What would you do?

I was sitting in Starbucks yesterday studying for the first exam towards my MCSA when a woman asks me about what I'm studying. I tell her & we start talking about how she used to work in IT & I mentioned that I'm new to the area & looking for a job. So she says that she is working with someone starting up a small business & that maybe I could learn on the job getting their network set up. They currently have 8 macs & no network.

I earned my CCNA several years ago & worked as an implementation technician working remotely with onsite techs getting new network equipment set up & troubleshooting when things didn't work. I've done some help desk work as well. So my question is, if I do this am I going to be in way over my head??

I should also add that I have almost no mac experience.

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Comments

gbdavidx

nah, just get a simple router from cisco, did you ever learn mac's while building networks in CCNA? NO.

i think the only thing you'll need to learn is how to join them to a domain, which is simple task all you need to do is google

CodeBlox

If it were me, I'd probably jump at it. She said you could learn on the job.

Mquinn33

Next question - how much $ do I ask for? I'm in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

paul78

If you are not familiar with setting up Macs perhaps a fair way to do this is to offer a fixed price. In that way, it would not matter how much time you need to spend to learn the technical nuances and it is more of an incentive for the company to use your services.

Plantwiz

Mquinn33 wrote: »

Next question - how much $ do I ask for? I'm in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

I don't think it sounds like you are in the driving seat on this one.

No experience with the machines in play.
Limited experience overall.
Limited knowledge of the company.

Doesn't this seem odd to you that someone merely walks up, asks what you are studying and offers you information about a job?

Mquinn33

Plantwiz, I know what you're saying. It does seem weird, but there was more to the conversation than I posted. We kind of clicked when we were talking (both from the East coast, both moms of 3 kids). She actually works part time at the Starbucks so she had seen me coming in the past several weeks & she stated that she doesn't have the time to learn the technology to get their network up & running.

RouteMyPacket

I would be more concerned with the Macintosh side than the network. I would make things clear up front and set expectations that you are not familiar with Macs but will figure it out..something like that.

You passed your CCNA years ago but have you ever setup a small LAN before? Go in, scope out what their business needs are and design a LAN/WLAN for them. Good stuff.

Plantwiz

@Mquinn33,

Makes a little more sense, and I do appreciate it is challenging conveying everything clearly in a few words of a post to a bunch of strangers.

As RouteMyPacket points out, be crystal clear and upfront about what you know and what you can learn to do. You may offer a step-up pay package that as your experience grows, they need to meet you with a ten or twenty percent increase (of course this depends on where your starting wage point is).

Usually for wage calculations, I figure, how much can my skills save the company. And that includes, if they have to hire an outside consulting firm on a per job basis, my actual wages (benefits plus pay), tools the company needs to purchase for me to perform my job, and anything and everything else that comes up. If they are going to pay me $50K, I need to be saving them a minimum of $100-150K per year. If I can save them more routinely, then I will ask for more pay too.

sadfjlfdo24

Since this is in Texas - what kind of a startup is that? If this is in Petrochemical exploration, ask for 45-50k/yr with health/dental. If its some unproven tech startup, consider what their business plan is - is this likely to be the next turd that goes t1ts up or a potentially profitable company with which you can grow. If its likely to spiral out and all execs going to cash out, ask for max you can get. If there is a growth opportunity, negotiate for a fair salary and as company grows, ask for a piece of the equity.