So, What do you do for DIRECTV anyway?

Over the last seven years or so the most common question I get as I travel around this great country of ours is “What do you do for DIRECTV anyway?” For those interested, this week’s column is dedicated to my “Day Job”. Enjoy…

I am part of a team of eleven Field Engineers who are strategically placed throughout the country to support local channel contributions to DIRECTV in all continental US markets.? We are 100% travel allocated engineers, so we are on the road 3-5 days a week supporting the systems that bring local channels to the Uplink centers that supply our customers with programming in their homes, devices, and businesses.

My job is to make sure that every local channel in the Midwest makes it to our customers without interruption. I support 20 markets in 8 states. I also offer "Backup" to my fellow engineers in Texas, the Gulf Coast, Great Lakes and Northern Plains regions. Our team has daily and weekly meetings where we discuss all issues that might deter our customers from obtaining the best viewing experience. If an issue comes up, we determine who can resolve the issue and assign a ServiceNow ticket.

My team’s success is built upon four cornerstones:

1.?? Emergency Response

We are always on call. Our team is always ready to go. We are equipped with newer Chevrolet 2500 series crew cab 4WDTrucks. Each truck has an inverter, so we can make our own power. We also carry a host of supplies that we can use to support almost any type of outage in the field.? A few examples would be Aerial antennas, ethernet and RF cabling, fiber equipment, analyzers, testers, tools, etc.? All trucks have hitches, so if we need to tow a trailer with equipment, or a portable generator on wheels, were ready. We basically carry a little bit of everything so whatever the issue is we can resolve it.

Our systems are designed to ride through most weather systems, but you can never build something that Mother Nature cannot break down if she wants. My team is always ready to deploy after a storm to recover our services as fast as possible while staying safe. In the past we have responded after hurricanes, tornadoes and even wildfires to keep our systems up and operational during these events so both our satellite-based customers and our streaming customers have the most relevant local information possible. There are times when our systems are working fine after a storm, but the local station or stations may have been affected by the weather. We try to assist them to return to air when possible so our customers can get their signals during these events.

For large scale events that are source fed from local channel markets like “The Big Game” our team starts planning 60-90 days in advance. We like to have an engineer at our LRF(Local Receive Facility) in each team’s respective market as well as the LRF in the city that is hosting the event itself.? This allows us to proactively be “Ready to Roll” in the case of any type of outage or issue that might affect our customer’s ability to enjoy an event that we are bringing to them on any of our platforms.?

2.?? Preventative Maintenance

Preventative Maintenance is a vital part of our work. We perform preventative maintenance on all our assigned sites and save that data so in the case of a natural disaster or any other issue, We not only have the tools to get the job done, but we have the data to support our external teams when the time comes. Each week we are in one of our assigned cities checking the systems and meeting with our landlords and vendors to make sure all of our LRF sites are in tip top shape.? Without preventative maintenance, it’s possible we would spend much more time responding to unplanned outages.

Out team also provides routine maintenance to DIRECTV’s CCF sites, which facilitates uplink for many of our nationally based channels that make up the backbone of DIRECTV’s programming.

Because we are a ground fleet and do not fly, we dedicate a few hours a week to keep our fleet assets in tip top shape. All trucks are always fully functional and ready to go.

3.?? Training

We are always training. We have a host of equipment in our trucks, and we need to be able to know how to use it all. Software/firmware updates always needs to be up to date. Batteries need to be charged. I dedicate one hour a week to DIRECTV Academy through??PLE to broaden my knowledge of all things DIRECTV. We also use SBE training and attend webinars regularly hosted by our equipment vendors to make sure we have as much knowledge available to be the best at our work.

We have a great team of dedicated professionals and support staff from the CRBC(Castle Rock Broadcast Center) that help us ensure success anytime we are dispatched to respond to issues in the field. Our CRBC team can drop ship any needed part, product, cable, filter, fitting with an hours’ notice when we respond to tragic impacting outages. We are a “Well oiled Machine”. We are always reviewing our best practices to raise the bar and better support our customers.

4.?? Represent DIRECTV

We meet with vendors, landlords, TV stations, Data Centers, Fiber providers, electrical contractors, software and hardware vendors. In each occurrence we represent DIRECTV. I would like to think we do it pretty well. And yes, I might do a “Little Extra” for the company after work in the hotels and local restaurants that have #DIRECTVforBUSINESS.

If you have any questions for me and/or my team, please reach out in the comments section below.?We would be happy to field your questions.?

I am coming up on my eighth anniversary at DIRECTV. It’s an honor to be on this team. If you are interested in Joining me at DIRECTV< please check out JOBS.DIRECTV.COM and see what's available.? We would love to have you.

To read my original article click HERE.

For more information about DIRECTV's residential offerings please click?HERE. To see how DIRECTV could help your business increase revenue or provide a value added service to your customers or employees please click?HERE.? If either of these links don't provide you with the information you are looking for, reach out to me directly and I will personally put you in touch with someone who can help.?

The views expressed in this blog post reflect the experiences and opinions of the author only and are not meant to be any official correspondence from DIRECTV, its Dealers, affiliates or any related entities. Copyright John Mac's Travels 2024

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