Reached the Pinnacle?? Where to next...

It's been a long time since I've posted but Cisco keeps me extremely busy. I work my butt off like crazy, getting raises and promotions about every 6 months. So when I started here 2 years ago I was a network engineer, then promoted to Sr. Network Engineer, then promoted to Network Design Engineer, and now I'm a Sr Network Design Engineer.

So I'm sitting at about 160k salary with a really nice title. I crank out designs that are used both internally and externally, I have so much visibility from VP level down, because my projects are multi-million dollar projects. And it just leaves me wondering where do I jump to next career wise? I have no plans on leaving my company, I am very happy here, but I am always trying to advance and the only step I see now is management? Or maybe architect?

Any suggestions on where I should head for next?

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gouki2005

SOrry is not part of your question but
You did that with just a CCNA.
You must tell me what books helped you to learn more stuff above a ccna and get a great job as yours.

or what kind of education you have?

millworx

13 years of industry experience. I started doing this fulltime at the age of 16 when IT was the hot thing. I spent countless hours in my high schools CCNA lab using the equipment for 2 years from age 14 to 16 learning everything I could. It just progressed naturally. After my first job as a network administrator I pretty much jumped into consulting for 8 years learning as I went, always taking on the big projects that had lots of Cisco/Adtran work. What I dont know I always pickup very very quickly. It's that way today still, I get thrown into projects utilizing technologies I have no experience with like Dynamic Access Policies, IPv6 conversion, MPLS MP-BGP, L2TP. But I grasp concepts very quickly after reading configuration guides etc.

Formal education... I dropped out 1 semester prior to getting my degree, it was too tough holding a full time job and going to college. most of my certs are expired, and I am too busy now to even work on them. But no one cares here, I've shown through example I know my stuff.

So my suggestions... do lots and lots and lots of lab work, get a job and be eager to take anything thrown at you.

And most importantly, and I really do credit this to my success, be an excellent public speaker, have no fear of talking and interacting with people. Be a person who is very easy to converse with. The better your communication skills are, the easier it is to get ahead. I had been giving speaches since the age 5 in front of audiences, so I am very good at interacting with people and that will open doors like no other.

Also develop critical thinking skills especially with IT. Prior to being promoted to Network Design Engineer I was going for an operations roll (thank god I didnt take it). I got most of the technical questions right like usual but one I got wrong... But I used some critical thinking to explain why I thought my answer (About floating static routes) was correct... And I had the interviewer actually second guessing himself that he might actually be wrong! Needless to say they offered me the job based off my answer even though it was WRONG, just because in his words "not a lot of people make me second guess myself as to if I am right or not." So be quick in your thinking and reasoning skills.

gouki2005 wrote: »

SOrry is not part of your question but
You did that with just a CCNA.
You must tell me what books helped you to learn more stuff above a ccna and get a great job as yours.

or what kind of education you have?

networker050184

You are pretty high up the latter already so not many places left to go technically wise. Network design is pretty much the top of the technical food chain unless you want to get into the software or hardware engineering side of things.

There is plenty more salary to be had out there though if that's what you are looking for.

Everyone

Architect is probably all you have left while staying mostly technical. Otherwise as you've already pointed out, Management may be the only place left to go.

Unfortunately the move to Management may be a lateral one at best as far as pay goes. At least to start off with. You may not see much of an increase, if any, until you can push into VP/C level, which will take a lot of time.

Apollo80

CTO or CIO? Assuming you are looking into leveraging your technical skills in a more business-oriented role.

ptilsen

I'd bet you'll at least see some pay increase from finishing a CCIE. Hard to really move into a higher-level role other than architect. Moot though, because it sounds like you'll be there soon enough and then really be stuck. Forget management. Your technical abilities are too valuable to be wasted on management, IMO. Unless you find a role that truly leverages your skills, it seems like a waste.

You could transition into a security-focused role. At least it would be something different, and possibly with a chance of pay increase. Just a thought.

Otherwise, if you still love the work, there's nothing wrong with peaking, really. If you're happy, healthy, wealthy, and secure, I think being at the top is a good problem to have.

millworx

True, it just doesn't feel like the top for me. Design engineer here is very coveted position to be had, very difficult, and architect is even more rare to achieve because the people in those positions just never leave! Most of the architects have been here over a decade. I had thought about getting into security, as a lot of my design work leverages ASA firewall and securing the corporate network, but one of my underlings just took the open security design role. Which is fine, my core competency has always been WAN/LAN above anything else.

I guess I'll stick around and see what happens. As for salary increases... no I've pretty much peaked that here unless I transition to management. Thing is I want more money, but I want to stay tech unfortunately. $:\$

Everyone

Might be time to break out on your own then. You already have some consulting experience from the sounds of it...

You could easily bill out at $250+/hr, and that's probably on the low side.

WafflesAndRootbeer

CCIE is where you need to go next. Assuming your experience is what you say it is, having that CCIE will guarantee your employment and the ability to negotiate your salary as you see fit. Add some VOIP certs to that, and you can make over $250K where you are.

networker050184

He is in a senior role working for Cisco I doubt getting a CCIE is going to change much for him. And why VOIP? He works on routing and switching.

millworx

yeah CCIE doesn't do that much for you other than allow you to make horizontal moves much easier. Each CCIE gets you about 5k adjustment in salary from what a coworker told me. Needless to say I will probably end up going for it anyway if I can manage the time. I have a couple racks of equipment for my personal lab and I don't even have time to work on it anymore. $:\$

paul78

You have an interesting dilemma. Not everyone reaches the apex of a career path of their chosen track. Sounds like you have done that; Well done!! I bet it was quite a ride and lots of hard work.

As IT professionals who have been hands-on and passion for the technology, I can certainly understand that it can be hard to look at a switch to a management or pure leadership role in order to increase one's compensation.

It sounds like you want to stay with your current employer but you wish to increase your overall compensation. I think that management or some other leadership role (architect) may be your best option based on what you described.

Is there an option for sales engineering or similar role where your compensation can include a variable component such as a commission? I imagine the upside would be much higher.

shodown

Your in the bay area with that salary. This is way more to be had. I don't have near your job requirements and I make, well i'm not going to say if I make more or less, but you can come out to the DMV and see at least 40 more for sure. I know guys out here with no clearances who make over 200K doing the kinda work you do.

nel

Man, kudos to you, you are in a great position. I wish my role gave me that kind of exposure!

If i were you i would head the architect/CCIE route. I think the IE would be the icing on the cake imo. After that, well you could cross over into other areas to keep you interested in the technical side as it sounds like you have done so much in R&S. Management would be a huge change, look yourself in the mirror and ask if you could be in those shoes. Most techies could not make the leap.

pinkydapimp

i would think with your resume, security would be a great area to progress to.

millworx

I was thinking about sales engineer actually. I have a friend (no longer works here) that said when he started as a pre-sales engineer his first year he made 180k in 05 and almost 250k second year. My problem is I am not really the sales type. Well... I'm not the type to do cold calls. But if they were warm or hot leads generated by others and referred to me that would be nice.

It would have to be a sales role though because the design engineers that do proof of concept designs for corporate clients don't make all that much, I know some of those guys and they actually make less and no bonuses if the client takes the design. Still something I guess I could check into. Good thought!

paul78 wrote: »

You have an interesting dilemma. Not everyone reaches the apex of a career path of their chosen track. Sounds like you have done that; Well done!! I bet it was quite a ride and lots of hard work.

As IT professionals who have been hands-on and passion for the technology, I can certainly understand that it can be hard to look at a switch to a management or pure leadership role in order to increase one's compensation.

It sounds like you want to stay with your current employer but you wish to increase your overall compensation. I think that management or some other leadership role (architect) may be your best option based on what you described.

Is there an option for sales engineering or similar role where your compensation can include a variable component such as a commission? I imagine the upside would be much higher.

pinkydapimp

millworx wrote: »

I was thinking about sales engineer actually. I have a friend (no longer works here) that said when he started as a pre-sales engineer his first year he made 180k in 05 and almost 250k second year. My problem is I am not really the sales type. Well... I'm not the type to do cold calls. But if they were warm or hot leads generated by others and referred to me that would be nice.

It would have to be a sales role though because the design engineers that do proof of concept designs for corporate clients don't make all that much, I know some of those guys and they actually make less and no bonuses if the client takes the design. Still something I guess I could check into. Good thought!

Thats a good route as well. Sales Engineers make good money especially because many times they are a part of the commission structure. Also many Sales Engineering roles you are more the subject matter expert assisting the account exec so you may not need to do actual cold calling.

RouteMyPacket

networker050184 wrote: »

He is in a senior role working for Cisco I doubt getting a CCIE is going to change much for him. And why VOIP? He works on routing and switching.

Exactly, he is far past what some "cert" will give him other than some personal satisfaction. You're in a tough spot OP, your experience and ability to put it into practical solutions is your money maker but to achieve a higher salary? To be honest, you'll most likely have to transition away from hands on technical design and implementations.

IT Director or IT Executive (CIO, CTO) are probably your routes to higher salary and as you know not many of those roles have sound technical people in them, they in turn have an entire team to do the real designing and implementing but perhaps you can land one of those roles while remaining engaged?

I've yet to work under a Director or Exec that knew his arse from a hole in the ground when it comes to the technical aspects of our business. Instead, they are just talking heads that sit in meetings regurgitating what we told them in our previous meeting.

Doesn't sound like you have many options at your current firm. You are in a tough spot many of us would like to be. haha