I've personally spliced about a dozen optical fibers and I don't even work in telecom :) Not exactly by hand though - all the prep is done by hand but the actu

I've personally spliced about a dozen optical fibers and I don't even work in telecom :) Not exactly by hand though - all the prep is done by hand but the actual alignment and fusion steps were automated by the fusion splicer machine (about the size of a small toolbox)