Voice work

Crunchyhippo

Has anyone here gone out looking for voice/VoIP-related work? If so, what has the market and demand been like?

I know everyone wants 5 years experience and a CCIE-Voice cert, but they can ask all they want - they're not going to get many takers on that. Surely there must be employers who are willing to take on people with no real voice experience with, say, a valid CCVP cert. There's no way a person would have no takers with an in-demand cert like this.

empc4000xl

Crunchyhippo wrote: »

Has anyone here gone out looking for voice/VoIP-related work? If so, what has the market and demand been like?

I know everyone wants 5 years experience and a CCIE-Voice cert, but they can ask all they want - they're not going to get many takers on that. Surely there must be employers who are willing to take on people with no real voice experience with, say, a valid CCVP cert. There's no way a person would have no takers with an in-demand cert like this.

I found my voice job with no expeirence in voice and a CCNA. Its all about how your market yourself and make contacts. Hell there are even guys here who had no networking just PBX expereince, but proved they were quick learners and got onboard. When my resume was still up, I was still getting calls for voice work. As far as having the VP, just make sure you got experience backing it up.

networker050184

The market for voice work has been great in my experience. When I first put my resume up I started getting a lot of calls for voip work (and worked a couple before switching back over to the R&S side). I do have a few years of voice experience though so I'm sure that helped my chances. I'm not an expert nor do have any voice certifications, so I'm not sure how in demand VoIP certifications are, especialy without experience. There is plenty of work to be had out there though.

My advice would be to try and get on with a company that your main responsability will not be VoIP, but rather an aditianal duty to start off. That way you can bring other things to the table and show your desire to get into the VoIP stuff.

And good luck with the rest of that VP!

apd123

I was specifically not looking for a job heavy in voice and had to beat people off with sticks about a month ago when I was looking. I would say the demand for voice is huge. I work for a Cisco gold partner who has a Senior Voice Engineer, a Voice Engineer, and a IPCC Engineer. On the R&S/Security/Storage/Wireless (basically everything not voice) side there are only two of us. Even given this I still end up doing some voice work. In response to the CCVP with no experience I would not hire one for the type of work a partner does as they would be thrown into many new situations possibly take down phone systems and lose clients. That said I am sure there are many employers that would take on one, but the value in the cert is being able to implement the technologies that have been sold so that is what you will be asked to do. Also for interviews be prepared to answer questions like how would you design and configure a dial plan for a 3 site network making all calls through 1 primary site? Have you ever performed a Call Manager Upgrade? Even something dumb like what version was time of day mobility enabled? Although I hope this last one is less likely they are all from interviews I had.

Crunchyhippo

empc4000xl wrote: »

As far as having the VP, just make sure you got experience backing it up.

You lost me on this one. So, if you don't already have voice experience, don't ever, ever pursue a VP, because you won't get a job with it? What happens if you can't seem to find a voice job? Don't bother getting a VP? How are you going to get a voice job, then?

Having a VP should help you got get a voice job - even if it's down the ladder in responsibility - rather than hamper you in getting one. This whole get-experience-first line of reasoning drives me crazy. If I can't find a voice job WITH a voice cert, I'm sure as criminy not going to find one WITHOUT one.