Entry - Mid Level Network Engineer Interview Questions

Plazma

I have an interview coming up this week and it is for a Network Engineer position with a local consulting firm. I know this may have been already asked way back when.. and I know there is a lot of generic interview questions on the intarweb... but I have never had an interview that is souley for a network engineer position. My trade primarily is Unix/Linux administration and there is a ton of questions all over the net for those (though a lot of them are dated)

So to be blunt, does anyone have either A: A set of interview questions suitable for an entry to mid level network engineer (Cisco) or B: Suggestions on what to review before a network engineer interview.. key points etc.. i guess you could call it a sort of study guide.


Any help is greatly appreciated.

Netstudent

Best thing you could probably do it read the the job description and start studying what you are unfamiliar with. YOu know they will ask you questions about the the various requirements. Can you post the job description?

Plazma

I acutally don't have a job description.. it was a funny story, i saw A job on careerbuilder, called the recruiter and he said that job was a mess and he didn't want to get me involved (company red tape crap) BUT he knew of another opening he thought id be good for.. so I acutally don't have a job description.. all i know is the following

They are a consulting firm
They have a huge client base that is growing faster than the company, hence needing more people
The work I would imagine would be ranging from design to support of small to enterprise level LAN's as well as possibly some WAN work.

Some of the more advanced things I have yet to touch in my career, but I want to learn and would do anything to learn them. (example, MPLS, ASA stuff, IS-IS, VPN..etc) but i know where i could find out all that info as well.

I mean , I guess im also torn between 2 philosophies

1. Study up what you do know, and study some of the other stuff that you don't know : the simple and logical solution

2. Maybe glance over a few things and go right in.. why not let them attempt to hire you for what you already know, and you can surprise them what you can find out (if you can disprove this solution, please provide an explanation)

Netstudent

Well that makes it hard to be prepared. The best advice I could give you is try to be as explanatory as possible when they ask you questions like what do you know about IpSec VPN's? What is your experience with cisco routing? They might ask something like tell me what you know about building Cisco Local Area Networks. Then you need to let it all flow out. Just start spilling everything you know out. Try to read over your resume and be ready to explain in detail all of your skills. Be prepared for those Tell me about this and tell me about that type of questions.

At the very least, I would read over some basic LAN and WAN cisco concepts just to make sure you don't have any loose ends. You want to be sharp, confident, and concise with your answers. Do some research on the company or call the recruiter back and see if you can get any more info from him. Going in there completely blind kinda sucks. Best of luck to you!

Plazma

Here i found a job description (not much help though)

Network Engineer

Company A is seeking a full-time, self-motivated and professional Network Engineer to design, implement, manage, support and troubleshoot Networks, both customer onsite and phone technical support. At least 2 years of field experience is requested. Microsoft and Cisco experience and CCNA/CCDA/MCP/MCSE/MCSA certifications preferred. Applicants should have a positive attitude, work proactively and work well with others. Same day travel to client sites within 100 mile radius required. Occasional weekend and after hours will be required for special projects.

Netstudent

That doesn;t sound too bad at all. It is kinda vague, but thats probably because they aren;t looking for a highly specialized professional. They are probably looking for someone who is mid level that has a solid grasp on networking concepts. You should do good.

networker050184

Yep what Netstudent said!

Aquabat [banned]

i had an interview for mid level network admin a few weeks ago. questions were like this

whats dns
whats dhcp
what's a classless ip
what's eigrp
what's the cisco protocol before eigrp
explain framing or channelizing a T1
what's a PRI
what's PSTN?

he saw that im a cisco certified network associate , so he gave me 3 subnetting problems

like dumb stuff like that. i answwered everything perfect but i didn't get the job, so mabye he just didn't like me

Turgon

Plazma wrote:

I have an interview coming up this week and it is for a Network Engineer position with a local consulting firm. I know this may have been already asked way back when.. and I know there is a lot of generic interview questions on the intarweb... but I have never had an interview that is souley for a network engineer position. My trade primarily is Unix/Linux administration and there is a ton of questions all over the net for those (though a lot of them are dated)

So to be blunt, does anyone have either A: A set of interview questions suitable for an entry to mid level network engineer (Cisco) or B: Suggestions on what to review before a network engineer interview.. key points etc.. i guess you could call it a sort of study guide.


Any help is greatly appreciated.

You have CCNA and SCSA?

Congratulations. You will surely be hired. One of the single biggest failings of network professionals is not to get experience/certification in UNIX. Honestly complete the Solaris exams as well as Cisco you will go far. The world is full of Enterprise Suns, filers, NetApp, Weblogic, Veritas, 10G, Oracle..

jerryvn01

Aquabat [banned] wrote: »

i had an interview for mid level network admin a few weeks ago. questions were like this

whats dns
whats dhcp
what's a classless ip
what's eigrp
what's the cisco protocol before eigrp
explain framing or channelizing a T1
what's a PRI
what's PSTN?

he saw that im a cisco certified network associate , so he gave me 3 subnetting problems

like dumb stuff like that. i answwered everything perfect but i didn't get the job, so mabye he just didn't like me

Hi,

Thanks very much for this comment. It help me to think about my ideals.

[FONT=&quot]Apart from that, this link below may be useful: [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Recruiter interview questions[/FONT]
Tks again and pls keep posting.

thenjduke

I had the following questions.
Explain three way TCP/IP Handshake.
What is DHCP?
How does computer get IP from DHCP.
Explain MAC Address?
Difference between Private and Public IP.
I can not remember them all. My present employer he asked me about subnetting.