Tools of the Trade

[aileen]

Hey All,

I'm fairly new to the site, and the industry. I was just wondering where y'all picked up your expertise (on the job? personal hobby?) and if you have any tips for newbies on where to look for info...besides here of course. :D

A little about myself. I'm currently in college, interning at a small electronics company where my project is to write a proposal that outlines a vtc set up (including WAN design) between our two offices. I have no prior experience, other than a wayward course taken at school on the theory of computer networking and toying around with netmeeting using some cheap webcams with friends.

Looking forward to some stories,
Aileen :)

[Glen Sykes]

Most of my knowledge was learned on the job, with a small amount of formal training. I became so enthusiastic about the technology that I looked for as much information about VC as I could, including the ITU web site, playing and trying to break VC endpoints, but in the main I'd say I had a good start by being employed at first as an MCU engineer / administrator. Through this I learned not only about interoperability and standards, but also about good customer service which I beleive is as important to VC (be it Reseller, Manufacturer or internal customer service) as the actual technology itself.

Working with Radvision from around 1999 gave me a decent grounding in IP networking, a field in which I've decided to take my learning further in and I'm now working with Cisco currently to acheive the CCDP qualification.

My tips to you would be to learn about MCU's first. If you understand them, the rest is fairly straightforward.

Then learn about how videoconferencing works over IP, and the different requirement of an IP network for VoIP to work properly, as well as the solutions to overcoming NAT and Firewalls.

Cheers,

Glen

[aileen]

<edit> Through this I learned not only about interoperability and standards, but also about good customer service which I beleive is as important to VC (be it Reseller, Manufacturer or internal customer service) as the actual technology itself.<edit>

Thanks for your tips, I've only recently discovered the existence of MCUs haha. I do agree though that customer service is underrated, especially when it comes to technical (and expensive) vc systems. Especially in today's internet age, most people just overlook customer service because they assume that after they make the purchase that'll be the end of the story...which is usually an unwise decision.

I want to make sure that the company is in good hands because I might not be here to see it through.

[Kevin]

Thanks for your tips, I've only recently discovered the existence of MCUs haha.

If you want some experience playing with an MCU, feel free to try ours out - we have a demo unit sitting on the internet. See http://www.codian.com/demo/ for details.

If you would like me to set up a user account for you on it drop me an email.

Kevin