Another interview...

scheistermeister

Today has been a busy day... I have a one day contract tomorrow installing a network at a college (all Cisco gear, w00t!) and then I had one pop-up today for a Cisco router install and config on Friday. After I got those two sorted out I finally called a guy I had gotten an email from two days ago about a job.

The funny part about it is that from the job description (head hunter sent it to me) I knew it was one of two places in the town I basically grew up in. Once I got on the phone with him I learned it was a place just about everyone in my family has worked at, just they were doing hard labor, not IT. I even have two family members that are still working there. I wouldn't be working directly for the company I would be working for IBM that has the contract to do their IT work.

I called the head hunter back originally around 4ish and just got another call back asking if I would be able to squeeze in an interview on Friday after I am done doing the router install/config which I agreed to. I just think it would be pretty funny to show up at the place of employment that two of my other family members work at without them knowing.

I figure the reason they were quick to call me back was the fact that the job description is looking for a CCNA and I have my CCNP.

human151

sounds awesome. Good luck. It would be kinda wierd to casually stroll in and see some
relatives, be like " hey, im your new colleague, and hows aunt Margaret doing".

BTW, how much is that one day contract for installation of that cisco gear and config worth?

scheistermeister

human151 wrote:

sounds awesome. Good luck. It would be kinda wierd to casually stroll in and see some
relatives, be like " hey, im your new colleague, and hows aunt Margaret doing".

BTW, how much is that one day contract for installation of that cisco gear and config worth?

Which one? The college one or the Friday one?

College one rate was already set at $22\hr with an unknown number of hours. The Friday one with one router install they just asked how much I would do it for and I said $40\hr, but the job is scheduled only for 2 hours.

scheistermeister

So the past two days have been really fun, but also really busy.

Thursday I went to the site where I was installing a Cisco network at a college... Well when I got there I realized that there wasn't really a college quite there yet... Meaning that the whole building (that will house more than just the college) wasn't anywhere near being completed. After walking around asking people where I was supposed to be for 30min I finally found the construction foreman who was able to take me to the floor the college will eventually be on and where all the cable techs were. At the time there was only one cable monkey there and I introduced myself and asked him if he knew where the equipment I would be installing is located. He said he had no idea and that he hasn't seen any around (all while still pulling cable through the walls/ceiling).

So I called one of my main contacts and asked him if he knew where the equipment was. He replied by asking me if I had seen it around to which I replied to with a nope. He said he would call me back after tracking it down. 20 min later I get a call back from him that said the tracking number he had said it was on a FedEx truck and "out for delivery"; he said I should just hang out and keep an eye out for the truck. After getting off the phone with him I continued to make small talk with the cabling guy and even jokingly said, "Ha! I bet this is the last stop of the day!"... Oh how true that was... So from 8:45AM to about 3:00-3:30ishPM I basically stood around a construction site making small talk with the cabling guys and any hot piece of eye candy that happened to walk by.

I was in constant contact with the companies that I was working for and they were completely cool with it so I sat and waited usually sitting outside basking in the sun smoking a cigarette. When the truck finally arrived I got to work. Of course the equipment that arrived was nothing like the equipment list I had originally received or like the network map I was given. About 30min later I was on the phone with my contact again ready to bring up their T1 and making sure that the way I hooked up the equipment (that was different from what I was told to expect) was cool with them. Everything had great connectivity and the new layout was fine with them. Then came to the subject of the T1... Well it turns out the person who brought me a router (that I assume was from another site so that we could get this one up and running) had not hooked up the the new router that replaced this one on the opposite end of the T1 link... My contact gave me the choice of either leaving it the way it was and they would bring it up later or I could wait for them to drive back to the other location and hook it up. My response was, "Well, I have waited all day anyways, a little more waiting is not going to kill me and I would like to see this completed." And in my head said, "Doesn't matter to me, I am still getting paid hourly regardless ".

So... Another hour later they arrive and hook up their end of the router and *BOOM* instantly the T1 was up and working great. I finished cleaning up and taking the pictures that I was required to take and I was out of there at 5:00pm sharp. So a job that was originally scheduled for 4 hours (and expected to take 2max) ended up being 8.25 hours. No skin off my back, I rather enjoyed getting paid to hang out. Was just happy I did not have anything else scheduled.

So on to today. Day before yesterday I got a call from a Middle Easter head hunter and asked if I would like to do a contract on Friday. I agreed and received the info on it. The instructions were super brief consisting of basically:

Location
Contact
Task: Install router and configure
Estimated time: 2hrs

Sounds like a cake walk. So I made my way there this morning and knew where it was and what they did there, but it never dawned on me while talking to them that it was a high security type place (damn state secrets and all that jazz!). So I pull up to the security gate the prescribed 15min early and show the guard where I was supposed to go and who I was supposed to contact. They had no clue so they sent me to the main security office to get a badge and sign papers. On my short drive to that building I called my contact (who didn't answer) and left a voice mail.

Get out of my car and go in and tell the guard there who I was and who my contact was supposed to be with contact info (someone I had never met, spoken to or emailed before). He called (got the same voice mail) and left a message. We then went through the 184750147510 forms of ID, badge, NDA and all that ending with him saying, "You need to turn over your cell phone." To which I agreed figuring my contact would simply return the guards call and then come get me... Half an hour goes by with nothing. At this point I was starting to get really worried and was finally able to get the guard to hand me back my phone so long as I stayed in front of him.

Turn it back on and 3 voice mails... Oh crap... Listen to the first one that said, "Hi, this is such and such at such, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?! Please call me back immediately at such" No joke, exact words. So I call him back and he sounds overjoyed to hear that I was there, just waiting for him to come pick me up and it was just a mistake that I had gotten the wrong contact info. Then he pops the question, "So are you ready to install that router you have with you?" Ex-squeeze me? To which I simply put, "I don't have a router..."

Him: : Wait, did you just say you did not bring a router with you?
Me: Yes, I have no router, I was told yesterday it was on-site... You don't have a router there?
Him: No joke, you were not shipped a router to bring with you?
Me: No... I just got this contract two days ago...
Him: So you don't have a router?
Me: No...
Him: Oh ****...
Me: ...
Him: Jesus-H-Christ! Alright... Let me try to track down this router and I'll call you back in 5-15min.

So once I got off the phone with him I dialed into the conference call I was supposed to be on and assumed I would get on when I was picked up by my contact. As soon as I joined I heard all hell breaking loose. There was the guy I had just spoken with and three other people on the phone having a very heated debate on where this router is and how to find it and all that. I waited until there was a brief pause and then announced that I was on the call. As soon as I did that everyone focused on me and all asked, "Do you have the router?!" To which I replied with a simple, "No". I then stood around the security building in the sight of the guards while I listened to them argue back and forth and also try to track this router down. My contact was probably the most pissed at this point explaining how they sent a package addressed to no one to a massive site (that even issues golf carts to get around) with about 50000 people working at it. He was also concerned that finding it might be even harder seeing as the Union break time was coming up.

Anyways, he finally got a hold of it and dropped off the call to begin his 15min golf cart ride to come get me and escort me to the datacenter. When he got to where I was he was much calmer and seemed to not have a worry in the world at that point. While he was on his way I continued to listen in on everyone else chewing everyone else's ass out which was entertaining.

So we get there, I put the ears on the router and he even mounts it for me. I turn it on, throw my config on there and turn up my end of the link (5 min tops). Get back on the conference call and confirm that I have my end of the link ready to go at which point we get the other side of the link on the call (in Chile). Turns out the guy there doesn't speak English so we also have to go through a translator. After about 30 min of them going back and forth we find out the guy on the other end is not even at the remote router and will have to drive 30 min to get to it. At this time I just verify that my end is good to go and get my confirmation to get off the call.

I spend the next 10 min or so getting my forms filled out, poking around the datacenter looking at all the shiney toys (including a generator powered by a cool really old exposed V8 engine).

All in all I got paid 3 hours worth for maybe 5min of actual work which was awesome.

I then make my way to my actual interview. When I get there I check into the plant at the guest center to get a pass and learn that the guy I am interviewing with forgot about the interview and will be there in 15-30min. So I just waited and chatted with the security guard there who had been there forever. She was really cool and we had a good chat. Turns out that she knew all of my family that had worked there and even worked with my step-grandfather at one point.

When the guy finally arrived we greeted and started to head to his office talking along the way. The interview lasted about 1 hour and 30min and I thought it went really well. Turns out that I would be part of a small IBM team supporting the network and helping to deploy new VOIP stuff if I got the position. I also loved how he said "You will also probably be involved when we roll out MPLS... If we hire you." He said everything looked great, but couldn't really give me any details on the next step in process since the was the Network Specialist and not the HR person (that person was out of town).

A few of the things he said that sounded like they would be really fun to work with included were old cobbed together networks (I love tinkering and making stuff better), poorly designed networks (like only having one core switch in certain parts) and older equipment (YAY! for CatOS!). I am actually pretty excited to hear if I got the position or not.

Also I was wondering if anyone knew any good sources of information on Avaya PBX systems and a PBX system from a company that's name started with an "O" (I forgot the name) that got bought out by Avaya?[/i]

the_erickee

^^ that made for a very nice read. i needed to stop studying for a little bit.

astorrs

Sounds like a "busy" couple of days.

Was it Octel? I know Avaya bought them for their voicemail a few years ago.

scheistermeister

astorrs wrote:

Was it Octel? I know Avaya bought them for their voicemail a few years ago.

Exactly! Thanks for that! Now I can look it up.

mfieldhouse

Sounds fun!

I'm currently working in a 24x7 NOC - international network support of cisco routers, switches, loadbalancers etc - most of it is alarm based monitoring - and break/fix situations; so unfortunately sometimes long periods can pass without anything breaking =[

I'd really like to get into contract based project work like you're doing, anything between a couple of days and 6 months contracts would be ideal - traveling around doing network rollouts, router configuration, anything in that area - I recently passed CCNA.

Just wondering how you got into your line of work? How do you go about getting regular work, are there ever long periods of time when no work comes through - if so, how do you go about rectifying that?

I'm in 2 minds whether to move companies, take on a permanent position as a network engineer on a little more money than I get now - or to pursue contracting?

dynamik

That was a pretty entertaining read

Good luck with the rest of the interview process. I hope that all works out for you!