Work in the NOC or as Jr sys admin?

I have two job offers. One position is to work in the NOC for a large, well -known private company that operates 24/7. The other offer I have is to work as a "account management technician" (basically a jr sys admin) in a government facility as a government contractor.

The NOC job is a 45 min commute and the jr sys admin job is 1 hour 15- 1 hour 30 min commute,I am in the DC area keep in mind.

The NOC position is a little bit less money but figuring I will likely work some overtime the numbers could end up closer. The jr sys admin job is more money and no more than 40 hour work week.

The NOC position includes benefits and PTO, while the contract involves no benefits until tje 6 month point when converted to the primary contractor where I get PTO. I am in the air force reserve so i wont be needing health insurance but PTO would be...nice.

The NOC position would be shiftwork and would include weekends and holidays with the caveat that time in a half is included and shift differential pay. The shift they want me for in the jr sys admin role is 10 am- 6:30 pm, M-F

The jr sys admin job is for a government office and mostly involves working with active directory and with DEE (Defense Enterprise Exchange server). It's certainly not all inclusive but still I believe very valuable experience.

The NOC position seems to be more than just monitoring and reporting. They gave me an assessment after the interview that included Linux questions, command prompt terminology questions, basic networking and port questions.

I am leaning towards the NOC position due to the company and due to the commute. Hard to turn down more money though.

Thoughts...?

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

yellowpad

Congrats!!! Which position would be a better path to meet your goal? What do you really want to do? What are you working toward? System Admin...or IT Security? Only you can answer that.....

mikwelque wrote: »

I..?

bpenn

Personally, the long commute would be a no-go for me. I treasure my family time and sleep. I dont get enough of it as it is!

Phileeeeeeep651

Are those commute times round trip or one way?

Really I think this boils down to what do you want long term? Like yellowpad said, do you see yourself moving towards a sys admin role or security?

mikwelque

Phileeeeeeep651 wrote: »

Are those commute times round trip or one way?

Really I think this boils down to what do you want long term? Like yellowpad said, do you see yourself moving towards a sys admin role or security?

Those commute times are one-way, in D.C. 1 hour commute is pretty typical. I like both almost equally, maybe sys admin a little bit more.

The hours for the jr sys admin job they want me to work though with the commute means I will be gone all day which sucks (especially having kids), but only working M-F is nice. Where as at the NOC its shiftwork including holidays and weekends, so thats not necessarily fun either. And these complaints are really to compare, because i think both offers are really good which is why im having a hard time.

Phileeeeeeep651

Yeah, I completely understand. For me, M-F would be my choice, especially if I had a family. Shift work has its perks, but I find myself always trying to catch up on sleep on my off days and constantly switching between days and nights isn't great for your health.

I also feel like the gov job would be more accepting of your AF reserves commitment, AT, Drill Weekends, etc.

yellowpad

You answered yourself...

1.

mikwelque wrote: »

......maybe sys admin a little bit more.

mikwelque wrote: »

..... NOC its shiftwork including holidays and weekends, so thats not necessarily fun either.

mikwelque wrote: »

......only working M-F is nice.

If you like family life, Jr. Sys Admin would be the best way to go....even if you have to work during traffic hour. Maybe in time, you will find a shortcut time home. or/ if you don't like the family life, work NOC......that will be your excuse to be a way during weekend, holiday....and so forth. What do you realllllly want?

Dakinggamer87

It depends on your goals and priorities. I would go for the Jr. Systems Admin because it seems like a better balance of work/life.

Good luck and let us know what you decide. Do what's best for you and your family!!

mikwelque

Phileeeeeeep651 wrote: »

Yeah, I completely understand. For me, M-F would be my choice, especially if I had a family. Shift work has its perks, but I find myself always trying to catch up on sleep on my off days and constantly switching between days and nights isn't great for your health.

I also feel like the gov job would be more accepting of your AF reserves commitment, AT, Drill Weekends, etc.

They both seem to be OK with the reserve commitment. At the NOC my potential boss is ex-Army and the government like you said is very understanding. I'm just not sure what is better and what is worse....being gone most if not all hours my kids are awake (10-6:30 schedule would mean I'm leaving right after they wake up and get home when they are going to sleep) or missing weekends, holidays, etc.

And to respond to your post yellowpad, I agree that usually sys admin is better on family and the better position. Long-term this is probably better. I would rather spend more time with family but not seeing the kids at all during the week sucks.

bpenn

Ah, a fellow AF Reservist! What is your AFSC? I am a 3D1X1.

NetworkNewb

That drive to the NOC job would be a deal breaker for me, wouldn't even talk to a company that far away. 3 hours a day driving! nope, not happening

If you REALLY wanted to get into Networking you could probably suck it up, do the drive, and get the experience though.

scaredoftests

Sys Admin.

Blackout

Im actually a fan of the NOC, you get exposure to tons of different Tech. Plus you get plenty of study time, depending on the shift.

mikwelque

bpenn wrote: »

Ah, a fellow AF Reservist! What is your AFSC? I am a 3D1X1.

Nice! I am 2A7X1... Is 3D1X1 like help desk field work?

NetworkNewb wrote: »

That drive to the NOC job would be a deal breaker for me, wouldn't even talk to a company that far away. 3 hours a day driving! nope, not happening

If you REALLY wanted to get into Networking you could probably suck it up, do the drive, and get the experience though.

The NOC is actually the 45 min commute and the jr sys admin job was 1 hour 15-30 min away

Blackout wrote: »

Im actually a fan of the NOC, you get exposure to tons of different Tech. Plus you get plenty of study time, depending on the shift.

Yeah I see this being a good stepping stone to network engineer/admin down the road if I do get the type of exposure at the NOC i beleive I'' be getting (dont want to just stare at alarms alll day)

So I ended up turning down the jr sys admin job mostly due to the commute and the hours they wanted me to work. The idea of getting in with a large private company with full benefits at the NOC was really appealing at the end of the day for career growth and just to get out of government contracting which is what I've been doing.

I don't mind the 24 hour shift too much because Im young and can handle it, and my wife works part time and when I work at night it is usually easier for her to get hours and go to work.

beatfreaker

It's really hard to guage on what the actual work is based on titles alone. I've seen some NOCs that barely have access and I've seen some that have almost full control. But generally this is how I see it.

NOC = if you like puzzles, analyzing things, doing reports, reading reports, managing events, managing people/resources/vendors (break/fix bridge can get real nasty when its multi vendor)

Sysadmin = If you like troubleshooting, challenges, learning new tech, and occasionally performing miracles when your boss wants something fixed yesterday.

Russell77

beatfreaker wrote: »

It's really hard to guage on what the actual work is based on titles alone. I've seen some NOCs that barely have access and I've seen some that have almost full control. But generally this is how I see it.

NOC = if you like puzzles, analyzing things, doing reports, reading reports, managing events, managing people/resources/vendors (break/fix bridge can get real nasty when its multi vendor).

I agree, NOC can mean almost anything. Where I work the range of abilities of the employees are huge. Some are just Alarm, call out types, Others get deep into the network. Going to a large company will no doubt give you oppourtunities down the road.

JockVSJock

Jr Sys Admin.

Call center work is a drag. You will learn more by doing then reacting to phone calls.

kohr-ah

Also just wanted to say hello fellow redditor (Saw your post on /r/networking)

yellowpad

By now you should have already replied to your offers. Tell us which one you picked.

mikwelque

I mentioned it in my post above but it was probably overlooked.

I went with the NOC position mostly because being with a big private company with full benefits was too much to pass up vs gov. contracting. Also the commute was so bad with the sys admin job I think the money would have been about even after factoring in gas.

I think I'll be able to grow with this job as its a big company and from what I can tell this NOC position is pretty in depth.

Thanks for the help everybody

TWX

The way you originally described it, the govt contract did not sound like jr. sysadmin so much as helpdesk tier 2/3. Depending on the tools to do the job there might not be as much meaningful tech exposure in such a scenario anyway.

ethananderson

TWX wrote: »

The way you originally described it, the govt contract did not sound like jr. sysadmin so much as helpdesk tier 2/3. Depending on the tools to do the job there might not be as much meaningful tech exposure in such a scenario anyway.

completely agreed man!

yellowpad

Congrats!!!! I overlooked....Keep us up to date whether you like it or not. Would you be able to share with us factors that got you those offers?

mikwelque wrote: »

I mentioned it in my post above but it was probably overlooked.

I went with the NOC position mostly because being with a big private company with full benefits was too much to pass up vs gov. contracting. Also the commute was so bad with the sys admin job I think the money would have been about even after factoring in gas.

I think I'll be able to grow with this job as its a big company and from what I can tell this NOC position is pretty in depth.

Thanks for the help everybody

mikwelque

TWX wrote: »

The way you originally described it, the govt contract did not sound like jr. sysadmin so much as helpdesk tier 2/3. Depending on the tools to do the job there might not be as much meaningful tech exposure in such a scenario anyway.

Yeah I started to feel that way too. I even asked them at the interview why the position was titled Account Management Technician but was presented as a jr sys admin job and they just kept saying thats what their company decided to technically call the position. It felt like more a function of the help desk than I wanted it to but possibly still decent sys admin exposure. I've learned these contracting companies will say anything to seal a deal.

yellowpad wrote: »

Congrats!!!! I overlooked....Keep us up to date whether you like it or not. Would you be able to share with us factors that got you those offers?

Yeah defintely. I will be starting in a little over a week. I applied to a job posting online through the corporate site and was called on my birthday (so i had the day off by chance) to schedule an interview and I told them I could go same day. So I went and it was a panel interview with who will now be my direct supervisor/manager and then 3 other managers from different areas. The interview was 1 1/2 hours which is pretty long and let me tell you, the manager was GRILLING me the entire time. The recruiter warned me that the manager is blunt and will challenge me. She was picking apart my resume and asking me to keep digging deeper on answers.

After the interview, they asked me to do an assessment which I thought for some reason would be a survey. I stayed in the room and did an all short answer ( no multiple choice) 3-4 page test on different items to include networking questions (what is DNS?, what is port 3389?, etc.), general questions (how do you do a traceroute? what are some types of terrestrial internet services? etc.), and Linux/Solaris questions.

I thought for sure they were not interested because I know I didn't do great on the assesment and just due to how much they were grilling my resume. However, i think i took the right approach about the intensity of interview. I made sure to be very confident and honest. I then did a phone interview with a senior member in the company. They then contacted my references so I figured I am at least a finalist. The in house recruiter kept in touch with me after this point as it took almost 2 months to produce the offer letter.

so thats my story

TWX

mikwelque wrote: »

Yeah I started to feel that way too. I even asked them at the interview why the position was titled Account Management Technician but was presented as a jr sys admin job and they just kept saying thats what their company decided to technically call the position. It felt like more a function of the help desk than I wanted it to but possibly still decent sys admin exposure. I've learned these contracting companies will say anything to seal a deal.

Almost forgot about that, it's not what the job is informally called that goes on your resume, it's what your title is. "Account Management Technician" could be as low as the schmuck that deals with locked-out user accounts when the afflicted user calls-in, or as high as the person that logs into the LDAP or AD or TACACS server and maintains account privileges and creates accounts, but normally there are better titles for the latter.

LeBroke

TWX wrote: »

Almost forgot about that, it's not what the job is informally called that goes on your resume, it's what your title is. "Account Management Technician" could be as low as the schmuck that deals with locked-out user accounts when the afflicted user calls-in, or as high as the person that logs into the LDAP or AD or TACACS server and maintains account privileges and creates accounts, but normally there are better titles for the latter.

Eh, I tend to put what the job was informally called. Because my current job as a "Customer Support and Infrastructure Associate," which is called that because I'm on the infrastructure team, which is in the same department as customer support, doesn't tell anyone anything. Whereas "Linux Systems Administrator" is short and to the point.