Dan Ervin is IP Design Group’s newest client-turned-designer. In Dan’s previous experience, he collaborated with our team as a customer while he worked as a Senior Network Infrastructure Coordinator at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). According to Dan, he wouldn’t have considered making the career transition if it wasn’t for the great experience he had working with the telecommunication team.

“IP Design Group isn’t locked into old methods, or products, and is customer-centric,” Dan stated about his previous experience with IP Design Group. “If the client has an innovative idea, they are willing to design it.”

Early Life and Intro to Telecommunication

Dan grew up in Grand Island, Nebraska with two brothers and a sister. His parents still reside in the home from his childhood to this day. Dan spent his youth participating in sports, getting rowdy with his siblings, and helping out with the chores around the small-town home. Telecommunication design at this time was still in its infancy. Opportunities to be involved in the field wouldn’t make an appearance till later in Dan’s life.

“I wouldn’t say that technology always interested me,” Dan explained.  “It’s something I grew to love.”

At the time, the area Dan grew up in wasn’t offering a wide variety of career paths for would-be technology students. So, he ended up graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Education, Earth Science, and Geography from the University of Nebraska—Kearney and went on to teach science classes for two years. After teaching, Dan decided to switch routes and took up an installation technician job with a local technology integrator, he was excited about all of the new skills to learn.

“While I was in college, I became a husband and a father,” Dan stated, “That shaped my view of work more than earning my degree.”

The internet and tech boom of the 90s is what initially drove Dan to pick up work in the field. The ever-increasing expansion of the industry, and the skillsets and knowledge needed to grow with it, are what propelled Dan to stay.

From Technician to Designer

While Dan Ervin was doing onsite telecommunication installations, there would be instances where the design didn’t accurately reflect site conditions. Dan would respond by implementing his own design—on the fly. His advanced understanding of installation principles opened the door for Dan to participate in design sessions where he provided information on the sites, products, and installation techniques.

After spending over a decade in installation, Dan received his RCDD certification and began to officially design the systems he had spent over ten years installing. As a Senior Network Infrastructure Coordinator at UNO, Dan was responsible for the design and implementation of wired infrastructure as well as project management and utility location across UNO’s 685-acre campus.

It was at UNO where Dan first started working with IP Design Group and was impressed with our team’s client relations and design expertise. After working at UNO for over 11 years, he found an opening at IP Design Group and was ready to take his talents beyond the campus.

Unique Industry Perspective

To Dan Ervin, design is more than inventing something new, it’s refining an old idea to meet new needs. Dan sees the future of design centered around adapting old infrastructure to meet the fast-paced needs of today’s businesses, classrooms, and public offices. Dan’s unique experience providing telecommunication installation for multiple market sectors is reflected in his designs. His designs prioritize optimum outcomes for the client while also considering the installer.

“A critical design feature is an embedded infrastructure that is flexible enough for the next evolution of hardware,” Dan stated on the future of telecommunication design. “Telecommunication design is more about interoperability now more than at any other point in its history.”

Some of Dan’s favorite projects to work on require unconventional solutions. Dan is attracted to the projects with difficult pathways, complex construction, and unique products. It is within those projects where the most growth and innovation can happen.

“I am attracted to weird,” Dan jokes, “Developing a solution to a non-standard problem is rewarding.”

Dan’s criteria for exemplary technology design is rooted in developing common techniques, optimizing layouts to easily integrate additions and changes, and having scalability to account for growth.  It’s more than meeting the customer’s needs of today, great design looks to the future. When Dan isn’t collaborating with our dynamic telecommunication team, you’ll find him digging into DIY projects at home.