Career Options
Blair Robin: A structured futureBlair F. Robin is only 41 years old, but is in his words, he's a "... grandfather in the structured wiring industry." DOROTHEA HELMS |
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 [ 2002-06-26 ] |
"I found the idea of simplifying everyday chores fascinating," says Blair Robin on his love for electronics.
The systems integrator and owner of Automated Home Technologies was one of the first professionals in Canada to become involved in systems integration, which involves the integration of home automation, structured wiring, energy management, lighting control, audiovisual systems, home theatres, security, cameras and telephone systems, back when the concept still sounded like a scene from a George Jetson cartoon to everyone else.
Structured wiring, previously called residential wiring, is the generic term for the updated telephone wiring and cable many builders are including in their new home designs and renovation projects.
This includes upgraded telephone line, COAX, and sometimes fibre optics that prepare the home for technological advancements.
According to Blair, this type of wiring is one of the most important advances to come along in years because of the lifestyle advantages it offers today's homeowners.
In 1995, Blair found himself downsized out of a job, so took a look around and decided that home automation was a career with a future.
"I always liked electronics and things that make life easier," he says. "I found the idea of simplifying everyday chores fascinating."
He founded Automated Home Technologies, and later that year attended a home automation industry trade show and conference in Atlanta, GA. There he took a course through the Home Automation Association.
"The Parks Institute, which is a statistics research company, did a presentation stating that those who were getting started at the beginning of the trend would be leaders in the industry," he says.
A natural entrepreneur, he was one of the first systems integrators to join the Continental Automated Building Association because, as he says, "that organization was involved in writing standards for how to evolve courses for colleges. I wanted to help with that."
He took part in his first professional trade show in 1996, where he says "probably 90% was talking about it. It was slow in the beginning, because we had the challenge of helping people to understand what structured wiring is."
Blair is one of only eight people in eastern Canada to have earned a diploma in Advanced Audio/Video System Design & Installation. He is qualified for video calibration by the Imaging Science Foundation, as well as for automation, lighting control systems, multi-room, multi-source A/V systems and dedicated home theatres.
In 1997, he began working with the Peel Board of Education, helping to develop and teach basic automation and structured wiring courses for adults starting new careers in the construction industry.
Today, he is one of the founding members of the Canadian board of directors for CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association).
Blair sits as an advisory chairman for both The Building Automation Technician program at Sir Sanford Fleming College, and Sheridan College's Security, Systems Integration and Networking Program advisory team.
Companies from across Canada call Blair to ask questions, and he counts IBM among his impressive range of clients.Blair encourages young people making career decisions or adults thinking of changing careers to consider the home automation field.
"U.S. Statistics indicate that by the year 2005, over 50% of all builders will offer structured wiring as standard in new homes. We'll see huge leaps in the industry this year and next," he says.
"When I first started, there were only three companies producing structured wiring panels. Three years later there were more than 20. Everyone's getting into it."
Blair gets calls every day from home buyers looking for structured wiring for their new home because the builder does not provide it.
Automated Home Technologies employs two full-time workers and subcontracts to about 10 others. Blair is busy training them to follow the stringent quality standards he upholds.
"We're hiring people now who specialize in different aspects of the systems, such as programming or running crews. The industry is starving for qualified installers and good sales people."
Blair adds, "Just remember -- you can't have George Jetson technology with a Fred Flintstone wiring system." And we all know that grandfathers dispense good advice!
(Dorothea Helms is an internationally published writer and business trainer who co-owns Write Stuff Writing Services, and can be reached at writer@wsws.ca.)
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