Do you enjoy working at a vendor?

Good afternoon all,

I see a lot of people in the network engineering world seem to eventually leave the MSP / Corporate life and end up at a vendor for a large stint. This being I seen engineers end up at Cisco, Infoblox, Juniper, VmWare, etc and they stay there 5 - 10 years. I wanted to see what people say about the ups and downs of going this route.

This way I would wonder if that kind of life/work might be possible to me based on the answers.

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Comments

joelsfood

I know several guys at Cisco, and they all seem happy. Of course, one who was in sales was just downsized a few months ago, so it doesn't always work out.

networker050184

I spent some time with a major vendor. Wasn't for me. I'm not big on customer facing stuff personally and I like to have my own network to work on.

Only way I'd consider going back is in more of a behind the scenes research/development role. Hard to get these kind of roles without a lot of programming knowledge and experience though.

pinkydapimp

I love it. Been doing pre/post sales engineering for about 10 years. Its a great way to see many different environments and learn what works and what doesnt. Even if you dont want to stay in a customer facing role for long, i think its extremely beneficial, plus a great way to network. Also the pay is usually really good in those more customer facing roles that drive revenue.

tkerber

I work for a vendor and I have to say that there are definitely up sides and down sides. One of the biggest up sides is the resources available to you. There are so many absolute geniuses where I work that I'm constantly learning every day. The quality of people here is really hard to come across in other non-IT related sectors. People who work for vendors seem to be more driven and really have a passion for the technology they work with as opposed to just some Systems Admin working for a finance organization or insurance company... Obviously this doesn't apply to everyone and is mostly my opinion (I don't want to offend anyone).

Also my company is a big advocate of certifications and training and they will pay for any certification you want to attempt up to two tries. Plus they have a massive environment (we're talking a whole data center) dedicated just to testing / labs. I could build my own VMware cluster and play with any OS I please, just for fun.

Really the only downsides I see is obviously like most large companies -- sometimes you feel like just a number. The company is so large that you have to reach out to other departments just to get something simple done. But overall I really like it, I feel as if I'm constantly learning and keeping up-to-date with what's going on in the tech world with not only my company, but competitors and other large tech companies alike. I personally don't know if I could easily go and work for a non-technical company after my experience working with tech companies in that past year and a half.

Pupil

tkerber wrote: »

I work for a vendor and I have to say that there are definitely up sides and down sides. One of the biggest up sides is the resources available to you. There are so many absolute geniuses where I work that I'm constantly learning every day. The quality of people here is really hard to come across in other non-IT related sectors. People who work for vendors seem to be more driven and really have a passion for the technology they work with as opposed to just some Systems Admin working for a finance organization or insurance company... Obviously this doesn't apply to everyone and is mostly my opinion (I don't want to offend anyone).

Also my company is a big advocate of certifications and training and they will pay for any certification you want to attempt up to two tries. Plus they have a massive environment (we're talking a whole data center) dedicated just to testing / labs. I could build my own VMware cluster and play with any OS I please, just for fun.

Really the only downsides I see is obviously like most large companies -- sometimes you feel like just a number. The company is so large that you have to reach out to other departments just to get something simple done. But overall I really like it, I feel as if I'm constantly learning and keeping up-to-date with what's going on in the tech world with not only my company, but competitors and other large tech companies alike. I personally don't know if I could easily go and work for a non-technical company after my experience working with tech companies in that past year and a half.

Would you say working at a vendor is better because the technology is front and center compared to other industries where IT is seen as just a business enabler and an expense?

pinkydapimp

Pupil wrote: »

Would you say working at a vendor is better because the technology is front and center compared to other industries where IT is seen as just a business enabler and an expense?

I would say anytime you are making money for a company instead of being looked at as an expense you will be in a much better position.

ccie14023

This is a very open question and it really depends on a lot of things. I have worked at both Cisco (2 years, TAC) and Juniper (5 years, corp IT) and I have also worked in corporate IT at a regular company and as a post-sales guy at a VAR. It depends on (a) what your job is, (b) who your boss is, and (c) your own preferences.

I absolutely hated TAC. I woke up every day and didn't want to go to work. But I touched over 2000 cases in 2 years and learned a lot. And as a newbie Cisco engineer, it was fascinating to see how Cisco works, and to have access to all the TAC cases, bugs, and internal web pages. However, Cisco is a large company, and being a network engineer there is, as a friend put it, like being a chicken at a chicken farm. I was totally impressed with my own CCIE when I got there, but then every other cubicle had a little CCIE logo on it, and I realized I'm not that special.

In Juniper I work in corporate IT. Again, it's great to have access to internal resources, and I love the job in that I get to meet with product teams and determine the direction we take IT. But being in corporate IT in a networking company is tough because you will never be that popular and there are a lot of smart people who will question what you do.

I wouldn't mind working in corporate IT in a non-vendor company that does something interesting. I worked as a network engineer at a newspaper for four years around the time of the original dotcom bust, when newspapers were still relatively big, and it was fascinating. As an IT guy I got to see how every element of the business worked: editorial, circulation, advertising, production, etc. I think if you find an interesting company, being in IT isn't a bad way to go.

There's just no good answer. Each job is different. If I had been an SE at Cisco I might have liked it a whole lot better. I can tell you this, though: if you land a job at a major vendor it will always help your resume.

Iristheangel

I'll chime in. I'm still within my first year at a vendor but I'm loving life and I stopped getting as many grey hairs. Here's my feedback on it so far:

Pros:
- Better pay than the enterprise
- Way better work/life balance
- Lots of encouragement to get certified
- Training, bootcamps, certifications (even failed attempts with some companies), etc all paid for
- Big bonuses for getting IE-level certifications. Also bonuses for re-certifying
- Technical quality of peers that you work with are a LOT higher than in the enterprise
- Great mixture of business and technology - you're not just stuck working tickets all day
- Work from home days and a lot more flexibility with your schedule - No one is going to chase me down or chastise me if I have to go to a doctor appointment in the middle of the day
- Great benefits, great upward mobility, lots of encouragement to plan out my career, etc
- You get the ability to see many different types of architectures, mixes of technology, etc unlike working at an enterprise where you might be following a standard architecture for that specific company
- TONS to training. About your products and other company's products. I get emails about at least 8-10 different internal trainings a week. There's a rabbithole of knowledge that just never ends.
- Great overlay teams to help you on architectures you aren't strong in (For me, voice would be the one I'm frequently needing help in)
- Access to new-to-market technologies and knowledge about products that haven't even hit the market yet
- Tons of amazing free labs and technology to play with for certification, practice or even just to populate a home lab to experiment like a mad scientist

- Pro for me specifically: I can move around the country and I won't have to look for a new job. I can just transfer when something opens up. Great for my long term plans with this company

Cons:
- You usually are working in a larger company. There might be yearly layoffs and issues you have to deal with
- You might have been the rockstar in an enterprise/MSP, but being surrounded by TONS of intelligent people might make it harder to shine at first
- There is a MASSIVE amount to learn. It's easy to feel overwhelmed in the first 6 months
- People skills required. You will meet a lot of different people and personalities. I listed this under con but it could be a pro if you're a social butterfly

chmod

I have been working for a vendor for many years.

I have a roll that is a mix between a PM and a solutions engineer. Some times also delivery and i love it.

Pros:

Technology is their life and their reason to be.
Make money out of technology is their business, you will learn how to make money out of technology.
Is a very competitive field, so the quality expected is always very high and you have many resources to make it right.
Customer centric(i snot liek some call centers where they give a **** about cusomers and their issues with their products or services).
You will learn a lot and will meet a lot of geniuses.
You might have the chance to travel a lot.
That will keep you sharp.
A constant challenge(i do like challenges).
Salary tend to be better.

Cons:

A lot of overtime.
Working for a big time can be a pain(a lot of processes to get a simple approval, to buy something).
This may vary from person to person but: If you are shy, quiet, lack of confidence to speak in public and have a hard time to express yourself or to defend your position. You will have a hard time, while a geek seating in a server room of small-mid size company might perform better.
Depending on how big is the office where you work you might feel like a number.