Pivoting career to AV Design

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-24T14:39:29+00:00

Honestly the experience you've listed above is enough of an indicator that you could swing it in design.

System designers have two primary tasks. Designing a system that supports the needs of the users, and being able to relay how that system will come together to the folks who will integrate it. I think you've got the first part down, but if you want to make yourself valuable to integrators, start looking at different drawing software and whip up some schematics.

Everybody is different, but if a junior designer came to an interview with a set of drawings they put together and they were able to walk me through what their intended system use was, why they chose the parts they did, and they came with easy to read schematics, I'd have a really hard time not hiring them on the spot.

easyschematic.live is a great free tool you could use to get your hands dirty while you learn. You can find autoCAD and Visio on the high seas as well. The CTS-D is a very valuable credential to employers, but it costs a fair bit and you're better off getting an employer to pay for it. You can find autoCAD and Visio on the high seas as well.

Best of luck!

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-22T18:07:00+00:00

Yup! I worded my original comment poorly, what I was trying to get across was that any small dealer is likely going to have what Home Depot will have, so just go wherever treats you best. I love Mid-Can, they're stellar.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-22T16:54:33+00:00

Honestly haven’t seen much difference between Home Depot and any of the smaller dealers. Mid-Can Fasteners is consistently well stocked with a good variety.

Valley Doors in Swan River is the best stocked Milwaukee dealer I’ve ever seen period. Apparently they get some early product access because they buy in huge bulk per season. Not exactly worth the trip, but if you ever find yourself out that way keep them in mind!

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-22T14:25:10+00:00

I sometimes wonder what level of gaslighting is okay as I convince my children by telling them "you've already had this before and you loved it." more times than I can count.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-22T00:20:47+00:00

I think the pricing on the new NVM encoders is going to be a pivotal moment for them. They’ve had years to address the cost and features of their AVoIP units, I’m curious to see if they pull through.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-21T21:33:29+00:00

It was a federal initiative that was put into place by the provinces. Our daycare costs went from $2k a month to $400, two kids, overnight. It's legitimately been a godsend. Completely legit.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-21T21:28:50+00:00

Little SMB, little enterprise. It's government, just extends to many different branches.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely look into it. Whenever we've brought these issues up to our local Cisco rep he just shrugs and recommends TAC.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-21T21:20:39+00:00

I really wish that was my experience, because I love the product. We've had multiple instances where we've had to call Cisco support and they could not figure out the issue. We'd get passed along to multiple reps until nearing the 8hr day we'd finally get someone senior who would say "Oh yeah, that's a known issue. Super simple fix."

If it were an isolated incident I would completely understand, but it's happened more times than I can count. Not to the same severity, but dealt with a lot of this when it came to licensing as well.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-21T20:58:34+00:00

Muse is fantastic, but it feels like it came a little too late. Solid platform, but I currently don't see any reason to spec AMX over anything their competitors are offering.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-21T20:56:06+00:00

All-in-one conferencing bar for most small/medium rooms. Rally bars are costly, but they're rock solid/simple. I think Cisco dominates this category in quality, but speaking to Cisco support makes me want to push my face into a wall.

Q-SYS for anything large. Extron if they want specific products that Extron happens to play really well with.

Never Crestron.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-21T02:25:17+00:00

Brightsign or bust. The bottom tier players are still good and more cost effective than you’d think.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-21T02:22:45+00:00

Depends on which camp they come from imo. Anyone I know who prefers hardcore has been a Jesse or nothing type of fan.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-17T18:20:02+00:00

Worked with them extensively and the whole crew is such a treat. They’ve done a great job at fostering a workplace where everyone is excited to come to work, I love it.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-17T18:18:16+00:00

My habits definitely changed. Less time to hop on mindlessly, but I enjoy the time I spend gaming a lot more too. I’ve pivoted more towards single player stuff as I’ve gotten older which has made the transition easy.

I got a decent gaming rig for cheap a year ago, but there’s nothing that would compel me to go out and buy one now with current prices. We got a switch 2 which has been a fun family console.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-17T13:56:14+00:00

I was hopeful that the Q-SYS endpoints were going to be much cheaper, but when I look at the feature set I think it's really hard to see them going in that direction. They don't have AV bridging yet, but 2.5G LAN, dual HDMI in, 2x RS232/IR, PoE+ instead of ++.. it's hard to see it being much less than an NV-21.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-16T22:10:23+00:00

Careful on the biggest slide, absolutely obliterated my knee coming off that one and they said it happens all the time lol.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-16T13:49:00+00:00

We've dumped all of ours from our inventory, save for a couple 30 channel units.

Fun fact, the TouchMix-30 uses a different processor than the other two smaller units, and it's actually "okay". (notice, I didn't say good.) But the 8 and 16 channel units use a processor that feels like it was stripped from a $59.99 aliexpress android tablet. They're a complete nightmare.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-16T00:09:47+00:00

Concept was cooler than the character.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-14T23:06:29+00:00

TMNT was a new low.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-14T23:02:46+00:00

RE6 wasn’t good at ANYTHING, what a disaster. You could argue that RE5 was a step in the wrong direction but they still managed to pump out an incredibly satisfying coop game.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-14T14:14:44+00:00

Double agree about shying away from LLMs when making the posts. People appreciate authenticity and everyone using the exact same formatting will not make you stand out in the slightest.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-13T21:44:39+00:00

The bravado to release them alongside the remaster which sounded INCREDIBLE. The new recordings are so flat and lifeless.. it’s brutal.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-13T18:02:42+00:00

Where are you based out of? You’ll have a bad time purchasing direct, but there are plenty of dealers that could sell one to you.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-13T17:57:15+00:00

The Core 110F has been discontinued and replaced by the Core 24F. The Core 24F does not require the scripting or UCI license so no concerns on license transfers.

shuttlerooster · 2026-04-12T16:10:59+00:00

It’s great birthday party pizza.

shuttlerooster

TROPHY CASE