Share your NOC Experience

100k

I recently got my CCNA and looking to jump ship from my current Help Desk (hate it with a fiery passion) role into networking. I sent my resume out yesterday and got a few calls about various NOC openings. Its all 24/7, 6 month contracts which I dont really mind too much. How was your experience?

kohr-ah

It was always 1 of 2 ways
1 - Dead so I got a lot of time to study
2 - Chaotic which is when I learned the most.

It is a good way to see how a lot of monitoring technologies work and a way to get your show commands down really well as well for troubleshooting.

All in all it was a good beginning experience.

Mike-Mike

kohr-ah wrote: »

It was always 1 of 2 ways
1 - Dead so I got a lot of time to study
2 - Chaotic which is when I learned the most.

spot on...

NOC experience is great resume experience

100k

By the job description looks like I will get exposed to alot. Now I am excited. Time to brush up on my CCNA knowledge and lab more for this interview. How long do people usually stay in NOC before trying to get a Network Admin position?

gorebrush

kohr-ah wrote: »

It was always 1 of 2 ways
1 - Dead so I got a lot of time to study
2 - Chaotic which is when I learned the most.

It is a good way to see how a lot of monitoring technologies work and a way to get your show commands down really well as well for troubleshooting.

All in all it was a good beginning experience.

Pretty much it. I work in a 24/7 NOC and I'm in for most of Xmas. It'll be dead, and I'll be mostly studying for my CCIE.

Winning!

kohr-ah

100k wrote: »

By the job description looks like I will get exposed to alot. Now I am excited. Time to brush up on my CCNA knowledge and lab more for this interview. How long do people usually stay in NOC before trying to get a Network Admin position?

At least 1 year I would say. If you can move up there to get better experience then ride it out longer but one year and study study study.

the_Grinch

NOC I was in was for an MSP so I monitored everything (circuits, networking equipment, servers, pc's, antivirus, etc). I was all alone on the night shift (8 pm to 6 am) and loved it. No one looking over my shoulder, go to see issues and work on them, and for the most part a lot of down time. But when the crap hit the fan it was a nice rush to try to solve things prior to the company coming in a few hours later and being down. Just be sure to study a lot if you have the down time.

DirtySouth

I used to work in a NOC as well and it was good experience. Keep in mind that the term NOC can mean a lot of different things. A NOC at one company could be a helpdesk at another.

100k

DirtySouth wrote: »

I used to work in a NOC as well and it was good experience. Keep in mind that the term NOC can mean a lot of different things. A NOC at one company could be a helpdesk at another.

True. Here is the job description:

The overall purpose and objective of this position is to provide Tier II support for customer trouble resolution for Windstream Enterprise Repair Center data/Voice/Transport services. Support II level qualifications with the ability to manage complex projects . Able to complete design, testing, or problem resolution for a majority of problems encountered including the ability to resolve Tier II ERC Data or Voice technical issues. Ability to work problems of significant to strategic scope.

. Fundamental understanding of the OSI model and associated methodology is used to form base knowledge for all job activities. Work focuses on troubleshooting layer 2 and 3 issues along with identifying issues at the physical layer to be worked by the ERC Facility team. Certifications that relate to work performed and that will help build candidates towards this position: CCENT, Network+, CCNA, CCNP, and JNCIA

Ability to identify IPv4 address ranges, subnets, and other IPv4 addressing fundamentals required. Fundamentals include understanding of DHCP, NAT, PAT, and subnetting. Working understanding of both authoritative and caching DNS needed, including underlying process of DNS name resolution to IPv4 addresses.

Knowledge of routing and routed protocols, along with ability to look at route tables required. Layer 3 VPN and MPLS technologies are used extensively on the network and Specialist I need to be able to recognize privately routed traffic in multiple different routing devices. Ability to map out and document private routing aids in visualizing customer network layouts.

The Windstream network is a multi-vendor core environment consisting of Cisco, Juniper, and Alcatel edge and core routers. Customer and network circuits are spread between multiple technologies: T1/T3, Ethernet, and DSL. Circuits are built out with devices from several vendors. Technicians need to be able to transfer basic knowledge between devices and apply same troubleshooting methods regardless of hardware vendor.

Layer 2 technologies are an increasingly vital part of the Windstream network. Comprehension of VLANs, including 802.1q (dot1q) and related Q-in-Q with Ethernet Class of Service, required to understand Ethernet circuits and complex customer configurations. Knowledge of MAC addresses, their function, and means for looking up vendor information with IEEE related to a MAC address is critical. Identifying connected devices via ARP (address resolution protocol), which bridges layer 2 and layer 3 is a basic part of all troubleshooting.

Technician must understand multiple access levels within hardware devices and be able to issue commands via several different methods (telnet, SSH, RDP, GUI applications). Specialist I are expected to be able to connect to, look at, and troubleshoot in all edge and customer premise equipment. They are also required to be able to look at and verify configurations in devices along with making basic configuration changes.

Technician must be able to multi-task via multiple circuit databases, ticketing systems, and remote access servers. Specialist I need to be able build out and put on paper circuit designs based on information contained within multiple different circuit and support information databases.

Ability to speak competently in regards to customer local networks is important. New Windstream products are providing completely hosted solutions where Specialist I will be the customer’s direct LAN support. Communication of complex technical situations to customers occurs on a regular basis and technicians need to be able to distill the issues down into understandable terms for proper referral to customer’s vendors. Technicians also need to be able to work with customer’s technical vendors and provide end of line support for issues identified to be caused by the customer’s LAN vs the Windstream network.

DoubleNNs

Extremely detailed job description. And the 1st time I've ever seen the Network+ mentioned in one.