Todays the last interview!

Well in about an hour I will be sitting at Cisco doing my 4th and last interview after going through 3 phone interviews earlier. Already submitted my info for the background check (which im nervous about, crappy marriage = crappy credit!)

But I'm hoping I ace this last interview! And heres to hoping I get it. This job is essentially a datacenter job and will give me the experience I need to push me to a senior level, plus give me heaps of experience with a lot more higher end equipment! I'm kinda nervous, and I usually am not on interviews.

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TheSuperRuski

millworx wrote: »

Well in about an hour I will be sitting at Cisco doing my 4th and last interview after going through 3 phone interviews earlier. Already submitted my info for the background check (which im nervous about, crappy marriage = crappy credit!)

But I'm hoping I ace this last interview! And heres to hoping I get it. This job is essentially a datacenter job and will give me the experience I need to push me to a senior level, plus give me heaps of experience with a lot more higher end equipment! I'm kinda nervous, and I usually am not on interviews.

Good luck man. And i don't think a background check looks at credit, just public records and criminal history. You should be fine there.

Heero

TheSuperRuski wrote: »

Good luck man. And i don't think a background check looks at credit, just public records and criminal history. You should be fine there.

Generally the credit check is separate from the background check. At the very least, there is a legal document you have to sign that is separate from everything else that explicitly gives the company the authority to check your credit.

millworx

Heero wrote: »

Generally the credit check is separate from the background check. At the very least, there is a legal document you have to sign that is separate from everything else that explicitly gives the company the authority to check your credit.

Well I guess I am good then, they didnt have me fill out anything, just asked via email name address dob and ssn to get started on the background check. So I guess it would be safe to assume its going to be a criminal check only then?

Sillyputty

Good luck!

Let us know how it goes!

millworx

Well just got back from the interview. I think I did very well with one exception. They asked one question, "how would you go about setting up a SSL vpn" I kinda messed up and started talking about setting up an IPSec vpn. Talked about how I wound need to define the IP addresses, setup the encryption, check the client compatibility with the encryption level (if client supports 3DES and what not) yadda yadda. Then he asked how I would troubleshoot connectivity and I told him I would run debug commands to check for mismatches in encryption and the like. Oops, hope that didn't dock me.

It was a non-technical interview, the VPN question was the only technical thing they asked.

For the first 30 mins I sat in the conference room chatting it up with the owner of the contracting firm. The owner is an engineer himself and has been contracting for them for over 15 years, they don't really do recruiting only on special occasions such as this. We had a good long chat before the Cisco guys joined us.

Other than that they asked why I wanted this job, and I let them know that I reached the cap in my experience and wanted to work on newer equipment and get experience with the UCS product line.

They asked me what my strong points and weaknesses are. I told them that I was very good on the routing and switching side, Ive been working with Cisco products since I was 16, I've done a lot of work with PIX/ASA. My weak point is in the SAN side of things, I've done some basic setup with IBM storage arrays and connecting them to fibre channel cards. But actual setup of the software not so much.

They then discussed the role. I'm basically to setup about 40 racks of Cisco UCS equipment, MDS switches, Nexus 7000 and 5000 units, EMC Clarion units, ASA firewalls.

He drew timelines and diagrams of what was to be accomplished and when.

He kept saying when we bring you on board, then correcting himself and saying "if". lol

Then I got the grand tour of one of their R&D labs... Lets just say I had Cisco product overload! Got to see some of their other cool things like teleconfrencing stuff and whatnot.

Several points during the whole interview he made me feel like I already had the job. All in all other than the slight fudgeup on the SSL VPN question, it went very well, and I will have an answer mid next week.

millworx

So anyone got any feedback on my interview above? I sent a thank you for the interview email a few hours after the interview.

Ryan82

Sounds promising. The fact that they brought you in for a fourth interview and then after the interview showed you the gear and discussed the role with you and the occasional "when we bring you onboard" thrown in seems like a good thing. I think you got it in the bag.

Good luck, let us know what comes of it

N2IT

I would keep applying for other positions. Until you are brought in and introduced and HR has you sign off on all the papers you don't have the job. I've been down that road a few times, so I am just speaking from experience.

I do hope you get the job, but keep looking until it's finalized.

L0gicB0mb508

Ryan82 wrote: »

Sounds promising. The fact that they brought you in for a fourth interview and then after the interview showed you the gear and discussed the role with you and the occasional "when we bring you onboard" thrown in seems like a good thing. I think you got it in the bag.

Good luck, let us know what comes of it

I'll go with this one too. It sounds pretty promising really. I doubt the VPN question really got you knocked down any. I'm sure they just chalked it up to nerves. Especially if you gave them a good answer on the ipsec set up haha.

I wish you the best of luck.

Turgon

millworx wrote: »

Well just got back from the interview. I think I did very well with one exception. They asked one question, "how would you go about setting up a SSL vpn" I kinda messed up and started talking about setting up an IPSec vpn. Talked about how I wound need to define the IP addresses, setup the encryption, check the client compatibility with the encryption level (if client supports 3DES and what not) yadda yadda. Then he asked how I would troubleshoot connectivity and I told him I would run debug commands to check for mismatches in encryption and the like. Oops, hope that didn't dock me.

It was a non-technical interview, the VPN question was the only technical thing they asked.

For the first 30 mins I sat in the conference room chatting it up with the owner of the contracting firm. The owner is an engineer himself and has been contracting for them for over 15 years, they don't really do recruiting only on special occasions such as this. We had a good long chat before the Cisco guys joined us.

Other than that they asked why I wanted this job, and I let them know that I reached the cap in my experience and wanted to work on newer equipment and get experience with the UCS product line.

They asked me what my strong points and weaknesses are. I told them that I was very good on the routing and switching side, Ive been working with Cisco products since I was 16, I've done a lot of work with PIX/ASA. My weak point is in the SAN side of things, I've done some basic setup with IBM storage arrays and connecting them to fibre channel cards. But actual setup of the software not so much.

They then discussed the role. I'm basically to setup about 40 racks of Cisco UCS equipment, MDS switches, Nexus 7000 and 5000 units, EMC Clarion units, ASA firewalls.

He drew timelines and diagrams of what was to be accomplished and when.

He kept saying when we bring you on board, then correcting himself and saying "if". lol

Then I got the grand tour of one of their R&D labs... Lets just say I had Cisco product overload! Got to see some of their other cool things like teleconfrencing stuff and whatnot.

Several points during the whole interview he made me feel like I already had the job. All in all other than the slight fudgeup on the SSL VPN question, it went very well, and I will have an answer mid next week.

I have never set up an ssl vpn myself so would have bombed on that one. I think you got the job anyway. Fingers crossed!

Incidently if you get the job Cisco fund three attempts at the CCIE lab and give you access to lots of goodies inhouse to prepare, not least time. I hope you get it.

millworx

It was nice, he did tell me he didnt expect any of the 4 candidates, me being one, to really have experience with the UCS product line since its rather new and pretty expensive. But I will learn on the job and they want someone who picks up stuff quick.

Pretty excited if i get to work with the nexus line too, I know they run NX-IOS which is a little difference than the traditional IOS, but doesn't look too remarkably different.

The Cisco contractor was telling me this would be an amazing thing to have on my resume even if the contract ends in 6 months and I'm not hired on permanently. And I agree.

The guy at Cisco during the interview told me too there is no guarantee it will go to direct hire, its like a 50% chance at most. But if I did good work and they really liked me they would try to fill me in to another position if the contract ended.

They told me the background check will be done today.

And that confuses me, why waste money doing a background check without making a job offer? Unless they of course already want me and are just waiting for some reason...

??: Out of 4 candidates they are interviewing they are hiring 2. So 50% shot!

N2IT

millworx wrote: »

It was nice, he did tell me he didnt expect any of the candidates to really have experience with the UCS product line since its rather new and pretty expensive. But I will learn on the job and they want someone who picks up stuff quick.

Pretty excited if i get to work with the nexus line too, I know they run NX-IOS which is a little difference than the traditional IOS, but doesn't look too remarkably different.

The Cisco contractor was telling me this would be an amazing thing to have on my resume even if the contract ends in 6 months and I'm not hired on permanently. And I agree.

The guy at Cisco during the interview told me too there is no guarantee it will go to direct hire, its like a 50% chance at most. But if I did good work and they really liked me they would try to fill me in to another position if the contract ended.

They told me the background check will be done today.

And that confuses me, why waste money doing a background check without making a job offer? Unless they of course already want me and are just waiting for some reason... ??:

Smart company. Try before you buy!

Good luck wish you the best!

millworx

Turgon wrote: »

I have never set up an ssl vpn myself so would have bombed on that one. I think you got the job anyway. Fingers crossed!

Incidently if you get the job Cisco fund three attempts at the CCIE lab and give you access to lots of goodies inhouse to prepare, not least time. I hope you get it.

Yeah, I myself have never setup an SSL VPN either, but when I went home looked up the config for an ASA, its much easier than a IPSec VPN configuration wise, like 8 lines less of commands.

Turgon

millworx wrote: »

Yeah, I myself have never setup an SSL VPN either, but when I went home looked up the config for an ASA, its much easier than a IPSec VPN configuration wise, like 8 lines less of commands.

Im sure you are correct. Things are getting easier!

networker050184

Sounds promising, but anything could happen. Ive had a company want to complete the background check before an offer was made so I don't think that's too rare.

Good luck!

ODNation

good luck man... i hope you land the job!