NOC a path to Network Engineering?

routingbyrumor

Hi!, I just graduated college with 2 years of experience in helpdesk support. I have gotten advice not to go with any other helpdesk jobs and try to get into a NOC center in order to advance into network engineering. Is this the correct path to take? Can a helpdesk position lead to a Network Engineerng position?

Thanks.

darkuser

do that while working on you're ccnp and ccie and you'll be fine ....

my 2c

RTmarc

Traditional NOCs are excellent places to get strictly network experience but I would suggest going down a path that lets your branch out a little and expand your skill set. If you can find a path that leads you to a network admin position before network engineering I'd follow that. You would have the networking experience but at the same time you get the system exposure and a better feel for they way things should be versus the way they look on paper; if that makes any sense at all. It worked for me anyway.

As always, just my opinion.

TechJunky

I have worked in both a NOC and CNCC... Network Operations Center, and Customer Networking Control Center. The NOC was more all telephony based networking, mainly dealing with T1's, DS3's etc. I found working at CNCC gave me a whole lot more experience. I dealt with Cisco routers, Servers, Switches, etc. My experience with the NOC and CNCC was working with an ISP, so it may be different job roles compared to a bank or hospital etc. I would defiantly suggest working with equipment like Cisco, Windows, Unix etc and find out which platform you perfer the most and then specialize in that field. There are so many jobs out there and most require either a Windows Guy, Cisco Guy, Unix Guy etc. I have dealt with many different platforms and I find Windows to be the most demanding and fun to work with.

Good luck either way.

routingbyrumor

Thanks for the reply guys, I'll be taking a little of each advice so I can develop a more rounded approch to IT rather than just be strictly network engineering.

david_r

rbr,
That's an excellent idea. When you do get into network engineering, it will behoove you to explain to the sys admins why it is not your network but their servers/apps that are the problem. Learning MS and Unix/Linux servers will allow you to speak from a position of authority.

As to your original question, it depends on the company and what the NOC does. My company's NOC monitors WAN connections and critical business unit servers. We also do first level network troubleshooting and configuration. I interface with NetEng on a daily basis. If the helpdesk wants something sent to NetEng, it goes through the NOC. To be frank, NetEng is so busy dealing with design and large network outages that they don't have time to deal with "little problems." If you get into this type of situation, step up to the plate and show your stuff, hopefully your efforts will be recognized as mine have been.

good luck

routingbyrumor

Thanks David_R I'll need it with this fierce competition.

DirtySouth

I've worked in several helpdesks as well as a NOC. I think they were both great experiences and I learned alot from them. However, its hard to say whether just any old NOC job will be good because every company is a little different and not every NOC does the same thing.

In general, I think working in a NOC was great for me because I got to see a little taste of all the different IT groups....development, DBA, Network Engineering, Telecom, Executives...etc. I also got to communicate with people in each of these departments so it gives you opportunities to get on a first-name basis with them. Hope that helps!