Eric Herrera: Stories of a Tower Climber
“It’s either you’re in this industry [tower climbing] for 30 years or only 5. You like it or you don’t.” — ERIC HERRERA
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Eric Herrera is a communications tower climber. In this episode, Eric shares stories from his unique and, at times, dangerous job. Tower climbing is one of the jobs that are easy to overlook in our hyper-connected world. But, because of people like Eric and his crew members, we can have uninterrupted service with our devices. Eric highlights his journey of becoming a mentor and how he's grown since starting in the climbing industry.
“You’re going to have your arguments, but guess what? End that shit when the shift is over. You come in the next day and everything is fine. You still have something to squash out then hash it out.”
— ERIC HERRERA
Show Notes:
[00:04:34] - Eric's Previous episode
[00:04:54] - Eric returns to Tower Climbing
[00:05:24] - The average height of towers was about 300 ft.
[00:06:05] - Hanging off the tower while not phased by the height
[00:08:09] - Quality assurance for tower closeouts
[00:10:39] - Eric has no fear of heights: Cookie
[00:12:24] - Fear comes from two places: Heights or not trusting the equipment
[00:13:09] - Mentoring crew members on climbing
[00:13:29] - Hand ascenders
[00:15:34] - No training outside beginning climbing skills
[00:17:24] - Falling into a mentoring role
[00:18:14] - Putting a premium on safety
[00:19:34] - Quality vs. quantity: When quantity is the focus safety to begins to suffer.
[00:20:54] - Working all around the US
[00:21:34] - Running cable around animals; snakes, spiders
[00:22:24] - Osprey nest on a cell site
[00:25:54] - Working under pressure
[00:29:24] - Grey Beards: Veteran Climbers with safety standards that didn't exist.
[00:31:04] - Steel Monkey
[00:31:24] - Blue Collar work ethic and learning on the job.
[00:33:24] - Blue Collar Mentality
[00:35:24] - Civil Technicians
[00:36:14] - Eric's first site
[00:37:34] - CM wouldn't let him climb until he learned all the parts on the ground
[00:39:54] - You can’t train for problem-solving or taking the initiative
[00:42:24] - People want to feel valuable
[00:43:39] - Split sector cell towers
[00:47:24] - Testing vs. Application
[00:49:09] - Simple error correction because hands get dirty
[00:50:54] - Site prepping at the warehouse
[00:51:54] - Monopole not tensioned properly.
[00:53:09] - Electricians: One eye on the clock and on what they are doing
[00:55:24] - Miscommunication in the communication industry
[00:56:24] - Network Operating Center
[00:58:34] - Brown Hell
[01:00:54] - Wayne the Texas Canadian
[01:03:24] - Raking in the per diem money by packing crew members into multiple rooms
[01:04:39] - Blinded by freedom and money
[01:06:44] - Losing jobs and living at hotels. Limited safety net.
[01:09:24] - Telling bosses he won't do it their way
[01:10:54] - A job is a job, and it needs to get done
[01:13:24] - Looking down on the younger kids and not following orders because of safety
[01:15:24] - Falling or the possibility of falling
[01:18:14] - What's next? Tower modification
[01:22:09] - Exposure to real products to learn
[01:22:39] - Welded a wrench to a battery cabinet
[01:26:24] - Blowing up a transformer
[01:28:39] - Staying local and sleeping in his own bed
[01:29:44] - Running at Busse Woods
[01:30:54] - David Goggins
[01:31:50] - #earnyourshower and #conqueryourinnerbitch
