Got a RAISE!

Hello all!

So a few weeks back, my boss asked if there was anything he could do to help me out or assist me more. I, jokingly, said "Sure! I'd take a raise!" (Was NOT expecting him to take that seriously at all) and he gave me a serious look while saying "Hmm... that's an interesting idea" before walking away. I didn't think anything else about it. Today he pulled me into office today, asked me to close the door and with a very serious face, he started with "IrisTheAngel, a few weeks ago with a straight face, I asked you if I could do anything for you or to help you and you asked me for a raise. While you may have not been serious, I thought it over and thought to myself that you've been going above and beyond what we've expected of you so I've authorized a 10% raise for you effectively. Merry Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate."

WOW. What NOT expecting that.

I know I haven't submitted an update in regards to my new job so I guess I'll bundle it in here because I'm having a pretty amazing day. As I just relayed, the new job is going AWESOME. I've had a chance to design and set up huge new sites, configure 12-20 2960S, 2-4 3750X, and a several 2951s per site. We're also upgrading a LOT of infrastructure and adding tons of new things. I'm getting my hands on ISE, IPS/IDS solutions, CUCM 9, Unified Presence/Jabber, ASRs, MPLS, BGP, etc.

To be 100% honest, it's EXTREMELY fast paced and there's a lot of pressure. Right now I am concurrently running about 25 different projects where the buck stops with me and PMs that all expect their network buildout or upgrade to be the priority. I'm actually sitting in a major airport right now configuring a new network which is amazing and stressful at the same time (long story!). There are times where some of the senior network engineers are describing concepts and I'm just like "Wow. I have NO idea what they're talking about but I hope I get to their level one day."

Anyways, awesome day! Wish me luck on this network buildout tonight. It's looking like I'll be here for awhile.

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Comments

Iristheangel

We are still in the testing phase of ISE. We have installed it and have a test group we are working on but we haven't moved to full deployment yet. Since it's new and in the testing phase, of course there have been issues ("Opps. Did we just lock you out of that port with the latest policy change? My bad!") But that's to be expected with ANYTHING that's in the testing phase. I see a lot of potential so far

cisco_trooper

Getting it to profile endpoints correctly has been my biggest obstacle so far, but I think that is partially the fault of the client. They've got some endpoints with local firewalls deployed whereas they have others that do not. Also, don't overlook the benefit of deploying it in monitoring mode to gather a lot of information about the endpoints with almost no impact on the network.

Best of luck, and congrats an the recent success!

j23evan

Iris I am using you as my pace marker. Whew it's going to be tough to keep up the pace but I am going to try. I noticed all that you have done in the last 3 years and it is absolutely amazing. Congratulations!

Chitownjedi

Good news, keeps hope alive... hope you enjoy your good fortune!

TLeTourneau

Congratulations!!!

Iristheangel

Ivanjam wrote: »

That's good to know - I have a couple of years of physical security experience too - throwing people out of bars - does that count?

Congrats on the raise!

ISC2 made it really clear that I had to be doing something RELATED to physically securing information systems. According to them, I had to be guarding and securing an actual datacenter or server room. In my case, I was working at Securitas doing the physical security for ADP's main campus in the Inland Empire at night. If people forgot their badges or contractors came it, it would be my responsibility to verify their identities, deactivate their last smartcard if necessary and issue new smartcards. Since I worked mostly at night, I had to patrol the datacenter, check the temp, ensure there were no funny sounds coming from the servers, check the access logs, check the cameras, etc.

They were pretty particular about what they would and wouldn't take. I was doing security guard work for Fedex lots for a few years and they definitely would not take that. It definitely would not have counted just because there might have been a computer in the building I was guarding or something.

Ivanjam

@ Iristheangel - thanks for that clarification! By the way, were you inspired to join the IT workforce while working at the datacenter, or did you deliberately seek out that position because you wanted to use it as a stepping stone into IT, or was it simply a fortuitous turn of events that led you to the datacenter job?

@j23evan - I am indeed flattered that you chose to model your signature after mine - believe me, I did the very same thing using some of the great examples here. Tell me, did you actually complete 17 CU's since December 1. If so, you can copy anything from me - you are a deity!

Iristheangel

cisco_trooper wrote: »

Getting it to profile endpoints correctly has been my biggest obstacle so far, but I think that is partially the fault of the client. They've got some endpoints with local firewalls deployed whereas they have others that do not. Also, don't overlook the benefit of deploying it in monitoring mode to gather a lot of information about the endpoints with almost no impact on the network.

Best of luck, and congrats an the recent success!

It's been interesting. We're having to collaborate a lot with the server team to get everything working correctly. Right now our network team and I are the guinea pigs for ISE to test if it worked. There's been some... ahem... interesting problems when our computers fall asleep and then we move them to another port on our floor. We're basically revamping our entire corporate network with all new security and we're going to implement ISE with an MDM solution hand-in-hand. We're also adding IPS, new firewalls, and all sorts of goodies.

I picked a good time to get here. Honestly, I love my bosses and the people I work with. If the SO ends up having to move to the opposite end of the country for residency, I'm going to be REALLY sad to leave. If I do end up going though, I'd be happy to PM some of you that I know are good workers and give you the consulting company's name that I work with so you can potentially get a position at the company I'm at.

Psoasman

Congrats on the raise!

it_consultant

Congratulations on the raise! I just got one last Wednesday and I got my salary band adjusted up. They must have known that my linkedin just go blown up by recruiters!

Iristheangel

Ivanjam wrote: »

@ Iristheangel - thanks for that clarification! By the way, were you inspired to join the IT workforce while working at the datacenter, or did you deliberately seek out that position because you wanted to use it as a stepping stone into IT, or was it simply a fortuitous turn of events that led you to the datacenter job?

Naw, the security job was a happy accident that happened a couple years before my first IT job. I always knew I wanted to get into computers. I just didn't know what I wanted to be doing. I grew up in the Silicon Valley and my dad was busy inventing a lot of the technology that we all use every day (though I didn't realize it at the time). All I knew is that I loved playing with my Tandy TRS-80 and 286 personal computer my dad brought home from work. I love all the text based games on them and I had to learn my way around DOS to install, delete and troubleshoot games. From there, I start building and upgrading my own computers as hardware came out: 286 to 386 to Pentium, adding RAM, changing the motherboard, etc. Then I started BBSing and then I turned into a bad teenager with too many txt files to read.

So I always knew I wanted to be doing something in computers but I turned 18 and lacked the motivation to follow through. Was poor for a very very long time and after the umpteenth time of having my life get the reset button hit on it because something financially or emotionally devastating would happen, I finally lucked out with an customer service interview that turned into an IT job interview. I wasn't making much money but I was a lot happier. I started studying for my first test (A+) using materials I found online because I was too poor to buy anything and found these forums. The rest is history

Ivanjam

@Iristheangel - your story is very inspiring - hold your head up high and continue doing what you are doing and achieving wonderful things. I am proud of you although I only know you via these forums.

Iristheangel

We seriously need to have TechExams Con or something one of these days were we all meet up and network together in real life. It'd be awesome to meet you all since I spend a good 5-10% of my day looking at the forums when I have time

gbdavidx

Congrats!

So you went from 12 an hr to 100k?, i'm at around 48k right now and once i get ccna level i can progress to 70k as a network engineer 2 at my job

Iristheangel wrote: »

In terms of jobs and certificates?
I started 5 years ago and progressed this way:
IT Technician/Jr Network Admin (2 years - Started at $12/hr) - Gained Security+, Linux+, A+, Network+, MCDST, and MCSA here
Security Access Anaylst (2.5 years) - Started and finished WGU - B.S. IT - Security, Gained MCSE:Security, CCENT, CCNA, CISSP, and a slew of meaningless CIW certs
Network Engineer (Current. Been her for 4 months. Started out past the 6-figure mark and heading 10% up) - Working on my M.S. at WGU, got my CCNA:Security and working on CCNA:Voice. Hoping to get my NP done here

coreyb80

Ivanjam wrote: »

@Iristheangel - your story is very inspiring - hold your head up high and continue doing what you are doing and achieving wonderful things. I am proud of you although I only know you via these forums.

I agree 110%

kurosaki00

lol! gratz Iris!

*joke tone* I want a G37
*waits for someone*

superjerelman

We seriously need to have TechExams Con or something one of these days were we all meet up and network together in real life

I'm in!

broli720

Congrats!!! Been following your progress for quite a while and I'm glad that it's paying off.

the_Grinch

Congrats!!! Definitely kicking some butt out there in Cali!

FloOz

Congrats Iris!!! Keep up the awesome work

Kelkin

Congrats! Looks like you are getting exposed to alot of different things.. Thats awesome!

cgrimaldo

Congrats!

eserfeliz

That 10% screams, "Don't leave us, you're valuable!"

Felicidades. I'm sure we'll be hearing more about your career sooner rather than later. Don't forget us little guys when you're the CEO of Google or Microsoft.

Mrock4

Much Congrats! That's always an exciting conversation to have with the boss! Keep up the good work.

NOC-Ninja

Congrats

WiseWun

Good stuff! Congrats.

New2IT

Congratulations! You're such an inspiration.

Iristheangel

Thanks, guys! I don't feel like an "inspiration" but it's nice that some people think so. I've come a long way and I have a lot of you to thank for it. Before I was actively posting, I was reading these posts every day and got a lot of great ideas on what to do on the job and career.