What types of training does the OSS / telco industry need? What do you need?

I’d love to get your perspective on something.

In recent times, quite a few people have reached out to suggest that PAOSS should create a comprehensive OSS/BSS training programme because there’s nothing really suited to their needs available on the market today. A couple of these people have suggested that the TM Forum courses are the best, but (rightly) focus on TM Forum assets like ODA, SID, etc rather than broader training needs. They also suggest that there are no suitable courses that cater to the many and varied needs of different sectors or personas within the industry.

This has really got me thinking. I previously hadn’t really thought it was much of an issue.

Yes, there’s a shortage of ubiquitous OSS/BSS and telco training courses. However, PAOSS has quite a few different courses already available, some free, some paid, but in all honesty, there’s never really been much take-up of them to date. There are possibly many reasons why that could be the case, but I’m now really curious whether there’s a latent demand.

As a result, I’ve recently reached out to a few trusted experts in our industry to ask their opinions. I’ve had some really interesting replies. There’s quite a range of different thinking about the types of materials that are needed – from beginner / entry level (to help overcome the burden of getting new starters up to speed quicker), to transformation methodologies / guidance, to architectural principles, to cutting-edge technology summaries, to mastery-level materials – from online to course-work to class-work – from no support materials to lots of support materials (e.g books, training guides, cheat-sheets, etc) – from generic (suited to many organisations), to highly specific for each carrier’s systems and environments – for carriers or for vendors – for Tier-1 operators through to much smaller network operators.

Some have suggested that they don’t want to pay much for training or don’t have enough spare time, and therefore the better way would be to create courses designed for organisations (eg carriers or vendors, or maybe even universities) that wish to train their people. Others have pointed to their willingness to invest in their own learning in other areas where courses are more available such as networks, coding, cloud infra and more. I’ve also heard that some organisations are great at investing in the training of their staff, whilst others don’t prioritise it at all, expecting their teams to learn on the job (OJT).

[as an aside, since I mentioned universities above, have you ever noticed that there doesn’t seem to be any telco / engineering courses that include OSS/BSS in their syllabus? I’m currently working on a paper with a team of academics who have indicated that they’re not aware of any. None. Anywhere in the world! If you’re familiar with any, please let me know which uni and which course]

In short, there hasn’t been much commonality at all across these many discussions, other than to say that OSS training is widely desired because we all seem to be an inquisitive bunch of learners. I’d even argue that the nature of the industry and proliferation of technologies requires us to be endless learners to stay relevant.

I’m even more intrigued now. What exactly does our industry need? How should we design the learning pathways to take the industry to the next level? We recently talked about the Ninja Academy, but this goes much further / wider.

If you have any thoughts that might help clarify the situation, please share them in the comments below or via direct message.

Your Insights Are Crucial!

Please also leave me a note if you’d be willing to share your knowledge by participating in a training needs survey. I’d be delighted to share a summary of the survey findings with you.

Together, we can elevate our industry of passionate, inquisitive learners to new heights with better knowledge sharing approaches!