Job Oppertunity

mattsthe2

Hi Guys,

I was some professional opinion here.
I have been offered a position at fairly large company.

Heres the pro:

larger company 1300 employees, than im working for now
exposure to high end gear, 65xx, 45xx series stuff, mpls, a fair ammount of gear and an insaine budget
better vacation, pay isnt bad, looks like a good company to work for.


Cons's

A big con for me is they are going to be replacing all there Cisco gear with Junpiner stuff and they are moving away from Cisco both on the Voice and Data side.

Help...

r_durant

What does your current job entail?

Do you work on Cisco gear now?

What's the difference in location, time to get to work, etc...

Is there a major difference in pay?

Obviously it's a major switch in gear...

Darthn3ss

don't forget: will you be able to score some of that higher end equipment when they get rid of it?

Pash

Has this company had a change in IT management recently? Its strange to just oust all vendor equipment at once......unless this is to remain compatable with other branches?

mattsthe2

What does your current job entail?
Right now im spilty i basically look after a small branch office. This covers everything basically.
Setting up computers to ordering supplies. Looking after a Microsoft environment with a few servers, but i do look after a call manager cluster + Unity, for the entire company + looking after the the routers and switches but again on a small scale.

Do you work on Cisco gear now?
Yes, but limited in comparisonto this.
I would consider my current company a small to small-medium.
3560's is about as hight as it goes with the 3525 routers and not many of them about 15 devices total + Cisco AP's.

What's the difference in location, time to get to work, etc...
Well the distance is about double 20-25 miles one way compared to 12miles now. But we are looking to move closer to where ever my next job is as we are in an apartment.


Is there a major difference in pay?
Yeah there is a 35% increase, but I'm well underpaid. This would put me about right.

mattsthe2

Pash wrote:

Has this company had a change in IT management recently? Its strange to just oust all vendor equipment at once......unless this is to remain compatable with other branches?

No change in management.
Well they said it breaks alot and that they paying a premium for the Cisco name.

My outlook on it is that i will have one year of high end experience with a large company.
And i will use that to gain my CCNP.
Plus experience with the new Juniper gear also. So the best of two worlds?

I will have a Sr Data Ops guy to learn off of.

I'm trying to find a positive outlook.

r_durant

Sounds good to me...I'm assuming the new company is going to provide training for the Juniper stuff???

Then in between you can dabble with the Cisco stuff...

Sounds like something to go for...

liven

have you been looking for a new job? Did this fall in your lap?

Are you wanting to be a Network guy, just a Cisco guy?

I work with a person who has 20 plus years of "networking" knowledge. NOT vendor specific. He can make any device do just about anything. Sure some brands of gear do things that others don't, HOWEVER in my 8 plus years in the field I have noticed:

Routers route, regardless of the brand
switches switch, regardless of the brand
proxies proxy, regardless of the brand
firewalls block regardless of the brand
servers serve

now some work better than others, and some don't play well with others. This knowledge can be very valuable.



I guess what I am trying to say your networking knowledge will continue to grow regardless of the brand your using. And in fact you might learn somethings in a non cisco way, which might make your networking knowledge stronger.

Sure it might be easier to setup one particular types of network on cisco, and another type of network on lucent or whatever. But if you have no knowledge of networking it will be pretty diffcult regardless of the vendor. And if you have experience you will probably be able to get most devices working in a very acceptable amount of time.

If you feel like your going to keep learning where your at then do push your self to change. But if you feel for a minute that you have gone as far as you can with your current posistion/company it might be a time to change.

ALSO, are you happy?

If your not happy then I think you shouldn't even think twice about moving on.

I know it is not desirable to jump around with employment, however in todays professional world it is not uncommon. Especially for IT folks.


Follow your heart bro and you will make the right decision.

mattsthe2

Wow liven,

I was worried about moving away from Cisco. As it seems that most jobs in networking have Cisco gear, but you make some very very good points, some that i havent even thought of.

I guess my game plan would be to get my CCNP in the first year while they have the equipment and then when they move over to Junpiner stuff i will of course learns tons with that and maybe get certified with Juniper.
Best of both worlds.

Hopefully from an Employers point of view that would look attractive.....

mikej412

mattsthe2 wrote:

Best of both worlds.

I'd agree with that.

Hopefully they'd keep some Cisco gear around after the cut over so you could keep up your Cisco skills, "just in case" the Juniper thing didn't work out for them.

And if the Juniper thing wasn't working out for you after the changeover, you'd still have hopefully gotten your CCNP and some good experience.

With only 1300 users, I'd wonder why they going with Juniper, since Juniper usually fights with Cisco on the high end.... unless this indicates a move by Juniper into the mid and small markets.

Keep your Cisco routers close, and your Juniper routers closer.

liven

I totally agree with Mike.

Even if you make the change, keep chipping away at the CCNP.

Why?,

two main reasons, I really feel that cisco is the industry standard for networking. I have worked many places (never been fired) and there has always been some cisco stuff.

Like Mike said Juniper is working more on the larger scale networks (although they did try to bid a company I worked for on some gear for a >1000 person network). But you never know when you might run into another vendor.

Even though cisco certs are tailored to Cisco equipment, they still teach you networking on many levels (theory -> syntax). This knowledge will allow you to use anyones equipment and be able to get the job done. I have yet to use a vendor whos training even comes close to cisco. If you get their certifications it means something!!!

Which is point number 2, a CCNP is quite and accomplishment. IT will look VERY good on your resume (well so does the CCNA)...

liven

Plus you never know, you might be able to pick up some of the "old" gear at a good price, maybe free.

I have got servers and routers that former employers were going to "throw away"....

Man one time I got 12 dell server from a former employer... I could have have at least a dozen more but I couldn't fit any more in my truck...

These machines have been the basis of my network for some time!!!

And I got 2 2500 series routers (5 years ago) for free from another employer (along with 2 adtrans and all the needed cables)!!!!


Just for being in the right place at the right time.

NO I didn't steel any of it either!

liven

SOrry but one last point:

LEAVE ON GOOD TERMS!!!!

You never know your current company may counter offer.

Or they may have a need for you in the future.


OR, someone else from that company might leave, go somewhere else and say:

That networking fella, what was his name, he sure was one heck of a networking guy and we need a good networking admin. Lets give him a call and get him in here.

Once again not endorsing job jumping, but it happens.


Ok I have rambled long enough.


Let us know how things work out for you!