Just Bombed a job interview

It was really humbling. I didn't go in arrogant that I would do great. I have left job interviews where I"ve gotten 99 percent of the questions right, but that 1 percent was a big deal. Or I have completely not known anything and still somehow got a offer.

I did well on the things that I knew and the other things I just haven't heard off and I've been in voice a while. I'm not sure where this is going to lead too. Even if I was almost done with my IE some of these things I wouldn't have known unless i ran into them with experience(the interviewer told me so). Well onto the next one.

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Everyone

The important part is, did you learn anything from it?

Turgon

shodown wrote: »

It was really humbling. I didn't go in arrogant that I would do great. I have left job interviews where I"ve gotten 99 percent of the questions right, but that 1 percent was a big deal. Or I have completely not known anything and still somehow got a offer.

I did well on the things that I knew and the other things I just haven't heard off and I've been in voice a while. I'm not sure where this is going to lead too. Even if I was almost done with my IE some of these things I wouldn't have known unless i ran into them with experience(the interviewer told me so). Well onto the next one.

I shouldn't worry. You are skilled like myself, which means we find ourselves in some very demanding interviews. It doesn't make you less skilled or not a potentially brilliant hire in many roles where the stars will align. This field is extremely broad and detailed and one hasn't got years of experience in *everything*. You would be 1000 years old.

spicy ahi

Do you know for a fact that you did poorly in the interview? From what you've posted, it sounds like you did your best and there were questions asked that aren't common questions. Perhaps you did better than you think! I interviewed for an IA job once and thought I did poorly because I could barely answer any of the questions asked but I ended up getting offered the job because of the questions I was able to answer, I answered honestly and with as much information as I could offer. Maybe it'll be a similar situation for ya. Good luck!

Turgon

spicy ahi wrote: »

Do you know for a fact that you did poorly in the interview? From what you've posted, it sounds like you did your best and there were questions asked that aren't common questions. Perhaps you did better than you think! I interviewed for an IA job once and thought I did poorly because I could barely answer any of the questions asked but I ended up getting offered the job because of the questions I was able to answer, I answered honestly and with as much information as I could offer. Maybe it'll be a similar situation for ya. Good luck!

It's a possibility. I have had interviews where I really wasn't convinced I did enough only to get the offer. A lot depends on what they have in mind for the candidate. I bombed an interview I should never have been put forward for over 4 years ago but looking back if I had recently aced the CCIP I might have cleared the phone interview. That would have been perilous for me, because they clearly wanted a technical lead for a major mobile network refresh. I didn't have that sort of particular experience and would have been out of my depth. Sometimes you do get off lightly when they say no.

shodown

one of the realities from this interview is that i have to get out of operations. I took this job to get back into the UC world. Its been about 14-15 months. Thats about all I can do and I have to get back to Engineering. These roles hurt you more in the long term as you miss out on critical exposure and problem solving you get from engineering.

Turgon

shodown wrote: »

one of the realities from this interview is that i have to get out of operations. I took this job to get back into the UC world. Its been about 14-15 months. Thats about all I can do and I have to get back to Engineering. These roles hurt you more in the long term as you miss out on critical exposure and problem solving you get from engineering.

By engineering I suppose you mean solutioning and design? Design and support are oil and water, they dont mix. A strong background in operations can be beneficial to a designer, but the disciplines are different and you must do design for years to learn it well. There are just so many encounters with realities beyond the box that you need to have as a designer that only exist in the *work* itself. Not books. Not bootcamps. Not vendor workbooks. You learn to become a designer, it takes years and design by definition is art, not a science like fault finding or provisioning things which can be automated. My view on operations these days is start there, then leave there, or stay there for life. Something the network architect I worked with in 2010 agreed with.

Turgon

shodown wrote: »

one of the realities from this interview is that i have to get out of operations. I took this job to get back into the UC world. Its been about 14-15 months. Thats about all I can do and I have to get back to Engineering. These roles hurt you more in the long term as you miss out on critical exposure and problem solving you get from engineering.

I think you really need to kick off your CCIE studies again to be honest. You are good enough to do it.

shodown

I've been at it on my CCIE studies. I just knocked out 2 CCNP voice test as part of my training cycle. I got one more to go which will take me a few more weeks. I"m at a pretty good company and they got me on my feet back in UC, but its time to move on. I prob couldn't even get back into designing WAN's if I wait to long, so more than likely I will put out feelers for anything design related to WAN and UC. Something will bite or worse I can take one of the design jobs with 75-100 percent travel and use that for 6 months to leverage something else. A buddy of mine was in the same boat took a road job knocked out his IE written during the nights in the hotel and finished half his lab prep on the road.

Turgon

shodown wrote: »

I've been at it on my CCIE studies. I just knocked out 2 CCNP voice test as part of my training cycle. I got one more to go which will take me a few more weeks. I"m at a pretty good company and they got me on my feet back in UC, but its time to move on. I prob couldn't even get back into designing WAN's if I wait to long, so more than likely I will put out feelers for anything design related to WAN and UC. Something will bite or worse I can take one of the design jobs with 75-100 percent travel and use that for 6 months to leverage something else. A buddy of mine was in the same boat took a road job knocked out his IE written during the nights in the hotel and finished half his lab prep on the road.

I think you are just supporting too much stuff in hole. I have no doubt you are good at it, but it's time to move on. I think your CCIE written hours studied haven't moved passed 14 in 6 months. Knuckle down and get the written done by easter and put a thread up on the CCIE board today. Meanwhile look for other jobs. You are very employable but need the right kind of work.

shodown

I just got a call I"ll be doing another interview with them. It wont' be technical, more about personality. So I"m still in the game.

VAHokie56

shodown wrote: »

I just got a call I"ll be doing another interview with them. It wont' be technical, more about personality. So I"m still in the game.

Grats

All that worry for nothing !

cyberguypr

shodown wrote: »

I just got a call I"ll be doing another interview with them. It wont' be technical, more about personality. So I"m still in the game.

Great news. Never assume anything. When I interviewed people I always gave them questions outside the scope of the position just to see how they would handle them. Best of luck!

Everyone

shodown wrote: »

I just got a call I"ll be doing another interview with them. It wont' be technical, more about personality. So I"m still in the game.

Well there you go, that shows you didn't bomb it. This interview will probably impact decision making much more than your first/technical interview did anyway, so this is the one you want to do well on.

networker050184

Awesome man! Good luck!

shodown

Update, Just smoked the final Interview. It wasn't technical, but it was a will you work with our team interview. It went very well, we got to trade military stories, and so on. So I'll find out something soon.

networker050184

Sounds promising man. Good luck.

spicy ahi

Great news! Now get this job so I can rub it in that I thought you got the job per my original response to your first post.