The first telco engineers are retiring. And nobody will replace them. (That's the generation that brought us GSM). A chapter that started 30 years ago will be closed forever. I still remember waiting until 10pm to call from a payphone (it was cheaper then). And my first mobile phone? An Alcatel One Touch, still somewhere in a drawer. That generation wrote the entire telco playbook. And now we ask: What happens when they leave? It’s tempting to think about replacements, but that’s not quite right. Because today’s engineers won’t step into the same roles. Not with AI already reshaping the way we work. The next wave of telecom talent will inherit the same mission of connectivity, but not the same jobs. They'll have AI agents so the way the work will be totally new. Even more than their expertise, I'm worried we risk losing the wisdom of a generation that built connectivity from scratch. ↘ Will AI Agents be the key to retain knowledge from older generation?
Dean Bubley
1mo
Pretty sure the first telco engineers started work in the 1890s, not the 1980s. Or 1840s if you include telegraph.
Shameel Sanoon
1mo
I would say there is a distinction between Telco and Mobile Telco engineers. I believe your point is more about mobile. Many brought their skills over from fixed line networks to work on 1G onwards, as the vendor equipment was in some cases the same technology such as AXE 10. I'm from the 2G onwards generation and I never learnt how to fix HW on a Strowger switch, so I guess every generation loses something as some of the older tech becomes obsolete. For sure some useful things will be lost, not least understanding of fundamentals. On the other hand, I'm not sure today's grads would benefit from my knowledge of backing up config data on a magnetic tape drive 😀
Anthony King
1mo
I started in 1982 at BT. Training was second to none. I worked from exchange out. PDH, PCM, ISDN, etc etc. like the artical says, we are a dying breed. Stilll working at 70, now closing the switches I helped install. My day has gone with nobody to replace my experience. Thing change at such a pace, its now over to the younger generation. They may or may not be employed in 43 years, but it’s a great career
Celeo Arias
1mo
There’s a surprisingly and concerningly low average tenure in telecom these days. Most of us that have 20+ years of experience in this industry are no longer within the telcos structure, and too many have left the industry altogether. I don’t know of any other industry that is as fundamental as telecom where this is happening. A.I. can substitute many activities, but it will never replace personal experience.
Paul Colmer
1mo
I agree with Dean but what have we learnt from it ? Telegraph was wiped out back then in 1859 by a huge solar storm now referred to as a Carrington event after the astronomer who recorded it. The lesson we should have learnt is that long metal wires are vulnerable to electromagnetic induction but we have since built national electricity grids and undersea fibre optic cables that are at huge risk from exactly the same thing . A future Carrington event equal or greater than the one in 1859 woud be devastating.
Ron Weintraub
1mo
Having been in the Telecoms industry since the 90s (that’s 1990s, not Dean’s 1890s), I could not disagree more. I’ve worked on both Fixed & Wireless. I participated in the GSM rollout across three continents. Over these 35 years, I’ve met generation after generation of talented, passionate & enthusiastic telco engineers, IT folks, GTM people, …. I have worked with brilliant kids (20 - 30 year olds) throughout EMEA. The innovation which is coming from these Telecom kids in China, South Korea, the UAE is truly amazing (not withstanding RCS). I include the OTT kids as well. Technically, the industry is in safe hands.
Andrew Smith
1mo
Almon Brown Strowger has been dead since 1902.
Adam Dunstan
1mo
As AI thins the developer/ops ranks at the cloud providers and larger tech companies, there will be plenty of people to backfill. Lots of networking folk went over to the cloud business anyway. However, the real problem, staffing construction and outside plant. Despite how many times its stated, telecom is primarily a construction business, not a tech business....
Thomas Sheridan
1mo
Having worked in telecoms for 50 years and in many many different roles, the one thing I'm confident about is that no matter how many colleagues I have seen retiring, the show still goes on and a new and very capable generation will take up the reins.
As a telecommunications engineer, I’m fully aware that telecommunications didn’t start in the 90s. My post focuses on mobile communications and the explosion that took place during that decade, when GSM enabled the massive adoption of mobile phones. For example as in my own case, when I went from using phone booths to having my first mobile phone.