Please help me with Cisco interview

mirror51

Hi guys ,

Frankly speaking i am now feeling afraid from the cisco interviews. Actually i never knew how much technical they go. But I just read few interview threads and now i am afraid.

I had 2 jobs interviews and by luck i landed two jobs in 3 years in first attempt. Luckily both were web development and Linux administration jobs and there were no much techincal people on interview and they selected me without going in much detail.
The thing was the huy left job in both situations and they despeartley wanted to hire somone

I thought it happens everywhere

But now i don't know whether i will be able to get any job or not.

I did complete the certification CCNA and CCNP but then later i did some MIcrosoft certifcation as well and now i tend to forgot the theory in Cisco. and If some CCIE is sitting to interview he can blast me.

Guys please can anyone guide me what should i do. Becasue i have no proir experience with cisco. So my chances are already very less with jobs. But what i want that if i get any interview call then i should be prepared.

Please help me

networker050184

Nothing we can really do to help you man. Find yourself an entry level job and get some experience and hit the books. There isn't a secret to it that we can just tell you here to help you pass a tech interview. Either you know it or you don't.


Good luck!

fredmoogie

i think it would be easier to guess what questions will be asked based on the job description. do you have the job description?

i don't know much but here are some basic questions:

1) tell me what LAN/WAN protocols you are familiar with?
2) tell me how you would to see why 2 hosts on separate networks are not communicating
3) tell me about QoS, vpn, firewalls
4) what models of cisco you work with?
5) tell me the most 10 commands u use on a daily basis?

mirror51

Do companies advertise entry level work or not. i haven't seen any that type of job. All says x no of years required. Is there any use of applying those jobs.

Or i should walk to companies and ask them for work

nethacker

fredmoogie wrote: »

i think it would be easier to guess what questions will be asked based on the job description. do you have the job description?

i don't know much but here are some basic questions:

1) tell me what LAN/WAN protocols you are familiar with?
2) tell me how you would to see why 2 hosts on separate networks are not communicating
3) tell me about QoS, vpn, firewalls
4) what models of cisco you work with?
5) tell me the most 10 commands u use on a daily basis?

if he can't confidently answer the above, then i am afraid you have to go back to your library and hit the books like someone said earlier.You can't get to study enough in this present age where IT is dynamic especially networks (CISCO). you have to also lab alot.

mirror51

I know these all these questions but i can't tell commands on daily basis as i am not using it

cyberguypr

I just looked at your other threads and and I'm wondering what your situation is. You seem to be looking for a new gig that may be outside your current skill set.

If a company is looking for someone with Cisco experience I don't see how you would fulfill that requirement. There's a big gap between passing/cert and actual field experience. That is why I don't claim any Cisco experience in my resume.

mirror51

cyberguypr wrote: »

I just looked at your other threads and and I'm wondering what your situation is. You seem to be looking for a new gig that may be outside your current skill set.

If a company is looking for someone with Cisco experience I don't see how you would fulfill that requirement. There's a big gap between passing/cert and actual field experience. That is why I don't claim any Cisco experience in my resume.

I agree with you. There has to have some way.Anyone who is working in cisco now , must have been in my situation once

nethacker

mirror51 wrote: »

I agree with you. There has to have some way.Anyone who is working in cisco now , must have been in my situation once

yes you are right. in my above post, did you read where i said you have to LAB and READ. the more you lab, the more you get to know the 10 commands cisco guys use everyday.

sieff

i was interviewed by (2) CCIE's and it was very rough. i wasn't guaged on if i got answers correct, but how I handled them and how truthful i was. anything listed on your resume is material to pose questions off of. i've also conducted interviews and i only ask candidates what's on their resume, but with alot more depth. as long as you don't exaggerate on you resume you're good.

lac

sieff wrote: »

i was interviewed by (2) CCIE's and it was very rough. i wasn't guaged on if i got answers correct, but how I handled them and how truthful i was. anything listed on your resume is material to pose questions off of. i've also conducted interviews and i only ask candidates what's on their resume, but with alot more depth. as long as you don't exaggerate on you resume you're good.

Great advice. Be honest and don't exaggerate on your resume.

With that said, you should go for something entry level. At this point, the CCNP you have is not going to get you much without some solid experience.

buzzkill

This is a good thread to read for all those people who are certified to the hilt but without the experience to back it up.

CCNP but no real world experience of cisco - that's just crazy frankly.

lsud00d

cyberguypr wrote: »

I just looked at your other threads and and I'm wondering what your situation is. You seem to be looking for a new gig that may be outside your current skill set.

If a company is looking for someone with Cisco experience I don't see how you would fulfill that requirement. There's a big gap between passing/cert and actual field experience. That is why I don't claim any Cisco experience in my resume.

I read the other ones too...I can't tell if this guy is for real or not

FloOz

goodluck on the interview! wish i could help you out

ThunderPipe

Soooooooooooooooooooooooo.......

Like others are saying, you either know the material or not. But whatever! Go to the interview. Gets some practice. See what kind of questions they ask. Go to another interview. Get some more practice. Hear what they want to quiz you on. Study up on everything they ask. Eventually, you'll be cool, calm, collected, and confident. And then the interview process will not worry you so much.

Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

I don't know where you work. But what I do know, is that every where I've ever worked, I've done my best to be a rock star at what I do. And when coworkers needed help in their respective departments, I've always been on hand to assist. EVEN if i didnt know what I was doing. So you cross train. Go hang with the network gurus at your current job. Ask em questions. Help them out. Talk to your supervisor. Tell him that you are crazy interested in Cisco and have been doing self study. Maybe someone will quit. Maybe there is an opening. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Tell your current people what you wanna do and maybe, just maybe they'll let that happen. You may not get an increase. It may just be a lateral move. But you'll get EXPERIENCE. So the next job, when you're trying to get big bucks, you'll know what your doing.

lsud00d

ThunderPipe wrote: »

Soooooooooooooooooooooooo.......

Like others are saying, you either know the material or not. But whatever! Go to the interview. Gets some practice. See what kind of questions they ask. Go to another interview. Get some more practice. Hear what they want to quiz you on. Study up on everything they ask. Eventually, you'll be cool, calm, collected, and confident. And then the interview process will not worry you so much.

Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

I don't know where you work. But what I do know, is that every where I've ever worked, I've done my best to be a rock star at what I do. And when coworkers needed help in their respective departments, I've always been on hand to assist. EVEN if i didnt know what I was doing. So you cross train. Go hang with the network gurus at your current job. Ask em questions. Help them out. Talk to your supervisor. Tell him that you are crazy interested in Cisco and have been doing self study. Maybe someone will quit. Maybe there is an opening. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Tell your current people what you wanna do and maybe, just maybe they'll let that happen. You may not get an increase. It may just be a lateral move. But you'll get EXPERIENCE. So the next job, when you're trying to get big bucks, you'll know what your doing.

Great advice, man.

I'm a mid-tier sys admin right now, and looking into the future, I'm not sure if I want to pursue a senior sys admin position, networking, or security...in the coming months I'll be getting various certs related to the mentioned domains (Security+, CCNA, MCITP:SA) to better decide what my next jump will be. Luckily, I have excellent rapport with upper management on this contract, so I don't think it will be an issue of getting my hands dirty with projects outside of my scope of work.

Regardless, incorporating and advancing knowledge in relevant aspects of IT will only make me a better sys admin

ThunderPipe

Indeed. When you cross train, you get a better understanding of how the whole operation works. I wish every new hire had to spend a week or two at the help desk just to get a sense of what the main issues are. Then they could move into the specific departments they were hired for.

pham0329

nethacker wrote: »

yes you are right. in my above post, did you read where i said you have to LAB and READ. the more you lab, the more you get to know the 10 commands cisco guys use everyday.

tbh, I wouldn't be able to tell you the 10 commands I use everyday. I guess show vlan, show ip int brief, and show run are 3, but aside from that, it varies based on what I get for the day. I don't even remember 10 commands from today

nethacker

pham0329 wrote: »

tbh, I wouldn't be able to tell you the 10 commands I use everyday. I guess show vlan, show ip int brief, and show run are 3, but aside from that, it varies based on what I get for the day. I don't even remember 10 commands from today

sh int description, sh int status, sh int fa0/3 switchport, conf t, sh ip route, sh run | be eigrp, sh access-list .. and many more i use everyday

mirror51

Thanks guys for your help. Actually currently i dont have any job. i have to leave the old job due to visa finih so i finisged cert in that time. i still have 3 months remaining before to go to Aus. I can either go in Web Deve or Sys Admin (MCITP). I have more exp in web and little bit in MS. But i can enter in those fields.

But i want to go in cisco side.

I am really confused if i should go in sys admin side and then look for network guys inside that company. or First i should look for cisco jobs if not find in 1-2 months then go for other jobs.

Because eif i join any job then problem is that for interview i had to take day off and its difficult to take many day offs in early days.

Because then i can spend some time of Microsft AD so that at least i can relate to somewhat experience to get job becaus ein cisco i may end up wasting many months


My problem is that i also have 1 year gap. so i have many problems to face

instant000

It would seem wisest to try to get a job based on your experience. Once you get hired on, try to work your way into the networking projects (volunteer your time).

Hope this helps!

lsud00d

nethacker wrote: »

sh int description, sh int status, sh int fa0/3 switchport, conf t, sh ip route, sh run | be eigrp, sh access-list .. and many more i use everyday

I'm really looking forward to getting into Cisco's IOS...I've been working with open source network utilities (Nagios, Cacti, Ntop, NeDi, Wireshark)...a lot of SNMP/MIB/OID network device troubleshooting lately, analyzing throughput utilization, and graphing bandwidth/enforcing threshold properties...have definitely learned a lot more about networking from working with this stuff! Also with the linux CLI background, the IOS syntax should be a breeze

Cool quick story...from Nagios I saw a few devices with ifOperstatus SNMP-get failures, and was quickly able to figure out that it was the 7 Cisco 4500 devices we have, because the default check is for ifOperstatus 1, but the OID index starts at 2. Quick change of the Nagios service check and we're back to output status 0's

NOC-Ninja

Off topic: Just wondering where are you from since you said your visa expired?

I recommend you lab everyday so that the theory and commands will be like a second nature.
Try labbing CCIE workbooks everyday. It will help you a lot. I can tell you 10 commands but the truth is, its not going to help you. An engineer doesnt just ask you hey tell me 10 commands you use everyday. Different people , different questions...
Also, before you get to the interview. HR will already filter you since you dont have any cisco experience. It will be pure luck to be hired at this point. Especially on a different country since other IT guys are trying to compete with you.

The best advice that I could give you is to get certs on the experience that you have. System admin gets paid good. You can always get MCITP EA and then jump to MCM. Experience is the key to IT. CCNP without experience is really bad.

The truth is Old school network engineers only have CCNA with 10 to 15yrs experience. Some doesnt even have certs. This is my Sr Network Engineer. He will not care about NP without experience. He would rather hire a guy with experience than a guy with NA or NP.

Goodluck

mirror51

Also, before you get to the interview. HR will already filter you since you dont have any cisco experience.

ha ha thank you being honest.

But i have seen one thing is life that anything can happen. I remember i was interviewing one person for web development position.
I know he knew nothing. I told manager that he does not know anything. But manager told me that he urgently need one person and he will test him for 2-3 months. and he got job.

I really could not digest that thing. Now he is working in same company as senior coder. ha ha.
Life is ready funny and unpredictable.

I think CCIE work books will be good place to start. Do u recommend INE or IPExpert or anything else

NOC-Ninja

I take it back. Ccie wb is overkill. Go back to ccna and ccnp library. They have labs inside those books.