcome of her 372 Influence is generated by adding her 227 Specific Expression to it. This 227 is the sum of the specific letter values of her full birth name, Kimberly Noel Kardashian. For example, the letter “K” is the eleventh letter of the alphabet and has a specific value of 11. “A” has a specific value of 1 because it is the first letter of the alphabet. “Z” has a specific value of 26 because it is the twenty-sixth letter of the alphabet and so forth. Therefore, when each of the specific letter values of her birth name is added together, a 227 is the result, a numeric pattern indicating Yin (feminine) energy, others and relationship (the two 2s) focusing on reflection, seclusion, thought, analysis and introspection (7).

When Kardashian’s Influence number of 372 is added to her Specific Expression of 227, it creates a sum of 599, a cipher set showing changes (5) and massive endings (99). When the numbers of this 599 pattern are added together and reduced, the result is a 5 revealing an outcome of more change (5 + 9 + 9 = 23; 2 + 3 = 5). When written as a whole, this pattern is 599-5. The two 5s serve as bookends of change for the powerful 99 energies of endings-the reality of her life when she decided to divorce.

For simple clarity, the single ciphers (crowns) of the number patterns 372 and 599 can be used to form a 3/5 IR Set (Influence/Reality or Outcome). The number 3 represents marriage, well-being, health and beauty and the 5 indicates change. By itself, the 5 doesn’t signify endings necessarily. It is the powerful double 9s creating the 99 that signify endings and conclusions.

Summary

Life and destiny are visible in the numbers of our birth name and birth date. The numeric pattern 599, representing change, detachment and freedom (5) playing itself out in an energy field of endings and conclusions (99) reveals, in part, the divorce of Kim Kardashian. Other factors in her chart are also germane, but this 599 outcome pattern is, arguably, the smoking gun manifesting the cutting of her nuptial knot after only seventy-two days of marriage. ~ finis

SMART is an acronym gaining remarkable popularity in the world of business which represents key features specialists generally agree must be incorporated into your goals to align yourself on a route to success. This system was introduced in 1981 when an article by George Doran (there’s a S.M.A.R.T way to write management’s goals) highlighted the need to methodically set out what you will work towards to optimize your chances of success.

This gave birth to the five part model of cultivating the best goals for projects in many industries. Although many variations have emerged explaining the SMART goals phenomenon, the ideal model for fundraising would comprise of;

S – SPECIFIC

M – MEASURABLE

A – AMBITIOUS/ ATTAINABLE

R – RELEVANT

T – TIME-BASED

Making use of this SMART model to cultivate and set goals for fundraisers and other projects facilitates the creation of effective action plans for them and also makes it easy to later evaluate success levels. Appropriate counsel and advice on the activities of fundraising especially for Non-profits, charity organizations and social business can be gotten from proper Non-profit and Fundraising Consulting.

The specifics of the SMART model for fundraising can be explained as follows;

S – SPECIFIC

It’s first of all very important when setting goals to clearly determine what exactly the ultimate result is to be. In the milieu of fundraising, being specific simply implies being crystal clear on financial targets and the impact that will be made on your organization when these targets are met.

Going further to answer questions of ”what” needs to be done to realize set goals? And ”who” is to benefit from the meeting of these goals? Together with ”where” and ”why” increase specificity. Clearly outlining and writing these specific goals help in avoiding distractions. Examples of specific goals for fundraising could be:

• Gain 200 new donors
• And raise 25% on last year’s total donations to provide food, shelter, and education for homeless exploited teens.

M – MEASURABLE

This feature of the SMART goal model for fundraising provides some clarification to the specific set goals answering questions of ”how much” and ”how many” so as to make them easily quantifiable. In other words, measurability can be achieved by establishing defined methods of how to know if goals are met or not such as outlining:

• How much is to be raised
• Who will be responsible for tracking progress
• How to know when goals are met or not.

A – AMBITIOUS/ ATTAINABLE

It’s very beneficial when fundraising goals are both ambitious and attainable. There is significant difficulty in the use of comprehension of available skill and resources to strike the ideal point between realistic and ambitious goals. It’s important to note that difficult targets most often encourage greater performances. However, always take into consideration that unrealistic and unattainable goals could lead to frustration and damage to morale which is key especially for fundraising.

Providing answers to the following questions will help any organization in the setting of attainable goals in fundraising:

• Average donation size?
• Funds raised in past online campaigns and events?
• Number of donors in previous campaign?
• Organizational resources (skill, time and money) committed to the fundraising campaign?

R – RELEVANT

Succeeding to set specific, measurable and attainable goals without relevance scream incomplete and sham. It’s indisputably necessary for fundraising goals to be relevant. In this SMART goal feature, you are required to clearly establish how raising the funds and meeting set targets work for your organization’s cause. Here the main question to be responded to is ”why”?

To thoroughly check for the relevance of fund raising goals to be set, it’s vital to investigate direct relations to the missions of the organization. This can be done by stating:

• What reaching the set goals will particularly do for your organization and its mission?
• What direct or indirect impact will be felt highlighting the lives to be improved or even saved?
• Does your target population directly benefit from this goal?
• Clear connections and relationship between current organization activities and those after the realization of goals?

Clearly outlining who is benefiting from funds raised in relation to organization original missions highlight and express relevance.

T – TIME BASED

Though the last of the five SMART features, it is equally as important as the others because, deadlines play a major role in making goals specific and measurable. A goal which is not time-based can be indefinitely suspended. Objectives and fundraising goals require steady start and end dates as they provide visible reference points and powerful motivation for both the fundraisers and their donors. Deadlines also should be ambitious but attainable because they are very important to the budget of organizations. Possessing campaign timelines facilitate regular checking of progress level towards goals. SMART fundraising goals should clearly outline:

• Start date of campaign
• End date of campaign
• Campaign timeline with stated locations at certain important points during campaign
• Present steps and tasks to be executed with suggestions to deal with challenges and unforeseen.

Setting, cultivating and executing SMART goals during the management of fundraising events and campaigns increase the probability of success, implying success at raising the funds needed by the organization. This five feature SMART model can be very beneficial in the guarantee of success in the management of social business fund raising and other projects as they give focus and orientation to your campaigns.

We’re now in second half of 2018, and I’m sure that most of us here have set our sights on our new goals for this year. However, for some people, setting goals could prove to be an overwhelming task. Many others set goals and then forget about it until the next year. And then there’s some who don’t even bother setting any for themselves. I believe that goals are important to our lives; hence, I will first highlight the importance of setting goals. Then, I will share to you some tips which you could use to set effective goals.

The Importance of Setting Goals

Why is setting goals important? Setting goals is fundamental to one’s long-term success because it is like our very own life roadmap. Goals bring us to where we want to be in the future just like how a roadmap brings us from point A to point B.

Think about it, if we do not have any goals, chances are we do not know what we want in life. It’s like getting lost in the woods, without any direction to follow.

SMART Goal System

As mentioned earlier, many people set goals for themselves, but how many of these goals are actually realized? Many people still have goals which they set 10 years ago! I will share with you how to set goals effectively via the SMART goal system. Why SMART goal? By setting SMART goals, you’re actually making your roadmap to your destinations shorter and easier.

Setting SMART goals simply means the goals you set must satisfy the following SMART criteria:

Specific – Your goal must be as specific as possible. It must not be vague. Here’s some questions to guide you to set a specific goal:

What do I want to achieve?

Why is achieving this goal important for me?

Who do I want to become?

When do I want to achieve it?

Where is the location?

Measurable – You must be able to measure the progress of your goal. It has to be quantifiable. For example, if my goal is to be a millionaire, I’ll know that I’m halfway there when I have $500,000, and I have achieved my goal when I have $1,000,000.

Attainable – The keyword for this component is ‘resources‘. An attainable goal simply means you can achieve that using the resources (time, money, energy) that you have which allow you to stay committed to achieving this goal.

Realistic – Try to set a goal which is neither too challenging nor too easy. It has to make you feel excited and challenged at the same time. It is good to set challenging goals for yourself, but if it’s too a challenging goal, you might be discouraged and give up after some time. Likewise, a very easy goal might make you lose interest, and you don’t feel much fulfilled achieving that goal. A simple tip to do this is to break down your primary goal into smaller milestones. Achieving these milestones is not as overwhelming as having to achieve the big goal in one shot. Once you achieve one milestone, you will feel more motivated and fired up to achieve the next milestones.

Timely – Many people set wonderful goals for themselves, but they often miss this out – the time component. It is important to set a time frame or deadline for your goal. I cannot stress enough the importance of setting a time frame for each of your goals. Without a time frame, there is no sense of urgency and you might delay your efforts to achieve that goal. “Oh, I’ll do it later. Next week. Next month.” Some people even forget about it! This is why many people still dream of the same thing for the past 10 years!

The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step

Take Massive Action

That’s the SMART system for you. Now is the time to take some action. Start by identifying the goals and then write it down in a big piece of paper, and place it at somewhere near to you so you could read it all the time. Remember, nothing gets done unless you take action, because the bridge between dreams and reality is ACTION!!

This article is also available at https://tzeyang.com/why-havent-you-achieved-your-goals-and-how-you-could-achieve-them

For people in many industries, a university degree prepares one for a wide range for potential professions. For skills in a specific job position, industrial training courses and on the job training are often required. In fiber optic communications both vendor specific and vendor neutral options are available for certified fiber optic training and certified optical network training.

People in many professions, including network engineers, will agree that you are likely to learn more job specific skills in a few months on the job than you can acquire during a four-year degree program. This is because professional skills are very specific to the multitudes of job specific functions available. These skills are usually obtained through on the job training or by taking in-house or outsourced courses specifically tailored for the job function.

Optical network designers and planners working with certain vendor equipment may be required to take vendor specific courses. If your company uses Huawei equipment and your responsibility is to design 100Gbps long haul and metro networks, then you may be asked to take the Huawei Certified Network Professional course that focuses on designing optical networks using the Huawei Optix platform. If you are responsible for network testing using Yokogawa equipment, then you may have to take a Yokogawa specific testing course. The same applies for many other vendors.

But before you are hired and given the opportunity to train on the job, you may be required to demonstrate fundamental knowledge of fiber optic networking beyond your Engineering, Physics or related degree. This is the dreaded catch-22 where you need a job to acquire the experience and you need the experience to get the job.

Fortunately, there are a number of vendor neutral training courses in fiber optics or optical networking available for anyone with a relevant educational background to take. Such courses may substitute for the basic knowledge required by employers.

The most well-known of these courses are those offered by the Fiber Optic Association (FOA). FOA courses put an emphasis on fiber optics for technicians and include splicing, connectors, testing, OSP installation and fiber characterization.

Optical Technology Training (OTT) offers, through its partners worldwide, more specialized 5-day training courses for installers, characterization engineers, planners, project managers and operation staff. OTT’s fiber optic training courses, including Certified Optical Network Associate (CONA) and Certified Optical Network Engineer (CONE) courses do not only focus on the detailed properties and impairments in optical fibers but also on the photonic components, modules and processes that enable the encoding, transmission and decoding of optical signals over optical fiber. The courses also cover transmitters, receivers, WDM, modulation schemes and other related concepts.