What Makes The Best Mitel Techs

[ralph]

So here's the bigger question:   What do you think Mitel VARS  value the most?   And... is this changing?

[v2win]

I think its technicians that can adapt to changing technologies

[iFone]

There are predominately 2 choices.

Take an IT Guy that understands VLANS and routing and teach them telephony acronyms and Voip concepts.
Or....
Take a Phone Guy and teach him about VLANS and routing and VOIP concepts and computers.

I'd prefer the former.

[ralph]

iFone,
I think I agree with you it's easier to teach VoIP to a data tech than Vlans and routing to a telephony tech.
But being an old phone tech myself, I really didn't have a problem picking up on routing and vlans.   Having said that I've seen a lot of us old guys struggle with it.

But on the other hand, I've had a hard time teaching punch downs and analog line concepts to IT techs.

Thanks for the input.

Ralph

[martyn]

There are predominately 2 choices.

Take an IT Guy that understands VLANS and routing and teach them telephony acronyms and Voip concepts.
Or....
Take a Phone Guy and teach him about VLANS and routing and VOIP concepts and computers.

I'd prefer the former.

I've come from the former background and I think it's a lot easier to pick up voice than it is to pick up data.

[dozer]

Your categories are four different fields and they are all relevant.

Telephony
Networking
Applications
People

This is the age old question of teach a phone guy data or a data guy phones.  This is all based on the person and their willingness to learn.  I have seen both scenarios fail and succeed.  Regardless of Mitel, this industry wants data over telephony but I have yet to meet an IT Admin that wants ANYTHING to do with phones!  I just took a new position at a company and was told by the owner, "Being able to do phones is great because we need that. But being able to do networking and applications is huge right now because that makes you flexible."  Basically, the more experience you have in all of those fields, the larger your check at the end of two weeks!  Depending on your position (service, install, customer service, etc.) really depends on what skills Mitel VARs need.  For installation, Mitel VARs need above average data techs (minimum CCNA), competent application techs (minimum ability to install Windows client and server) and solid telephony techs which is a must. 

[ccuster]

There are predominately 2 choices.

Take an IT Guy that understands VLANS and routing and teach them telephony acronyms and Voip concepts.
Or....
Take a Phone Guy and teach him about VLANS and routing and VOIP concepts and computers.

I'd prefer the former.

I've come from the former background and I think it's a lot easier to pick up voice than it is to pick up data.

I too came from the former. Got tired of computers and networking & needed a shift in focus. I was lucky though that I was surounded by telephony guys early on though. There is some wisdom to be had in those guys that came from POTs and such as much of the lingo and terminology crossed over to voip.
As a guy from a computer/network background, I came into it with a lot of knowedge that allowed me to navigate into places telephony guys would never dare to go (ghosting drives, network troubleshooting and comfortable in linux consoles; and vmware) and its been a slice stacking telephony on top of that.

[LoopyLou]

What you need is someone who can handle basic problem solving. Whether they have a data or telecom background that is the key. Have seen to many people who can't figure out how to logically work through solving a problem. The next thing is can they learn? So much is changing in this industry that people need to be able to keep up with the changes and learn new concepts. If they can learn you can teach them. Don't really care whether they are LAN people or teleco people because I have seen plenty of LAN people who don't seem to be able to "get" voice. This is  based on the number of things they seem to screw up which to me seem pretty simple. 

[acejavelin]

Good technicians just have that "knack" for it, I don't really know how else to describe it, they have solid basic skills and know how to apply it practically, the really technical stuff is just learned but a good tech can apply it.

A slightly dated example, they know when a customer says there is static on the line to ask, "Does it sound like bacon frying, a old scratched up vinyl record, or is a rhythmic ticking sound" and know how to interpret the answer.

Any "good tech" can learn the whatever basics needed for voice networking, VLANs, applications, system programming, or whatever else, but they need to be well rounded and understand how to apply those things to the real world... Not just "book smart". Basically I am saying they need to well rounded.