What networking experience are you gaining from your NOC position?

I see NOC positions being recommend quite regularly for people trying to get into networking. I don't feel my experience would really prepare me for a networking position. I am curious, could NOC/support people list their task and responsibilities related to networking.

Mine were,

Changing/Removing IP addresses on router interfaces
Configuring/TS server IP config
Editing DNS records
Diagnosing and nulling ddos traffic
Using MTR to scan for packet loss and high latency
Changing vlans
checking/setting rate limits

That all I can remember off the top of my head. I understand a lot of private study is required to make to the leap up to a networking position but with this experience and a CCNA really enough to land a network focused job? How does your experience compare to mine?

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Comments

NetworkNewb

Sounds like a good entry networking related job to me. Wish I could find a good NOC position close to me. I'm trying to break out of the Systems side of IT right now.

dsgm

Mine are,

Changing/Removing IP addresses on router interfaces
Configuring CPE
Using MTR to help look for packet loss and high latency
Using iperf to test bandwidth
Monitor network with Solarwinds
Using linux to do dns queries eg Dig
Editing Dns records ( i like this the least, not a dns guy)
Using vsphere web client to check on customer VM ( on occasion get to configure customer VM)
Supervisor above me when there are issues allows me to troubleshoot as much as i can before stepping, if he needs to, lately he hasn't needed to much (I am a fast learner)

Personally i dont think it will prepare you for that full on network focused job maybe a junior, where you can learn some more but it helps a little and i use my time to study and lab, currently going for my CCNP then i will see where that leads me. Plus a few of the people i work never turn you away if you want to pick there brain.

Jon_Cisco

I have never worked in a NOC so this is just my assumptions. Working as a low level NOC technician probably is not going to teach you to be a great networking guy. It's not NOC school of networking. Just like working help desk is not going to make you a great system guy.

What they do is expose you to environments and give you a chance to see and hopefully understand new things.

Priston

Are NOC positions mostly ticket based or are they mostly answering phones?
How much of your day is on the phone?

I'm currently in a position where some of my responsibilities include:
deploying/configuring access switches
applying vlan changes
re-imaging devices
troubleshooting connectivity issues
updating DNS entries

I'm not sure if a NOC position is a move forward or not.

AwesomeGarrett

I would say it depends on your ability to recognize if you're working at a less than ideal NOC. Some NOC positions are great, or so I've been told, you get to do real troubleshooting day in and day out, engineers will bring you onto projects, and you even get small projects that are assigned to the NOC as a whole. At other NOC positions, you may just answer the phone, email, watch the big screens all day for alarms, check circuits, and test and turn-up.

Your success will really depend on if you can recognize that you're working at the latter. Easy way to tell is by looking at what everyone around you is doing in the NOC. Are they always busy, studying, prepping for later, or are they on youtube, reddit, and playing online poker.

I'm not saying the latter is a bad place to be but if you want more of out your career, don't stay there for too long.

I know guys that are in their sixth and seventh year in the NOC, I urge you not to become one those guys.

kohr-ah

Mine were:

Troubleshoot outages to escalate to an engineer to repair. Neighbors down, telco issues, config change according to logs, etc.

Change vlans on switches.

Use vsphere to check on corporate VMS for issues.

Create reports in solarwinds to report on existing outage issues. Also use solarwinds to monitor nodes and patterns.

Test returned equipment and open a RMA case with Cisco to get replacements.

There is more I am sure but I am running on 2 hours of sleep and am a bit loopy. Basically I asked to touch everything I could to get as much info as I could before escalating to a level 2/3

GreaterNinja

AwesomeGarrett wrote: »

I would say it depends on your ability to recognize if you're working at a less than ideal NOC. Some NOC positions are great, or so I've been told, you get to do real troubleshooting day in and day out, engineers will bring you onto projects, and you even get small projects that are assigned to the NOC as a whole. At other NOC positions, you may just answer the phone, email, watch the big screens all day for alarms, check circuits, and test and turn-up.

Your success will really depend on if you can recognize that you're working at the latter. Easy way to tell is by looking at what everyone around you is doing in the NOC. Are they always busy, studying, prepping for later, or are they on youtube, reddit, and playing online poker.

I'm not saying the latter is a bad place to be but if you want more of out your career, don't stay there for too long.

I know guys that are in their sixth and seventh year in the NOC, I urge you not to become one those guys.

This is quite true.
I just left a NOC that I worked in for 27 months. The NOC consisted of level 1 and 2 HD operators, 3-4 desktop guys, 1 email/security admin, 1 mainframe admin, and 2 supervisor/managers. I liked the NOC because it was closed door and quiet....thus generally harmonious. HD operators would answer phones. I was a desktop engineer so I was not required to answer phones, but I did to help out here and there. Unfortunately, everyone else in that NOC had been there for 7-20 years. They generally lacked ambition and were too comfortable. I really miss them guys, but its true.

The few promoted were made Sr. Operator, or Supervisor, or Network Engineer I, or Windows Engineer I.
After being in operations and desktop infrastructure for ~16 years, its now time to move on to System Engineer / Server Admin / Network Engineer / Security role. With that said in my NOC there were people that made $14/hou to $59/hour. Its about how qualified you are and how well you sell yourself.

E Double U

- Monitoring with Smart NMS, worked on tickets in Remedy

- Troubleshooting circuit issues w/ telcos (only Cisco routers) from T1 - GigEth on ATM, Frame Relay, MPLS, etc

- Distributed workload to analysts; POC for "hot" customers; took 1st level escalations

- Trained other analysts; went to India to provide training to the Mumbai help desk

- Kept circuit tool up to date (ip addresses, telco info, circuit id's, nodes, ports)

- Reviewed tickets of our international help desks to make sure they were following the procedures of our program

E Double U

GreaterNinja wrote: »

Unfortunately, everyone else in that NOC had been there for 7-20 years. They generally lacked ambition and were too comfortable. I really miss them guys, but its true.

My team was exactly the same way and I understand why. It was a great place to work. Good co-workers & management, low stress, unlimited overtime, shift differential if you were swing or graveyard. Team Spirit day every month where you could win points to buy things that ranged from movie tickets to iPods and even days off. I was there 4 years and would've stayed longer for my ability to travel.

We were only required to work 40 hours weekly and it didn't matter how you got it. So I would work Mon - Wed 10 hours a day. Take a flight that night and return the following Wednesday. Go to work Thu - Sun for 10 hours a day to get my 40 hours for that week. So I could take a one week vacation and only use 10 hours of vacation. I took full advantage of this

I was a few minutes from LAX, got free shuttle service from a nearby hotel, and could leave my car on site while I was gone.

I worked with some very smart guys that just seemed to lack ambition because they were so comfortable in a role they thought would last the rest of their careers. But all good things come to an end and the work was offshored to South America. Good thing I got my CCNA and landed a role as a configuration engineer. I've had some better jobs on paper, but the NOC had fringe benefits that could make anyone a lifer.

Verities

I worked in a NOC for a major MSP for 2 months before I quit and went back to systems administration. Here was my daily ritual:

-Monitor network/customers with SolarWinds (Orion)

-Work Remedy tickets and route select tickets to higher level teams. Get yelled at by higher level teams for escalating tickets. Get tickets de-escalated back to self.

-Send out lists of tickets that we were working to highest paying customers. Answer beckons and calls for said customers, treating them like they're made of gold and ignoring other customers who pay less. Get yelled at by high paying customers for not being timely enough addressing their concerns.

-Contact Telcos when circuits go down for customers. Argue with Telcos that one of their circuits is down, until they have someone go look an hour later and realize the cut the fiber to move a device (happens a LOT in India since most of the Telcos are owned by the same company).

-Route phone calls to network engineers. Get yelled at by engineers for escalating to them.

-Clear interfaces, add vlans, shut/no shut interfaces, ping, verify configurations, ensure VPN tunnels are active when main MPLS circuits go down

All in all I felt like a glorified secretary that had less than 5 minutes to identify and resolve or identify and escalate an issue, while keeping the customer in the loop, creating a ticket, assigning it to the orion alert, emailing out that I'm working the issue, then find the documentation for the specific customer and hope its up to date then attempt to hop to the device/site experience issues. Literally doing all of this in less than 5 minutes!

I will never recommend anyone move their IT services to an MSP because its a dirty business.

E Double U

Verities wrote: »

-Work Remedy tickets and route select tickets to higher level teams. Get yelled at by higher level teams for escalating tickets. Get tickets de-escalated back to self.

-Send out lists of tickets that we were working to highest paying customers. Answer beckons and calls for said customers, treating them like they're made of gold and ignoring other customers who pay less. Get yelled at by high paying customers for not being timely enough addressing their concerns.

-Contact Telcos when circuits go down for customers. Argue with Telcos that one of their circuits is down, until they have someone go look an hour later and realize the cut the fiber to move a device (happens a LOT in India since most of the Telcos are owned by the same company).

-Route phone calls to network engineers. Get yelled at by engineers for escalating to them.

This brings me back. Those were the days man

Kinet1c

Verities wrote: »

All in all I felt like a glorified secretary

This was my experience of my NOC position in the last 12 months, I'm starting another NOC role on Monday and based on my experience I think I asked all the right questions in the interview so I don't end up in a similar situation.

Verities

I hoped you asked how/if they use metrics and will it affect you adversely if you don't meet certain metric expectations.

Verities

E Double U wrote: »

This brings me back. Those were the days man

Are you the one doing the yelling now? LOL.

E Double U

I never yell because I'm very laid back plus I remember being on the receiving end. But I do kick tickets back to the 1st level helpdesk

Contrary to popular belief, every issue is not a firewall issue lol.

kohr-ah

Verities wrote: »

-Contact Telcos when circuits go down for customers. Argue with Telcos that one of their circuits is down, until they have someone go look an hour later and realize the cut the fiber to move a device (happens a LOT in India since most of the Telcos are owned by the same company).

"Yes.. Yes I do know your circuit is down.. uh huh.. Just do a bert against the circuit. YES YOU CAN DO IT NOW THE CIRCUIT IS DOWN!!.. oh sweet je.. no..."
"They put me on hold..."
"Hello.. It will be 4 hours for you to do the test.. great"
** CALL BACK **
"Awesome you cut the fiber lines and it will be about 12 hours to fix"
** CALL BACK **
"You can't get your tech to answer his phone.."
** CUSTOMER CALLS AND CHEWS YOU OUT AS IF YOU OWN THE CIRCUIT**

ADVrider

Lets say your NOC is a dead end, how would you move on?

Cross your fingers and apply for junior/low paying network engineer/admin roles. I guess if no one calls you, apply for another NOC position and just make your ambitions clear. Any other ideas?

Kinet1c

ADVrider wrote: »

Lets say your NOC is a dead end, how would you move on?

Cross your fingers and apply for junior/low paying network engineer/admin roles. I guess if no one calls you, apply for another NOC position and just make your ambitions clear. Any other ideas?

Get certifications that will help you get to the next level, no different to any other job.

mintu

Is Service Desk a better type of job compared to being a NOC tech?
Reading other threads about noc it seems like there is not very much to do?

Jon_Cisco

ADVrider wrote: »

Lets say your NOC is a dead end, how would you move on?

Cross your fingers and apply for junior/low paying network engineer/admin roles. I guess if no one calls you, apply for another NOC position and just make your ambitions clear. Any other ideas?

Figure out why no on calls.

JamesKurtovich

ADVrider wrote: »

Lets say your NOC is a dead end, how would you move on?

Cross your fingers and apply for junior/low paying network engineer/admin roles. I guess if no one calls you, apply for another NOC position and just make your ambitions clear. Any other ideas?

Make your aspirations known and get the people that matter to rely on you. I was recently passed up for a position out of the NOC to someone with less certification and experience because management saw that person as "hungry" and more motivated than me.

I'm going to use the term "glorified secretary" as that's pretty much me.

Kai123

I'm a NOC Technician who looks after corporate customers, ranging from some who are billed 300k a month to €14 a month DSL customer. I get bogged down with manning the phone and e-mails, ticket creation, DSL/VDSL (working with whole-sellers, test the line, check radius), EFM/LLU, Fibre, "local" RPR/SDH, troubleshooting L2 issues, vlan/duplex mismatches, working with Field Engineers, Alerts, dealing with the customer side of DDOS attacks, Metro Wireless, P2P Wireless, VOIP/SIP, contacting customers about CPE alerts, and DC access. If we have the time we also look after some of the T2 stuff. We have access all all equipment (from some ag switch to super high-end Cisco ISP L3 switches), but only show commands.

Everything has a process that involves a hellofa lot, and the other half of the job is liaising with other NOC's and companies IT depts, but we ultimately stretch the surface for T2 to chew on and are basically a buffer for the Network Engineers.

What Networking experience am I gaining?

The employer wants everyone to get CCNA certified, although only the tiny WAN portion and IP fundamentals of the CCNA is really relevant. I have no experience with internal networks, so I have no idea if all the WAN experience is worth it, but all the NOC Engineers get job offers all the time for internal Network Admin roles, so I guess at least from a HR's perspective the long list of what some NOC's support is attractive.

The hardest part of the job is having a super angry customer demanding to talk to someone who no-one wants to talk to (because some businesses run call centers over a really shitty DSL line), or a customer refusing to acknowledge that everything is up and working up to their CPE and they need to check it internally. This is a big hassle when it comes to wholesalers, since once it reaches a point we contact their customer to try and see whats up, and all they know from their carrier is we are being dicks about it. Also EFM/LLU is a nightmare.

At the same time, since we are first point of contact, we also give the good news once their issue is resolved which can be really rewarding.

The best part of the job is the experience, always learning something new and the manager is an extremely chilled out guy. Everyone in the office are happy, chatty, lots of learning from one-another. Also, any happy corporate customer gets a Linkedin request!

(I cant believe I can make a post like this. 7 months ago I was desperate for any IT work. That hill getting into IT is so worth tackling, no matter how long it takes!)

UnixGuy

I remember when I was a junior engineer (not in NOC/MSP, but in a service provider) and the consultant/team Leader yelled at me once. I went to his office later that day, closed the door, yelled at him, and left his office.

That was the last time he yelled at me (or anyone else as far as I know...lol)