Re: How Many Years Have You Been in the Industry?

[Frank Olson <Use_the_email_links@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob La Londe wrote:
> I have a hard time with this.  I took a correspondence course in electrical
> and refrigeration when I was in my mid teens.  Did that so I could service
> the refrigeration systems in my parents grocery store.  That doesn't seem to
> directly relate to the industry, but all those electrical skills certainly
> came in handy over the years.
>
> When we built a 50 X 60 addition to the store in my late teens I was in the
> thick of it framing, wiring, drywalling, helping plan lighting and a
> multiple compressor air conditioning system.  It was a steel building with
> framed inner walls, and wood frame offices and areas inside.  Lots of great
> experience there.  Except for some simple alarm stuff and some video cable
> planning there wasn't much related to the industry, except golly.  I can
> easily visualize the structure of a building when planning an alarm system.
> Knowing how things are constructed sure makes it easier to do a retrofit
> alarm.
>
> I spent some time going to college studying computer information system.
> Gee that doesn't seem to have anything directly related to the industry
> either.  Well, I suppose that my systems analysis and design classes might
> helped me to follow a logical decision making process that assists in alarm
> system design.  It certainly helped to give me some computer skills that
> help on the business side of it.
>
> Then I got a job for a small telephone service provider.  Worked on digital
> carrier systems, underground cable, and central office switching equipment
> (the old mechanical stuff).  I had to be able to aim a microwave dish
> antenna and install phone jacks in a persons home.
>
> I got tired of the small business politics with the phone company and we
> parted company.  I suppose it was mutual except that when I stopped by the
> main office to settle my final stuff the president of the company came out
> to talk to me as I was leaving to ask if I would be interested in staying if
> we could work out the issues.  I said no.
>
> Golly, still no major alarm experience.
>
> I went back to college and took a bunch more computer related classes and
> some more business classes.  I enjoyed the heck out of myself and hit my
> stride for college.  Picked up enough credits for a degree in business and a
> degree in computer information systems.  Just never could bring myself to
> finish the humanities classes to be able to actually get the paper.  Art
> appreciation, music appreciation, and underwater basket weaving just didn't
> interest me.  Psychology was fun and business law was very educational.
>
> A friend called me and said the outfit he was working for could use some
> help with some underground telephone cable tie down, and I could work around
> my class schedule.  Cool.  I did that.  Piece of cake stuff.  Then they
> asked me to do an alarm system in a court center.  Wild.  I got some general
> info on what was needed and then they left me there to work on my own.
> "WHAT ?!?  I don't know enough about alarms to do this by myself."  Took me
> a couple weeks between classes to get it all wired up.  My boss arrived one
> day when I was sitting on the lawn under a tree.
>
> He asked if I had given up.  I replied, "Nope.  All finished up with the
> install.  I'm just trying to make head or tails of these manuals to program
> it.  They don't make sense."
>
> Finally some alarm experience.  LOL.
>
> At the same time I had two jobs on campus.  Working in the computer labs
> helping lazy idiots learn to learn, and telling self important little people
> that I would be glad to teach them how to do their assignments, but they
> would have to do the work themselves.  My other job on campus was tutoring
> economics.  That was fun.  Those students all seemed to actually want to
> learn.
>
> I worked for the sound / alarm company off and on for a couple years.  Got a
> little alarm experience, but we worked on so many different systems its hard
> to really say that was an alarm job.  I pulled network cable, installed
> commercial sound systems, and had to learn to troubleshoot all kinds of
> esoteric specialty systems.  Often not knowing what they were supposed to do
> or how they were supposed to be hooked up.  My first drive through intercom
> was quite an experience.  Fought with the darn thing for a full day, and
> finally had to order in a new module that controlled the system.  I got it
> replaced, and the next day they managed to spill a milk shake in it.
> Pzzzzzt!
>
> When they slowed down I started looking for another job.
>
> Boy oh boy.  I got a job as a salesman for a California based alarm company
> that was contracting in Arizona.  When we parted company my business card
> said regional salesmanager.  I actually quit them twice.  The first time I
> quit because I could never get any support material.  They asked me to stay.
> The second time was after I discovered they didn't have an Arizona
> contractor's license.  Oh, boy!  THAT was some alarm experience.
>
> I actually didn't want anything to do with the alarm industry after that.  I
> started a home based computer service business and I was doing a small
> traffic in that on the evenings and between times.  At the same time I
> worked days doing shipping and receiving at a tool company and I delivered
> pizzas during the peak hours for a local startup pizza company.  I have to
> say the pizzas made on an old style stone plate oven are much better than
> those made on a conveyor.  But alas that still didn't have anything to do
> with the alarm industry.
>
> In December 1993 I did my first ever alarm system.  A client I had sold an
> alarm system for that other company called me.  Actually he called me to
> service one of his computers, and while I was there talking to him he told
> me that they had totally screwed up a contract I had already had him sign
> when I worked for them.  They cut out equipment he had asked for and did all
> kinds of weird stuff.  Basically they invalidated the contract and asked him
> to sign a new contract.  To be honest I think it was an attempt to cut me
> out of the commissions they still owed me.  I told him I could do it, but he
> had to understand he was hiring an unlicensed contractor.  He said, "I can't
> deal with this stuff.  I want you to do it."  I figured one alarm system,
> and back to my computer service business.  I didn't even have a truck then.
> Just my motorcycle, and the little beater car I used for pizza delivery.  I
> hired a friend with a truck to help with that one job.
>
> Things went back to normal for a while.  I shipped and received during the
> day, delivered pizzas in the evening, and serviced people's computers in
> between.  Then people started calling me.  I had to open an office in early
> 1994 and in June I drove up to Phoenix and spent a week doing an intensive
> crash study course and take my license exams.  I couldn't believe they were
> so easy.  I could have saved the time I spent on the crash course.  In fact
> I finished all my exams before most people there finished their first one.
> Then I had to go find something to do for the rest of the day before I could
> come back and get my scores.  I was officially in the alarm business.  If
> you count my first alarm system I have been in the business since December
> 1993.  That is when the business started.
>
> So how many years have I been in the business?  Just the years as a business
> owner?  A couple  years as a sales man?  A couple years as an installer for
> the sound company?  A couple years as a service rep for the phone company?
> An undetermined number of years growing up fixing and building as needed?
> Does any of my experience teaching idiots to use computers in college count?
> What about the business I had servicing computers?
>
> Hey Rob Blair, how long have I been in the business now?  Screw you.  I
> still won't buy Optex if there is another product that will do the job.
>
>


To my way of thinking, you've been "in the business" since you got your
license.  If you had started in the alarm trade as an apprentice working
for a licensed/legitimate alarm company in 1993, you'd be "in the trade"
from your first day there.  DIY and unlicensed work doesn't count with
any legitimate alarm contractor or licensing agency (although it would
put you "ahead" of someone with no experience at all with alarm panels).
  My older son would have a huge advantage if he ever decided to get
into the trade (having worked for me in the summer months).  He'd only
be a couple of monts short of obtaining his TQ if he took the alarm
course at BCIT (the course credits you with one and a half years on a
three year apprenticeship).  He's presently licensed "under supervision"
but has no intention of renewing it because he's decided on a retail career.

I got my start in the alarm business with Chubb.  They sent me back east
for training on their fire and security alarm products.  Back then, the
security systems were all OEM (by DSC).  They had the Sentinel II (it
wasn't even a DSC PC-1000 but it's precursor) and the Sentinel IIIB
(glorified PC-2000 with Chubb manufactured keypads) for residential and
light commercial.  They had their own stuff for the Banks and higher end
commercial.  When I left there I had just finished installing my third
Lynx (card access) system.  I've still got all the manuals, price lists,
etc. from the mid to late eighties.  I've also never left the trade.
I've been installing and servicing alarm systems continuously since 1984.

You're one of the most honest and forthright individuals I know, Bob.
When I'm in AZ later this year, I'll be sure to look you up (if you
don't mind that is).  It would be a pleasure to meet you.

Frank Olson
http://www.yoursecuritysource.com

"Splash, splash, splash, went the minnow."  (Robert J. La Londe III -
http://www.YumaBassMan.com)