Finding a Cisco-related Position

Hi all,

Quick bios on my professional skills, I am a MCDST/MCSA 2003 and a CCENT. I am right now about to take my 2008 upgrade exam and then I plan to finish the CCNA. I am working as a consultant for a IT firm and although my title is "Systems Administrator" I really call it "Desktop".

Long story short I did a job for a Senior Tech a few weeks ago involving routers, switches, firewalls and I must say although it was fully trained on everything since its been a while since I played with networking devices (since my CCENT studying days) but I thought it was SO much fun. This isnt the first time either -- any time I find myseld working with cisco or networking devicies I find much more fulfilling work versus troubleshooting yet another malware machine or helpdesk call.

My question is -- aside from finishing my CCNA -- any way I could break more into the cisco industry. Dice.com has many positions asking for 4+ years of knowing cisco equipment and/or routing protocols which I have no trouble learning but I wanted to know if there was anything I could do to get a head-start on it. I applied to several "entry-level" network engineer positions but nothing yet.

Thanks in advance!

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Comments

networker050184

You can try either getting something in a NOC for a provider around your area or as a jack of all trades admin for a smaller company so you can touch everything. Your systems experience should help you get into a gig like that and you can build up your networking skills there.

Good luck man!

WillTech105

NOC jobs huh? I dont mind taking a slight paycut in order to get into my it but isnt NOC more for people fresh out of college?

networker050184

The NOC is for people with little to no experience which I'm assuming thats what position you are in from what you have described. Working in the NOC will be better than dealing with customers all day IMO. You also get to learn the lingo and there is usually shift work involved if that interests you. If you prefer working with customers you can try to get on a tech support position.

WillTech105

I just did a quick peek at "NOC" in dice.com search and it actually isnt what I thought it was. Unfortuantly theres not too many jobs out there for NOC so I applied at a few positions.

My from POV I think I had my whole career path in the wrong direction. I thought the best way to get into the Cisco/networking field was to work from helpdesk > Desktop > server administration and hopefully next a networking position. Unfortuantly the more I type into dice and other job searches for keywords like "cisco" "networking" I find I might have been in the wrong field the whole time!
Maybe I should of started with NOC Level 1 instead of desktop and then move up that way. Any truth in this or am I just ranting?

phantasm

If you want to do systems work then Desktop is the way to start. If you want Networking then find a NOC or other similar role (network support). Going from an Admin to Network Engineer is unlikely with no experience.

Also, while you consider the NOC to be entry level, I can assure that is not always the case. The one I work in for example has a few CCNP's and quite a few engineers with graduate degrees and years of experience.

WillTech105

No wonder I've been job hopping alot lately -- trying to find that one spot that will fulfill the geek in me but nothing...i'm looking in the wrong basket!

So I would think that an "entry" level networking position is a NOC level 1 > NOC level 2 > field engineer? I wouldnt mind even lowering myself to a "intern" position just to get the experience and move ahead in this "basket". From what I'm getting here Windows Server administration and networking are two different beasts so its best not to go too far in servers if my real passion is networking.

mikej412

WillTech105 wrote: »

From what I'm getting here Windows Server administration and networking are two different beasts so its best not to go too far in servers if my real passion is networking.

You can always use your admin skills to try and get a data center job -- then try to shift over to the networking group as your networking knowledge, skills, and experience gets you noticed.

You can also "go large" and try to get into an enterprise organization that could give you the option later to move from being a box jockey to being one of the cool kids (networking).

I'll usually suggest a noob get both the Cisco CCNA and the Microsoft MCSA (or whatever the current one is) to maximize their job opportunities when they are starting out -- but that also helps them figure out what they like and what they are better at.

As long as your experience isn't 15 years as a Windows NT 4.0 admin you still have a chance at shifting to Cisco (and networking).

WillTech105

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/46732-how-get-noc-position.html

^
Hehe -- did a good search on NOC and lookie what I found!

Well I wouldnt say im a completele noob at this field -- I am hoping to use what I have now to give me a edge on what other college kids don't have. By the end of the summer I Should have my CCNA and I'm going to take the 70-648 2003 > 2008 upgrade test in a few weeks so I would REALLY hope by having CCNA/MCTIP 2008 combo and 5 years of IT experience would land me SOMETHING in the networking field -- NOC or Datacenter.

BTW, what's the difference between NOC and Datacenter -- isnt it the same thing?