Should I stay in my Data cabling job?

TurK-FX

I been working in Data cabling job for 3 months. All we do is pull cable, pull some more cable and pull even more. Mostly cat6 but some fiber here and there. Mostly at the beginning of the projects. Currently my company gets the job for even Googles new 300 cable addition. I like the job, and love the idea if i one day i can meet with Cisco guys, and hand out my resume(as of now, unlikely since we work big and long projects, and usually foreman do the all the talking.).

I get paid $15 an hour and after cuts, i pocket $1900 a month. I have a wife, and a baby coming by early February. We already have financial problems, and even if i get second job for weekends, i wont be breaking even with bills, all expenses and more expenses for the baby. My old job is calling me back, which is a pizza delivery job, and i can make double the money with 65hours of working a day. I dont know what to do, and i dont even know, if this job will help me to find a cisco job down the road.


I am asking to experienced Network Managers, would you hire someone like if i have CCNA, and some cabling experience. I am just trying to justify, if i should stay here or not. I dont wanna waste my time, if it will not help me down the road.

Mike-Mike

I'm not a network manager by any means, but I do have a CCNA, and I work sorta in networking. I was a telephone man previously, and my cabling experience has always been looked at fondly in my interviews

TurK-FX

Mike-Mike wrote: »

I'm not a network manager by any means, but I do have a CCNA, and I work sorta in networking. I was a telephone man previously, and my cabling experience has always been looked at fondly in my interviews

Appreciate the comment. I need more opinion to make the decision. It is really tough for me. If i was single, i wouldnt care. But you look the things differently when you have a kid(or about to have, in my situation).

YFZblu

I have had exactly two data center interviews, both times I was asked if I have experience running fiber. Perhaps stick it out a while longer while you start sending out your resume. I think your current work can only help.

redfrick

I would. As long as you show aptitude in the technical interview and I feel that you would mesh well with the rest of the team why not.

lantech

I don't think you're going to get a job as a network engineer with 3 months data cabling experience. You might find a job in a data center. Though with only 3 months experience in cabling it will be pretty difficult to do. Even with some of the fiber work you have. If you're looking for a job in a data center then the cabling experience will help.

Going back to pizza delivery while maybe earning you more money each week would be a step backwards. If you're in the pizza biz to long managers might wonder why you went back to delivering pizzas from being a cable tech and make it harder for you to find a job.

sratakhin

I would look for a job in another state. Living in New York on $1,900 a month is tough, but it's like living like a king in Midwest

RouteMyPacket

Try to find a Help Desk position to get your foot in the door somewhere. Your cabling experience isn't going to hurt you and will probably mean you won't be lazy and create a waterfall in the MDF's and IDF's like so many do.

lunchbox67

Move to ND and get rich in the oil fields ... you may even find tech jobs there. I would but me an snow do not get along real well but the money makes it tempting.
You can make good money pulling cable but you need to dig deep and know everything there is to know about cable and wireless AP's and setting up IDF's and MDF's ... all the physical infrustructure can fall under the "cable puller" job. If you bust butt and learn all aspects of the job it can be a well paid career.

ptilsen

Get out as soon as you can. You're making nothing for living in Brooklyn. I can't believe a helpdesk job wouldn't pay more.

While some cabling positions can be relevant to IT, really, data cabling techs are closer to plumbers or electricians. I do not consider what you do to be a subset of IT. That much alone should be your answer.

Don't get me wrong, the knowledge and experience you've gained may be seen as a bonus in some positions. It just won't qualify you to do anything in particular in IT. I cannot think of an IT position within any of the companies I've worked at that could logically be filled by someone with two years of cabling experience and a CCNA that couldn't be filled just as well by someone with three months of cabling experience and a CCNA. So, with that, I think you should leave as soon as you have a better position lined up. I just don't see staying there for years as somehow leading to a career in IT.

Mishra

If I was presented with the situation where:

Candidate's last job was pulling cable + CCNA
VS Candidates last job was pizza delivering driver + CCNA....

I'm definitely picking candidate #1... But this is really not a often found real world example... The better example is

I'm hiring for a NOC position and:

I interview Candidate A and he sounds like he has been studying, understanding the material, performing real home lab exercises, has a large drive to learn more, and is a personable guy...

VS

I interview Candidate B which is saying he wants to learn stuff but isn't backing up his so called "home studies" with actual technical facts and examples, doesn't present a portfolio of work, says generic things about his home lab but doesn't site good working examples, and sounds like he is trying to cover other problems up.

I choose Candidate A every time.

Moral of the story? Work on your resume and interview skills, which includes backing up your technical knowledge in an interviews to impress the company. You sound like Candidate A, and I don't care if you worked at a pizza place or McDonalds, I will take a risk with you in an --Entry Level Job--.

TurK-FX

RouteMyPacket wrote: »

Try to find a Help Desk position to get your foot in the door somewhere. Your cabling experience isn't going to hurt you and will probably mean you won't be lazy and create a waterfall in the MDF's and IDF's like so many do.

I am trying, but mostly i am getting offer for driving tech position, which pays $11-14 an hour. I been called by TD bank for Level II tech position, but they said, they are looking for some has more experience in Ghost, and OS roll-out. Although i had some experience, and i can do it, they are looking for minimum 2 year experience on that subjects. It would have been great job for me.

lantech

BTW, don't limit yourself in the positions you apply for. Just because an add says they want such and such experience doesn't mean they require it. All they can do is say no. My current job had listed they wanted experience with VMware, Cisco Nexus and load balancers. I don't have experience with any of those. But I stressed that I wanted to learn. So they hired me anyway.

TurK-FX

lantech wrote: »

BTW, don't limit yourself in the positions you apply for. Just because an add says they want such and such experience doesn't mean they require it. All they can do is say no. My current job had listed they wanted experience with VMware, Cisco Nexus and load balancers. I don't have experience with any of those. But I stressed that I wanted to learn. So they hired me anyway.

How did you expressed? Did you mention in the interview? or you had it in cover letter?

I have no cover letter. do you think if i have one, that would help?

NotHackingYou

IMO, a cover letter is a good idea. It is a good chance to summarize why you should be interviewed. The interview is your chance to sell why you would be a good choice for the job.

The best way to express that you want to learn something is to express how you are doing it now. Maybe you don't have all the experience, but you study nightly to learn X technology and can it apply what you learned on X to do Y and so on.

Reck_

Cabling is a good start.I think the problem here is not the current job, but the time you spent in your job.My suggestion is to take sometime to learn the trade because you have all the time to quit if you need to.

lantech

I expressed it during the interview. I don't have a cover letter and haven't for a long time. But I've done a lot of contract work as well. I've never really heard of an agency sending a cover letter along with a resume.

Contract work can be a good place to start. Unfortunately contract work has the drawback of not always being regular work. So you can find yourself out of a job for awhile which when you have a family really sucks. But it can also lead to a permanent job as well.

BTW, the cabling experience helped me get my first job in a data center. So it can lead somewhere.

bgaudy

If you can get a contract position that is a decent length.. it might be worth the risk.. You could get a better paying job, and be doing more technical stuff, which will help you get into a more appropriate position to help you get on a faster track to reaching your future goals.