Network Engineers and Network Secuirty Engineers

I have a quick question for those of you who work in the aforementioned job roles. How did you get your first break into one of these roles? How much IT experience did you have at the time? If possible could you say what certs (if any) you had at the time? I am just curious because I have a phone interview for a Network Engineer position and I want to compare my knowledge to some of the router heads here.

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chrisone

i got my break from the company i was working as a Systems Support technician. I was in the middle of my CCNA studies and doing the Network Academy at my university at the time so they saw my dedication and already knew my work ethic and potential, and pretty much gave me a break and gave me a Jr Network Admin position. From there i did grunt work and worked hard to gain on the job experience. I continued to absorb everything i could from projects i had little input on and just stood by and learned what i could. I continued to study to get my NP, now DP. With my experience and my NP i got my network engineer role. I am grateful i got a new job during the economic down turn and i continue to work hard and study hard for my Design certs. The company asked for me to pursue my design and ASA/firewall skills for my 2010/11 goals, which i was already pursuing this year, so it works out and will look good on my resume and meets my job review requirements for the year.

Forsaken_GA

its about who you know

my break came from a friend who knew of an opening at his company, and he went and sat down with management about hiring me. My certifications made it a pretty easy sell, but the endorsement from an employee in good standing counted for just as much, if not more. The interview was pretty much a formality, I had a job offer in my hand 5 minutes after it concluded

carboncopy

Many of the people that I know that have done it has been through an internal department transfer. Every now and then you'll see junior security engineer positions being posted by recruiters. That is another way to get into security engineering.

ColbyG

I was doing sys admin/deskside stuff, then I moved to a small town with zero jobs. I decided to take some classes in my downtime. I took some MCSE classes (it's what I knew at the time), but there was a gap between 291 and 293 (something like that), so the owner of the training center told me to take some CCNA classes. Five minutes into ICND1 I knew I was done with Microsoft.

~6 weeks later I had a CCNA and lucked into a job with a consulting company/Cisco partner. It was supposed to be 100% Cisco, but I ended up doing a lot more server stuff as they'd fired their sys eng guy shortly after I started.

If you have experience in the field and a little networking experience + some certs, you should be able to find something entry level.

Bl8ckr0uter

Well I have an interview with a company for a Tier I Network Engineer on thursday. I think telling them that I have the CCNA and CCNA:Security really helped out, that and I have some real world experience with cisco gear. They also wanted "Rack and Stack" experience so I am thinking it is going to be somewhat basic so they would be good (I don't want to get thrown to far in to fast).

fly351

knwminus wrote: »

Well I have an interview with a company for a Tier I Network Engineer on thursday. I think telling them that I have the CCNA and CCNA:Security really helped out, that and I have some real world experience with cisco gear. They also wanted "Rack and Stack" experience so I am thinking it is going to be somewhat basic so they would be good (I don't want to get thrown to far in to fast).

GL hope it works out for ya

Bl8ckr0uter

fly351 wrote: »

GL hope it works out for ya

Me too. It would be really nice to work in the city that I live in for a change

mrgetdown88

I love soon-to-be success stories like this

Bl8ckr0uter

mrgetdown88 wrote: »

I love soon-to-be success stories like this

Thanks but I haven't got it yet. I do have a good decent feeling about this one though (I applied Saturday and spoke with a recruiter on Saturday, Today they emailed me requesting an interview and it is set up for Thursday). We will see. I just came off another interview for a network support position about 30 miles down the road (only weekend work) so hopefully I can land both jobs and finally get caught up on these bills and such.

Bl8ckr0uter

Well I just came off the interview and boy was I surprised. First let me give the run down:

I had some car trouble and I explained to them I was going to be about 10 minutes late (which they were ok with). I got there and did the interview and it started off like any other one and then we got going. So the term network engineer is used very loosely as far as this position goes. It is really a server/vmware/citrix/storage/cisco/hardware job (which is cool) at a large local company...that I USE to work for

. I worked in the Customer Support department but this would be in the ultra posh datacenter. The company is a large reseller and VMware/Citrix/HP/Cisco partner. The main focus of the job is server/storage monitoring and a lot of VMware/Citrix support. I think it went pretty well and the position could put my career in a different direction entirely, which isn't bad thing.

As I was driving out from that interview, I got an email and a phone call from another recruiter about a Network Support position - in the SAME BUILDING AS THE OTHER ONE

This would be some vmware, cisco, citrix and MS support. Both are contracts but the later is moving quickly (they have a start date of 5/3). The other one said they want to start in the next few weeks as well but they don't have a set time yet. Needless to say, I have had a very interesting day. The later position is presenting my resume as we speak and I should know something by the end of the day. So we will see....

Depending on which happens I may pick up that MCSA Security after all

Bl8ckr0uter

2 phone screens and 1 face to face interview on Wednesday. I am suppose to find out about my hopefully soon to be weekend job by the end of the week. The position I am interviewing for is a short term contract (10+ weeks) doing MS Server and Cisco support. Sounds fun. Still trying to chase down something in my city.

I have committed to taking the Security+ at the end of May. I want to try to get the S+, CCDA, and MCP (290) done by July or so. That will set me up nicely to be able to get my goals done this year. There are some Network Support positions opening up at a local AFB around that time so hopefully that should be enough to get me on there. I have talked with a few recruiters and I keep in contact with them. No one knows anything yet but they should know by the end of May and the positions should open up in July/August. I guess until then, I need to do some work, grab some certs, and work on finishing school. At this point, I just want to find something quasi related to networking and/or security no matter how high up the role is whether cisco, MS, or *nix (not a lot of *nix in my neck of the woods though

).

The first phone screen is for a help desk job in my city that requires a good amount of basic SQL server experience (which I do have). That's tomorrow. The second is for a network support position with a local ISP. It is about 90 miles away and depending on how much they are paying, I might decline to take it any further. Stay tuned.

shodown

I pimped my security clearance into jobs that were a little bit over my head, but the company wanted the seat filled so they could get paid. So it was a win/win for both of us.

almost 2 years later I have worked a NOC, 2nd level call manager support, and now I design WAN's. Its about making the best of what you got and hustling as hard as u can. As much as u keep your head in a cisco book, read books on communication, team building, and overall soft skills. Its not about being the most knowledgeable network guy its about the best Network Hustler

Bl8ckr0uter

shodown wrote: »

Its not about being the most knowledgeable network guy its about the best Network Hustler.

Rep. Permission to use this as a line in my sig?

shodown

knwminus wrote: »

Rep. Permission to use this as a line in my sig?

sure go head

ColbyG

knwminus wrote: »

Rep. Permission to use this as a line in my sig?

Permission denied! Your sig is already wicked long.:D

Bl8ckr0uter

ColbyG wrote: »

Permission denied! Your sig is already wicked long.:D

I cut it down quite a bit, guess it wasn't enough

. Well hopefully by years end, it will be much shorter because I will have the certs

Bl8ckr0uter

phoeneous wrote: »

From a previous job or just lab work?

Previous job. My last "real" IT job, I was working as a NOC Tech rolling out configs, doing IOS updates, and a whole hell of a lot of monitoring. Of course I do have some cisco gear but I haven't touched it a little while. I actually planned to get some lab work in this week.

mikej412

shodown wrote: »

Its not about being the most knowledgeable network guy its about the best Network Hustler.

I'd say it's more about being the right person in the right place at the right time -- and stepping up to do the job.

The majority of "hustlers" I've met haven't made it past the probation period -- at least in private industry.

shodown

mikej412 wrote: »

I'd say it's more about being the right person in the right place at the right time -- and stepping up to do the job.

The majority of "hustlers" I've met haven't made it past the probation period -- at least in private industry.

I think that comment may have been read wrong, What I mean by getting involved in all oppertunities available, not taking no for a answer and knowing what u gotta know when u have to know it. Like in baskeball in school the coaches were always yelling "Hustle, Hustle," Meaning go harder, try harder, beat the other guy to the ball, scamble, 100 percent of what you got. When u do those things you are giving maxium effort and using all resources available. This may not be the most knowlowable person. I hope that explained myself better.

shaqazoolu

It was right place at the right time for me. The guy that hired me at my last job apparently liked what he saw out of me for the few months that he stayed there. About a month after he left, he called me up and asked me to follow him to my current company to implement a group similar to what I was currently working in. It was a lateral move that started me back at the bottom but 6 months later they decided to bump me up to the next level. The learning curve was nearly impossible to keep up with and I am still playing catch up, but it has worked out. I don't regret it at all. I love my job.

Bl8ckr0uter

shodown wrote: »

I think that comment may have been read wrong, What I mean by getting involved in all oppertunities available, not taking no for a answer and knowing what u gotta know when u have to know it. Like in baskeball in school the coaches were always yelling "Hustle, Hustle," Meaning go harder, try harder, beat the other guy to the ball, scamble, 100 percent of what you got. When u do those things you are giving maxium effort and using all resources available. This may not be the most knowlowable person. I hope that explained myself better.

I got this from the comment. I am an old wrestler (189-heavy weight city champ) so I felt this vibe, not like some crack head selling routers out of his trench coat.

Bl8ckr0uter

knwminus wrote: »

Well I just came off the interview and boy was I surprised. First let me give the run down:

I had some car trouble and I explained to them I was going to be about 10 minutes late (which they were ok with). I got there and did the interview and it started off like any other one and then we got going. So the term network engineer is used very loosely as far as this position goes. It is really a server/vmware/citrix/storage/cisco/hardware job (which is cool) at a large local company...that I USE to work for . I worked in the Customer Support department but this would be in the ultra posh datacenter. The company is a large reseller and VMware/Citrix/HP/Cisco partner. The main focus of the job is server/storage monitoring and a lot of VMware/Citrix support. I think it went pretty well and the position could put my career in a different direction entirely, which isn't bad thing.

Welp I must have did better in the interview than I thought. The client (aka my old company ) wants to meet with me Friday for the Network Engineer position. Lets see how this goes....

bryantstewart

Good luck on Friday! I hope that all works out for you.

fly351

Awesome! Good luck, it sounds like you are in there!