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Our Primary Export: Pain
Slowhand
Mod Posts: 5,161 Mod
Well. . . I finally got a new job. Went to a couple of interviews this week, and this was the best, by far. (Also, the first one I went to.) I came in and had a "formal" interview with the two bosses. (I say "formal" very loosely, they told me to dress casual. I ended up wearing a t-shirt that reads "There's no place like 127.0.0.1", and it was a big hit. Laughs all around.) They had me stick around for the "second" interview, with the other network engineers. It ended up being mostly a "what do you like to do/what do you have experience with/how many cups of coffee have you had today?" sort of interview, very relaxed. When it was all over, the bosses came back in with an offical offer of employment.
I'm very happy with the starting pay, (in the area of $35,000 per year.) The benefits are pretty good, giving me medical and some perks like paying for my cellphone bill and about half of my cable internet bill. The reason they're going to ante up for the phone and broadband is because the network engineers have to rotate on a weekly schedule, providing back up phone support in case the call center gets too jammed up or the clients ask questions that are over the heads of the phone reps. As for what the company does, that's sort of a mixed bag. Some of it will be setting up servers and entire networks for a companies, to hosted servers and doing a LOT of different types of work. From what they tell me, I'm going to be "learning a lot of stuff I didn't even know I didn't want to know."
This, of course, brings me to why I'm posting this here. The company is very keen on having people on staff that like to learn, and they're big in getting certified. One of the bosses told me that they'd basically have me spend one day a week back in the server and router room, practicing and learning on the equipment. The network engineers laughed when I told them that I was planning on taking the CCNA, then finish up MCSE, within the next six to eight months. "Oh, with the amount of work you'll be doing, you'll be there LONG before that" was the general consensus. At this point, I don't know whether to be excited at the prospect of being trained up to be an "elite geek", or just very, very afraid. (Probably a little of both.)
Either way, I'm looking forward to this experience, and I'm hoping that I'll learn a lot more than I set out to. The original plan was to do CCNA, Linux+, finish up MCSE: Security, and then move on to Sun Certified Solaris Administrator (SCSA), and maybe think about doing something in the area of CCNP/CCIP/CCSP, later down the road. From the looks of this job, and the kind of training they want to give me, I might just be there long before I expected to be. All in all, it feels good to be moving towards this type of work, and I'm hoping I can save up some serious cash for when I go back to school, somewhere down the road.
I'm very happy with the starting pay, (in the area of $35,000 per year.) The benefits are pretty good, giving me medical and some perks like paying for my cellphone bill and about half of my cable internet bill. The reason they're going to ante up for the phone and broadband is because the network engineers have to rotate on a weekly schedule, providing back up phone support in case the call center gets too jammed up or the clients ask questions that are over the heads of the phone reps. As for what the company does, that's sort of a mixed bag. Some of it will be setting up servers and entire networks for a companies, to hosted servers and doing a LOT of different types of work. From what they tell me, I'm going to be "learning a lot of stuff I didn't even know I didn't want to know."
This, of course, brings me to why I'm posting this here. The company is very keen on having people on staff that like to learn, and they're big in getting certified. One of the bosses told me that they'd basically have me spend one day a week back in the server and router room, practicing and learning on the equipment. The network engineers laughed when I told them that I was planning on taking the CCNA, then finish up MCSE, within the next six to eight months. "Oh, with the amount of work you'll be doing, you'll be there LONG before that" was the general consensus. At this point, I don't know whether to be excited at the prospect of being trained up to be an "elite geek", or just very, very afraid. (Probably a little of both.)
Either way, I'm looking forward to this experience, and I'm hoping that I'll learn a lot more than I set out to. The original plan was to do CCNA, Linux+, finish up MCSE: Security, and then move on to Sun Certified Solaris Administrator (SCSA), and maybe think about doing something in the area of CCNP/CCIP/CCSP, later down the road. From the looks of this job, and the kind of training they want to give me, I might just be there long before I expected to be. All in all, it feels good to be moving towards this type of work, and I'm hoping I can save up some serious cash for when I go back to school, somewhere down the road.
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Let it never be said that I didn't do the very least I could do.
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SRTMCSE
Member Posts: 249
Sounds like an awesome opportunity. I wish I had mentors at my current job, but I am the only IT person on staff, makes me miss my old job so much more...we had an entire staff of MCTs and other trainers who were always willing to show me something new. Unfortunately they used that "perk" as an excuse to not to give raises. -
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Cessation
Member Posts: 326
ha, it really does sound stupidgarv221 wrote:I know this sounds stupid but believe in yourself.
. But you have to admit that it sounds needed in this situation.
Wow looks like you are doing really well for yourself pal. CONGRATS!
I am in the same situation as you with a job with that kind of pay and whatnot. Boss is really awesome and the company will pay for test fees but they are not too big on certs, just knowledge.
Congrats again and learn as much as you can!
CessA+, MCP(270,290), CCNA 2008.
Working back on my CCNA and then possibly CCNP. -
Optionssharptech
Member Posts: 492 ■■□□□□□□□□
Great oppurtunity and congrats!
These guys sound like a great bunch of people to work with!
That is one thing I stress to people I talk to - you really need to feel comfterable where you are going to work.
Even if you get a job offer, but you do not feel comfterable then it is probably not going to work out for you.
This sounds like a great job w/ some valuable experience.
Congrats once again! -
OptionsSlowhand
Mod Posts: 5,161 Mod
Thanks for all the good feeback, guys. I'm sure it'll be a great place to work, if not a little brain-bending. I'm sure I'll be on here, begging for help. . . a lot. . .
Free Microsoft Training: Microsoft Learn
Free PowerShell Resources: Top PowerShell Blogs
Free DevOps/Azure Resources: Visual Studio Dev Essentials
Let it never be said that I didn't do the very least I could do. -
OptionsOlajuwon
Inactive Imported Users Posts: 356
Good luck, dude. Take risks and you will succeed."And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years"
