Training

optical spectrum analyser OSA

This page is about training in general, and our philosophy, rather than details of Lucid’s laser safety, fibre optics and copper communications cabling courses. Click here for a full Lucid course list.

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act ,but a habit.” – Aristotle

Is the quality of training important?

We believe it is. We appreciate that people don’t do training courses for no reason, and we firmly believe that for you to get the most from a training course it should be:

  • training roomwell-structured
  • relaxed and fun
  • independent
  • developed by subject experts
  • delivered by training professionals

At Lucid all of our trainers are both subject experts and training professionals. Within the training team we have a blend of academic knowledge and real-world field experience. Others may make similar claims, but we don’t see them listing their trainers by name with details of their experience and expertise on their websites. Why is this? Well we have our thoughts…

To find out more about what makes Lucid training special read-on.

Main course types

We specialise in communications cabling, both fibre and copper, together
with optics and photonics. Our main training course areas are:

As specialists in these fields we can offer what we believe is the very highest quality of training, with trainers able to answer questions often far beyond the course syllabus requirements. Our trainers never just read the slides, and trainees are encouraged to ask questions. Many of our courses now have certification from Open Awards, a national licensed UK awarding body. Examples are our Advanced OTDR Testing course and our Advanced Chromatic Dispersion and PMD Testing course that are both accredited as level 3 qualifications.

For more information on the qualifications and awarding bodies click on the links below:

Fibre-optics Industry Association - Qualification SchemeCity & Guilds 3666 communications cabling qualificationOpen Awards qualifications in laser safety and cabling

We could offer a wider range of courses, such as telecoms protocols and so on, but we don’t believe in offering courses where other specialists may be better able to answer questions and support you. If we don’t feel we are delivering the best training available in a subject area, then we will recommend somebody else. We are truly independent, we are truly expert in our field and we don’t sell products or courses from anybody else.

“…beyond the scope of this course”

The favourite phrase of trainers who can’t answer your questions. Lucid trainers do not use this phrase and do not ‘bull-****’. In the rare event that we are unable to answer a question on the spot, we refer the question back to colleagues and we get back to you with a correct answer.

Other phrases favoured by less knowledgeable trainers are:

  • “it would take me too long to explain”
  • “that’s not an appropriate question”
  • “you’ll have to come back on another course “
  • “you’re just here to cause trouble”
  • “we’ve no time for further questions”

OK, there are times when questions can eat up time and take the course off at a tangent, but Lucid trainers will normally ask if the question is appropriate or important to others in the group, and if not will suggest answering it at a break time. Where a question is important to the whole group it can be covered for the group, and Lucid trainers will, and often do, stay later to answer your questions.

Above all you’ll find Lucid trainers friendly and honest. We’re here to help and we enjoy being helpful.