First Networking Job! 2 Months after WGU graduation

I'm so excited to finally be moving out of general break/fix IT and into ANY OTHER SPECIALIZATION. I have five and a half years of general IT and am so sick of it.

While networking is technically my 2nd choice(after Security), just having the experience to put on a resume is worth whatever they can throw at me.

I know that they are looking to fill 4 more networking positions. I wouldn't call this entry-level, but all I have as far as networking goes is a CCNA and CCNA:Sec. If anyone is in Arkansas and is looking, send me a PM and I will get you the info. This is not a place to move to just to get in to networking, but if you know your stuff and are desperate for a job let me know.

This is the first in-person interview that I have had since I graduated from WGU in June and was offered the job after a 30 minute interview. If I can just get in the door, I can make an impression.

My plan is to do this for 3 to 6 months, get my CCNP, and then move out of this accursed state.

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Legacy User

Congrats!

networker050184

Congrats!

shodown

Great. I would stay at least a year. Its going to take you 3 months to get your head in the game about what goes on there. The move from break/fix to engineering can be a challenge as your not going to be on the CLI 99 percent of the time. You will have to learn how to write, make visio's, understand licencing and so on. So I would work on the CCNP, but also think about the things I mentioned.

chrisone

congrats brotha! Always happy to see hard working people get paid for their hard studying efforts. School should always pay off!

petedude

shodown wrote: »

Great. I would stay at least a year. Its going to take you 3 months to get your head in the game about what goes on there.

Showdown makes some good points. You need time to learn about that company as well as how to "grow into" a larger IT role. The experiences will help shape your next gig, for better or for worse. You will be more valuable to the next company with a little experience behind you, and you'll avoid questions about job-hopping too quickly.

Iristheangel

CONGRATULATIONS! I know you worked hard for this! Great job! Your WGU thread was an inspiration to me and you were a great help getting me through the capstone. I wish nothing but the best for you! I'll probably be hitting up my CCNP sooner than later so send me a PM if you'd like to collaborate.

erpadmin

shodown wrote: »

Great. I would stay at least a year....

+1 to everything this guy said.

I would definitely stay at least a year....it looks so much better than 3-6 months.

Plus you got a lot of learning to do...there's a difference between a certification in Cisco and real-life experience.

Congratulations all the same.

Legacy User

What will be your duties at your new job?

BroadcastStorm

Congrats!

boredgamelad

swild, you're pretty much THE reason I started seriously considering WGU. I saw your one term thread and decided to apply just to see how much I could transfer in, and seeing that you did more CUs in one term than I had left after transferring told me that I could do it too. Glad to see your hard work has paid off, best of luck.

Patel128

That's great congratulations! I also think that you may want to stay a bit longer at the new job. Good luck on your CCNP studies.

Roguetadhg

I would definitely stay longer than 6 months!

You should stick around for 2+ years if it's what you wanted. Experience looks good, and you never know. You may get a higher position or do some projects. All of which is great experience, and stressful fun.

cyberguypr

Congrats! No where to go but up from here. Best of luck!

biggene

Congratulations swild. Your thread is the reason I picked WGU also, you definitely inspired me when I read how you were able to get everything done in one term just by applying yourself.
I wish you all the best in your new job and the future.

Gene

Drovor

Grats swild! Looking forward to the future job updates. I, like others appreciate your WGU thread and your responses.

Jackace

Congrats on the job and I hope you can keep up the progress.

lantech

Congrats on the new job.

As others have said, stay at least a year. I've been in the short term contract game before. When you are looking for the next job it gets harder and harder to convince people that you want to stay at a place for any length of time.

whatthehell

Congratz and best wishes!

Krones

Congrats sir, congrats. This is only the beginning. I look forward to reading about your current and future successes to come.

Psoasman

Congrats! Looks like all that hard work paid off!

kgb

Nice!

Congrats man!

Count another vote towards to staying for at least 1 year.

swild

It's great to hear that others are inspired by my hard work. I wanted to share this because I want poeple to know that it is possible to acheive your dreams even during these hard economic times. But know this, it is hard work! In the past 2 months, I applied to 200 to 300 open postions, to get this one interview.

Here's a little more information about the position and my reasoning for staying such a short time. It's a temp/temp-to-perm postion. While technically a 6-month contract, the actual contract that I signed is at-will, as is all employement in this state. There are people that have been on this same job contract for 10 months. I can apply for any position that comes available in the company at any time during the contract, even though that will mean moving to a different project/department.

As everyone should know, temps have no benefits. This temp company does offer a full range of insurance options, but they are not worth the cost. I will be keeping my insurance from my current job through the COBRA program. That will at least keep me and my family insured for up to 18 months. While it's not cheap, it is really good insurance for the price. No retirement matching, no paid holidays, no vacation, no sick days.

A big upside is that I seriously have nearly unlimited overtime potential. The work schedules are not set yet since they are doubling the size of the team and moving from 18/7 to 24/7. One of the schedules they are considering is 7a to 7p/7p to 7a, 7 days on 7 days off, which is 84 hours in the week that I work. That would be equal to a 25% pay increase, while having every other week off, which would actually be very nice.

It's far from the ideal job, but it is networking experience.

My boss only has her CCNA and started her position without any certs. I told her that I am planning on getting my CCNP in the near future and she asked when I planned to have it completed. Since the job is mainly layer 2 work, I told her that I will at least have SWITCH passed by the end of the year and the other 2 if I feel comfortable enough. Right after this is when she offered me the job. She said that there are a lot of experienced people that I will be working with that would be able to help me if I needed.

Another downside is that I will be putting off my CISA exam until June, but I haven't bought any study materials yet, so no big deal I guess.

Now here is why I want out of this job so quickly. I plan on starting grad school in Fall 2013. Because of this, I want to be in a position that I will stay in for the duration of grad school, most likely 2 to 3 years. I also want enough time before I start so that I can get comfortable in that new position. I just can't stay in a temp job for 3 years.

geek4god

Go HOGS, too bad you are in LA.. (Lower Arkansas)

erpadmin

You do not want to kill yourself for a contract job. This is the kind of job you do well, but not so well that you are expected to be a rock star. You get in, get out, soak up all you can. I am so happy that you are willing to move out of your state though...your next big bet I'd imagine would be GA or FL (though my number 1 favorite is TX).

In your case, I would keep looking because you actually have an excuse to (you are in a contract position and you want a perm job with benefits.) Just don't get burned out...very very very easy to do.

Mike-Mike

swild wrote: »

and then move out of this accursed state.

this cracked me up!

congrats!