First "real" IT job!

Kai123

Hello Forum.

I literally just got off the phone with a very nice HR lady telling me the good news (along with a dizzying list of benefits). The job is working at a NOC doing 1st line support for corporate clients, but actual hands on with checking and configuring rented racks etc.

The pay is more then I have ever earned in the past, and being unemployed for 2 years I have a few financial oats to sow!

This forum has helped me tremendously, and I genuinely cant wait to help people and give advice from the other side of the fence. I was going to go into a big epilogue, but I got the next 3 days to enjoy before I start the next chapter of my life!

Jon_Cisco

Good Luck with the new position!

Asif Dasl

Congrats man! I know it's been a struggle for you to get your feet wet in IT and that's why I am genuinely happy for you, great news to hear congrats!

networker050184

Congrats!

--chris--

Congrats! If your excited now, just wait for the end of your first week.

10Linefigure

Congrats man thats awesome!

kurosaki00

That's awesome man! Gratz!

Kai123

Asif Dasl wrote: »

Congrats man! I know it's been a struggle for you to get your feet wet in IT and that's why I am genuinely happy for you, great news to hear congrats!

It was all down to coincidence as well.

I e-mailed a HR admin of the company asking for an internship placement, and wrote a big cover-letter with it selling them the idea of me working for free (via the jobbridge scheme).

Due to a sudden change of my financial circumstance, I had to turn the internship down (9 months of 255 euro a week, jobbridge internship), so I was desperately looking for help-desk roles in Tallaght (1 hour bus into down, 1 hour Luas to Park West) since that's where most of them are. She e-mailed me back saying thats OK, get in contact once you have your CCNA etc etc.

She phoned me the next day saying that someone who was due to work for them next week but due to his own circumstances had to quit before he even started, which gave me the chance to interview for the role. I cant express how badly I wanted this job and for the most part, all of my studying and experience was to work for this company. If I was still in the previous internship, I would not of had this opportunity, and if I had taken the internship, I would of had 9 months of my life on the back burner, doing what I will be doing but for hardly any pay.

Its very surreal if I dwell on it. I have never had an opportunity like this, never earned as much money as I will, working for a company that I genuinely want to do well in. It almost feels like I'm congratulating someone else's dream. They have a scheme where they pay for studying books and pay for your exams if you pass. I really cant wait to start!

(que next months thread about how much of a nightmare the job is )

Asif Dasl

Oh yeah, luck plays a huge part - but you know what they say "You make your own luck". Now that you have this job, make the most of it - of which I have no doubt that you will. Keep us updated as you go, there are lots of people here in the same position that you were in, trying to break in to IT and it's nice to read these success stories too...

rogue2shadow

Congrats!

aidan80

Congratulations on the new job. I know what you mean about the "dream" part. When I landed this job it took a while for it to sink in. Enjoy it I'm sure you've worked hard for it and earned it.

Kai123

2nd day (feels like alot longer!), and still very confusing, although I'm told it will take months to really get a grasp on everything. The issues dealt with by the team are so broad you can only learn by doing, which means perpetual stress for many months!

I have had a look on some job websites for references covering my job aspects (just curious!). The job is heavily into troubleshooting DSL (DSLAM issues so far, alot of client-end issues that you have to really dig into to find the solution across different systems) and SIP Trunking. Wireless troubleshooting in terms of Radio and Satellite and some other technologies I cant remember off-hand.

I can imagine after a year I will be very good at troubleshooting and understanding DSL and SIP Trunking, and the next level up (still T1) would be dealing with Dark Fiber, Fiber Ring with 50+ companies attached to it and everything involving that.

Maybe I should wait a bit longer to really find out all the things I will be learning, but after some simple DSL and SIP Trunking on a few job sites, It got me a tiny bit worried! (there's a whole other aspect of the job of NOC duties, dealing with tapes, meter readings etc, lots of troubleshooting via Cisco Looking Glass, hands-and-eyes requests, and loads more).

alan2308

Asif Dasl wrote: »

but you know what they say "You make your own luck".

Or, the harder I work, the luckier I get. Not sure who actually said it, I've seen it attributed to everyone from Thomas Jefferson to Henry Ford.

And congrats to the OP, the first job is always the toughest. I couldn't tell you how many resumes I sent out and how many interviews I went to.

stylezunknown

alan2308 wrote: »

Or, the harder I work, the luckier I get. Not sure who actually said it, I've seen it attributed to everyone from Thomas Jefferson to Henry Ford.

And congrats to the OP, the first job is always the toughest. I couldn't tell you how many resumes I sent out and how many interviews I went to.

Nice certs, you must be a lv 3 tech by now.

Kinet1c

Congrats man, spotted you got it on LinkedIn. I know a few people who started in the company and they've damn good engineers now. Keep learning and you'll move on (internally or externally) with good experience from there. I've been in there too and it's an impressive setup!

Luck is when hard work meets opportunity

pevangel

Congrats and good luck with the new job! A NOC is a great place to start your IT career.