Dilemma: NOC Engineer offer and final round Cybersecurity analyst interviews

Raya90

At my current company, I was recently offered a NOC engineer position and I gave a verbal acceptance but no official paperwork signed and my offer is still being processed by my HR manager, which will take 2-3 days to complete. With that said, I am still in the process of 2 other cybersecurity analyst and incident response positions for other companies externally this week and next Monday, as well that I am scheduled for.

I am in my final term at WGU for the MS in Cybersecurity and Info Assurance, and my graduate advisor said that I should wait until I do the other final interviews this week, and get official word back to see if they may offer as well by Friday. This is due to them being directly within cybersecurity as opposed to the internal NOC engineer position. Its a hard call as they're all low 6 figures and tempting and I was thinking that the NOC position will be good to at least hold me down until I get my MS if the other cybersecurity positions fall through and I don't get past the final interview. 

I'm just stuck on if I should complete those interviews to see what happens as I would ideally want one of the cybersecurity positions due to my intended career trajectory and education, but am afraid that if something falls through with the cybersecurity positions, and I waited too long for the NOC position that was already offered to sign onboarding paperwork, that I will be stuck in my current position making much less than those higher offers, and have none of those positions stated above, etc. I just don't want anything to fall through by waiting it out for the last round of cybersecurity interviews, even though I really wanted one of those.

JDMurray

There are far fewer qualified Cybersecurity people available for hire today than NOC engineers. Hiring managers are looking for hands-on work experience in Cybersecurity and not just academic and cert paper. How much of the former do you have?

Raya90

I think for this question I asked, is just go and complete the final rounds while accepting the NOC offer. If I happen to sign the onboarding documents for the NOC position, all the while doing the final round of interviews and happen to get the other cybersecurity positions, I can just inform that I was given another offer of my 1st choice, but I am happy they gave me the offer.

I'm sure things like this happen from time to time with employers losing candidates who, at the last minute gotten a better offer elsewhere, and the hiring managers will go forward with the 2nd choice they had interviewed prior?

I'm honestly just thinking about what would be best for me in this situation and my career goals. I hate to be in a weird limbo like this but its best for me, both career wise and financially.

JDMurray

Raya90 said:

I'm sure things like this happen from time to time with employers losing candidates who, at the last minute gotten a better offer elsewhere, and the hiring managers will go forward with the 2nd choice they had interviewed prior?

Yes, sometimes the hiring process takes so long that candidates accept another job offer. Some candidates don't accept an offer because the employer is unwilling to negotiate a higher starting salary, give a hiring bonus, etc. Even if you are not a hiring manager's first or second choice you might still end up getting an offer thanks to the candidates before you dropping out.

Raya90

Okay, I'll update. I ended up forfeiting the remaining interviews due to the times and dates of those interviews with the external company. Initially, I thought I only had 2 more interviews, one for this week and one for next Monday, but it turns out that there were 3 more and back to back days with week, with no exceptions to change them to same day or make the times more accommodating to my current work schedule. I thought it was too much of a hassle for all of those interviews that wasn't specified initially when he informed me last Friday.

I would've loved the cybersecurity potion, tbh, but its too much for a position that I have yet to get an offer from yet, and had a more lengthy interview process that I wasn't aware of. I'll just take this new NOC engineering offer and get more SIEM and monitoring and response experience under my belt until I get my MS later this year and try to update the resume and search again for my intended cybersecurity position.

Raya90

Another update. lol. The HR rep says he can remove one interview and just have two final ones with the very last be the with CISO. I agreed if he can do that to make it more accommodating. I guess its a wait and see for the final times as its easier for me to structure around than before. 

volfkhat

Raya90 said:

Another update. lol. The HR rep says he can remove one interview and just have two final ones with the very last be the with CISO. I agreed if he can do that to make it more accommodating. I guess its a wait and see for the final times as its easier for me to structure around than before. 

LOL

I think you already knew  the answer to your original Question

Best not to overthink  these things.

Benjamin Franklin would have advised you to: Accept the offer in hand.

and If something better comes along next week... then cross that bridge when you get to it.


I know persons who will accept Simulatneous job-offers... immediately work the first one... see how they like it.... and then, either 'Stay' or 'Jump' when the startdate of 2nd position arrives.

Raya90

Everything is confirmed. I have a final CISO meeting on Monday and will use most likely my last PTO then as well. I already accepted my 1st NOC offer, but if this cybersecurity one goes through and I get that offer and start date, I will compare and contrast both positions, salary, and benefits to make my ultimate choice. I only have a few months left before I get my MS in cybersecurity, and I feel like any choice I pick atm will be good enough while I finish my grad degree and gain more in depth experience at a higher level. 

I already sent out my two weeks to my current manager. This is the end of my lower tier IT support work once and for all! lol 

Hopefully I can contribute my "IT career progression thread" post once everything is confirmed and settled soon.

UnixGuy

Good luck, if you really want the cyber role then go for it.

Raya90

Okay, I got both offers! lol

I am going to proceed with the 1st choice as the cybersecurity incident response analyst! That role starts on the 31st of May and the first offer starts on the 16th. I am now deciding if I should do one week of work with the NOC engineering, while waiting for my other start date of the 31st, or just wait two weeks in between with no work in between, and take a mini work break.

Idk if I should work the NOC role, as I would love to make some money in the downtime, but don't want to burn bridges by leaving after my first week! I don't feel conformable with not working for a few weeks until I start the cybersecurity role, but don't want to jeopardize anything else work related, to my prior companies working relations. I may need them as a future reference. lol

I'm excited regardless.

JDMurray

Congratz! There are lots of incident response training courses online. If you know the standards, guidelines, and technologies used by your new employer you can get familiar with them ahead of time.

Raya90

Another update! The HR coordinator is trying to see if I could start on the 23rd instead of the 31st for the Cybersecurity position. I'm waiting on a official start confirmation date now...

With that said, my current manager reached out to the NOC manager and pushed my start date back with them, to the 23rd as well, without my knowledge. I never had a manager push my final day that I already got approved of last week, for my last day that was set for the 13th next week.. He says its due to my current team being lowly staffed and new hires not fully trained yet and he wanted me to stay back a bit to help..

I'm not worried, a bit upset tho by having to stay at my current place for a additional week as its tiring atm, but it gives me more time to prepare to leave and decide between the offers. 

I'll most likely take the cybersecurity one as its the first choice and has the best outcome career wise for me!

volfkhat

With that said, my current manager reached out to the NOC manager and pushed my start date back with them, to the 23rd as well, without my knowledge. I never had a manager push my final day that I already got approved of last week, for my last day that was set for the 13th next week.. He says its due to my current team being lowly staffed and new hires not fully trained yet and he wanted me to stay back a bit to help..

I'm not worried, a bit upset tho by having to stay at my current place for a additional week as its tiring atm, but it gives me more time to prepare to leave and decide between the offers. 

Sounds like your current manager did "what was best" for him. 


That's why i never feel bad about reciprocating...


Nonetheless, it looks like your hand has been forced....
so what to do?

my 2 cents...
take the 2 week vacation  (if you can afford it)

If you told them your last day was May 13th... don't budge an inch.

Raya90

volfkhat said:

With that said, my current manager reached out to the NOC manager and pushed my start date back with them, to the 23rd as well, without my knowledge. I never had a manager push my final day that I already got approved of last week, for my last day that was set for the 13th next week.. He says its due to my current team being lowly staffed and new hires not fully trained yet and he wanted me to stay back a bit to help..

I'm not worried, a bit upset tho by having to stay at my current place for a additional week as its tiring atm, but it gives me more time to prepare to leave and decide between the offers. 

Sounds like your current manager did "what was best" for him. 


That's why i never feel bad about reciprocating...


Nonetheless, it looks like your hand has been forced....
so what to do?

my 2 cents...
take the 2 week vacation  (if you can afford it)

If you told them your last day was May 13th... don't budge an inch.

I had another manager on my team (who isn't my direct manager) do something similar with a sick day I requested and got approved. He kept prodding me to stay an extra few hours, or even another full day of work. This was after I requested to use a sick day as I was feeling ill a few months back. He wouldn't let me leave (my direct manager took the day off when it happened) and I agreed to stay another extra few hours to "help out" as this manager insisted that since my direct manager was gone for the day, and some of my colleagues called out that day, that he needed extra assistance with work. smh Its a theme at this place. What's the point of requesting time off or using a sick day, if your manager is just going to prod you into not using your own time off that was approved of or manipulate the times you can use it?

I just want these next few weeks to end! I'm going to be taking the remainder of my PTO these next two weeks! 

JDMurray

Raya90 said:

What's the point of requesting time off or using a sick day, if your manager is just going to prod you into not using your own time off that was approved of or manipulate the times you can use it?

What does your HR department have to say about this situation? HR needs to know that this type of coercion is occurring.

Raya90

JDMurray said:

Raya90 said:

What's the point of requesting time off or using a sick day, if your manager is just going to prod you into not using your own time off that was approved of or manipulate the times you can use it?

What does your HR department have to say about this situation? HR needs to know that this type of coercion is occurring.

I can reach out to them on this. I have a few question when I exit anyways on some financial things like the 401k, etc. But this as well, as it happened a few times. I'm just tired and want to move on at this point and not worry about it. This position was very exhausting mentally and high stress. Most lower IT support is high stress for such low pay.

JDMurray

The exit interview is your last chance of saying something that might effect a change in the org. Good luck!

volfkhat

  

Gotta appreciate the Irony:

Management giving you Grief... for taking a Sick Day...  during a once-in-a-hundred-years PANDEMIC.

Raya90

volfkhat said:

  

Gotta appreciate the Irony:

Management giving you Grief... for taking a Sick Day...  during a once-in-a-hundred-years PANDEMIC.

I agree! SMH I was thinking the same! Its not like these pandemics happen on a seasonal time frame. 

E Double U

Raya90 said:

With that said, my current manager reached out to the NOC manager and pushed my start date back with them, to the 23rd as well, without my knowledge. I never had a manager push my final day that I already got approved of last week, for my last day that was set for the 13th next week.. He says its due to my current team being lowly staffed and new hires not fully trained yet and he wanted me to stay back a bit to help..

When I moved to a new position within the same employer last year, the manager at the time asked me directly if I could push my end date with his team to complete a sprint. I reached out to the new manager about it and he had no problem with it. Funny thing is they actually know each other as we all worked in the same department, but he still made the request with me which is what I would expect. What management does at your employer is quite strange to me. 

Raya90

E Double U said:

Raya90 said:

With that said, my current manager reached out to the NOC manager and pushed my start date back with them, to the 23rd as well, without my knowledge. I never had a manager push my final day that I already got approved of last week, for my last day that was set for the 13th next week.. He says its due to my current team being lowly staffed and new hires not fully trained yet and he wanted me to stay back a bit to help..

When I moved to a new position within the same employer last year, the manager at the time asked me directly if I could push my end date with his team to complete a sprint. I reached out to the new manager about it and he had no problem with it. Funny thing is they actually know each other as we all worked in the same department, but he still made the request with me which is what I would expect. What management does at your employer is quite strange to me. 

Your situation sounds normal and agreeable. I wouldn't have minded if he let me know without going behind my back, and without my consent. I had my immediate manager and another on my team do shady things like this in the past. I knew about the team being lowly staffed as of late, but how is this my issue or problem? That is for the management team to figure out and resolve, not the employee who is leaving. 

E Double U

Raya90 said:

E Double U said:

Raya90 said:

With that said, my current manager reached out to the NOC manager and pushed my start date back with them, to the 23rd as well, without my knowledge. I never had a manager push my final day that I already got approved of last week, for my last day that was set for the 13th next week.. He says its due to my current team being lowly staffed and new hires not fully trained yet and he wanted me to stay back a bit to help..

When I moved to a new position within the same employer last year, the manager at the time asked me directly if I could push my end date with his team to complete a sprint. I reached out to the new manager about it and he had no problem with it. Funny thing is they actually know each other as we all worked in the same department, but he still made the request with me which is what I would expect. What management does at your employer is quite strange to me. 

I knew about the team being lowly staffed as of late, but how is this my issue or problem? That is for the management team to figure out and resolve, not the employee who is leaving. 

Sounds like they did figure it out and you were their solution lol. 

volfkhat

E Double U said:

Sounds like they did figure it out and you were their solution lol. 

Right!

I probably would have "called off" for that entire week....

told them i was having Covid-like symptoms.
 

volfkhat

So did you STAY.... or did you GO?

Raya90

volfkhat said:

So did you STAY.... or did you GO?

I went with the external cybersecurity potion! I just completing my first week of training, and am much happier I chose this route than the other. Tbh the NOC engineer role, although great was my 2nd choice if this one didn't pull through. My career trajectory was for cybersecurity anyways and it would have delayed me further by pursuing the NOC engineer path without anything directly within security. 

trojin

@Raya90
Congrats !!!
This defo was the right move

volfkhat

Raya90 said:

I went with the external cybersecurity potion! I just completing my first week of training, and am much happier I chose this route than the other. Tbh the NOC engineer role, although great was my 2nd choice if this one didn't pull through. My career trajectory was for cybersecurity anyways and it would have delayed me further by pursuing the NOC engineer path without anything directly within security. 

Cool beans!


Just being nosey....  what actually ended up being your last day?

Did you leave on May 13th.... like you had originally chosen?  (and then take a relaxing week off)

Or, did you ended up staying longer & 'helping' your old manager out?

:]

Raya90

volfkhat said:

Raya90 said:

I went with the external cybersecurity potion! I just completing my first week of training, and am much happier I chose this route than the other. Tbh the NOC engineer role, although great was my 2nd choice if this one didn't pull through. My career trajectory was for cybersecurity anyways and it would have delayed me further by pursuing the NOC engineer path without anything directly within security. 

Cool beans!


Just being nosey....  what actually ended up being your last day?

Did you leave on May 13th.... like you had originally chosen?  (and then take a relaxing week off)

Or, did you ended up staying longer & 'helping' your old manager out?

:]

Last day was on the 20th of May. My new HR manager for my cybersecurity specialist job says that what he did wasn't "legal." 

If my former employer was understaffed in the dept I was in, thats on the management's end to fix, not employees who are leaving.