While the services NITCO offers have greatly changed over the years – from the early days of dial-up to the high-speed fiber seen today – one thing that has remained constant is NITCO’s commitment to its team. NITCO has always taken both great pride and great care of everyone who dons the employee badge, resulting in workers who love what they do and choose to develop their entire career at the technological firm. Plant Superintendent Gary Gray and Senior Sales Engineer Gavin Bristol, who have over 60 years of combined experience, prove this to be true.
While Gray and Bristol had different paths that brought them to their roles, their love for the Region-oriented technological company inspired them to stay. Now, they can’t imagine their careers panning out any other way. Check out their individual journeys below to learn more about why they’re proud to say they’re a part of the NITCO team.
Gary Gray - Plant Superintendent
Gray’s official career at NITCO has spanned over four decades, but even prior to his start date on January 2, 1984, he was already an eager member of the team helping out in the warehouse as a teenager.
“Before my actual start date, I worked for a few hours in the afternoon at the warehouse rebuilding phones and working around the warehouse for help,” Gray said. “We learned about the inner workings of the garage, the constructions, and the warehouse area. NITCO leased phones back then, so we would rebuild them, clean them, change the ringer, change the touchpad, and so forth, and box them back up.”
Around this time, Gray was also mowing lawns and doing groundwork, or “chip and chop” as he jokingly calls it, through a work program at his school. While he enjoyed the side hustle with a friend, it eventually became a one-man show, and Gray began to look for other work until officially coming to NITCO.
As a newcomer just starting his career in the ‘80s, Gray admits he wasn’t all too familiar with the inner workings of NITCO and the services it offered beyond the warehouse work. However, he saw this as a fun challenge and began working his way from the bottom up. The opportunities to learn and grow never stopped for Gray. Since the field of technology is always changing, he’s had the chance to work with the company from its dial-up days to its fiber services today.
“The most enjoyable part is continuing to learn and excel. I started at the bottom and worked my way up the field,” Gray said. “I’ve really enjoyed working from the very bottom and then going through all the different areas – from the warehouse to the construction to the installation repair to the central office.”
His love for knowledge definitely helped him learn the skills of the trade, but NITCO’s commitment to its people was what inspired him to develop his career and grow in his role at the company. Now, he advises people just starting their careers to surround themselves with knowledge, as that can be the ultimate key in any field for a fulfilling career.
“If you want something, the only way to get there is to surround yourself with that knowledge. Once you start doing that, you can get more experienced, and it becomes easier to move up from within the company,” Gray said. “For example, when I was in installation repair, we had these brand new digital meters. They were really cool, and they did the basics of what an analog meter does. I surrounded myself with others working around that meter to say, ‘How can I become an expert and know it well?’ That would take me up to the next level of plant to the central office, so surrounding yourself with the knowledge of other people is most important.”
Gavin Bristol - Senior Sales Engineer
Bristol knew all his life he wanted to work in the technology field and had a fascination with computers. His father was a structurally skilled draftsman, so he was introduced to it all at an early age. Family connections led him to NITCO as a teenager, and while he didn’t become an official employee until July 13, 1998, meeting the team in his younger years left him with an unusual gift that would only further spark his passion and motivation for the field he still loves today.
“My mom had a friend at NITCO, so I got to visit when I was 15,” Bristol said. “I tried to apply then, and that didn't quite pan out, but I did get to meet a lot of folks, and they gave me a damaged modem to work on. It was hilarious – it was like an old card that split into all these modems on it, but it was just a monster of a card. It was like a fried robotics card that was struck by lightning, and that was the most interesting thing ever.”
Once Bristol later joined the NITCO crew, his love for technology continued to grow. He was able to see firsthand how NITCO changed as technology continued to evolve, resulting in a plethora of memorable moments, such as working on the company’s wireless network. He also encountered some instances that challenged him, which in turn allowed him to expand his knowledge and grow in his career.
“Outside of the general serving area and our phone serving area where we have DSL and fiber, we have a fixed wireless product,” Bristol said. “They place a small dish on their home that we call point-to-multipoints – we put a transmitter on a tower, and as long as the transport can see that tower, they can go pick up on the service. That's really hard to do because not too many people can see the towers – they may have trees and other things that could block them, but they can still take advantage of that and get good service. I worked in the department that built those for about 12 years, and climbing the towers every day was definitely an interesting thing to do.”
What helped Bristol find his true calling at NITCO was the team he worked with. He has always loved that the company fosters a family-type environment that works hard to take care of its people. To develop a career that holds those values close has always meant a lot to Bristol, and he wouldn’t be able to fully thrive without their support.
No matter the field, Bristol encourages others looking to establish a long-term career to go after a field they’re passionate about. It’s that spark of interest that can truly make or break a career later on down the line, and the rest will fall into place along the way, just like it did for him.
“I absolutely love the work I do and the people I work with,” Bristol said. “I'm a very lucky man.”
To learn more about how NITCO is providing top technological services to the Region, visit its website at nitco.com. To start your fulfilling career at NITCO today, check out the available positions at nitco.com/careers.