Nick Maycock admits that climbing water towers was not a part of his original plan. His previous career goals? Firefighter and paramedic. Not that long ago, he was working part-time for the South Elgin fire department and bussing tables for extra cash. Things changed when he was offered a position with Future Link.
Now, he’s “the one who climbs.”
As an Internet technician, Nick spends much of his time climbing water towers and free-standing towers to install Internet equipment.
[insert picture of tower?]
“The water towers are easier,” he says. “The freestanding towers are harder – on those, I’ve climbed up to 400 feet.”
Why are water towers easier?
“They typically have internal ladders. There’s also levels – in between each climb, you can step off and take a rest. Also, they’re usually straight up and down ladders. For free-standing towers, the ladders are not straight up and down – there are pretty much foot- and handholds wherever they can be. They can be diagonal.“
When asked what he brings to the Future Link team, Nick is quick to respond: “I’m one of those people who think you should never stop learning. …and I don’t mean to be bragging, but I think I’m a pretty hard worker.”
On a typical day, Nick gets into the office 30 minutes before the start of the work day to take care of urgent needs first. Through his monitoring system, he checks on the towers. Home Internet installations are scheduled in the morning and afternoon.
Future Link regularly adds new towers to serve more areas and provide optimal service for existing customers. “Right now we’re getting a new tower, the Elgin Tower building, so whenever I have free time, I try to get up there and get that going. That one’s nice, since it’s actually a roof. Adding towers helps Future Link increase the areas they’re able to reach.”
He goes on, “Our primary strategy is to bring Internet to areas that aren’t served by the big companies, to help people who are still using DSL. (Yes, that’s a thing!)”
Helping people with DSL get faster service feels important to him. “Our Hampshire water tower is a little underused, so we’re really focused on getting mailers out there, and getting people on that tower. We’re really big in Elburn, the Blackberry Creek neighborhood – we probably have more than half the houses in that neighborhood as our customers.”
He also provides customer service. “It’s nice if we can solve the problem virtually, over the phone or from the office. It’s convenient for our customers and helps us serve more people in less time.”
Nick has a rich personal life. When asked about his influencers, Nick talks about bodybuilder Evan Centopani. Nick is impressed by Evan’s inquisitive and thoughtful nature. “He doesn’t just do things to do them – he wants to know why he’s doing them. Once I started working out, that really inspired me. I’m asking why more. Evan’s helped me learn a lot. I’ve never met him, but I’ve watched a lot of his videos, and listened to his podcast.”
Earlier this year, Nick got his realtor’s license and plans to sell homes on the side. He enjoys cars, hanging out with friends and “doing mischievous stuff.” Last summer, Nick went to Sweden to meet his girlfriend’s family. What did he like about Sweden? “It’s really uniform over there. Everything seems like how it’s supposed to be.”
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