>-----Original Message-----
>From: Kevin Zsenak
>
>I would like to know from the senior guys how they got
>started. I would especially appreciate comments from
>fellow MCSEs or CNEs that switched to Cisco.
>
>Thanks,
>Kevin
Kevin,
Okay, now that I have a few minutes (had to put some brash, young upstarts
in their place <evil grin> just kidding) here goes, just the technical
stuff:
2 years (during school) Radio station job, studied for FCC licenses. Pay
sucked but job was awesome. No real upward mobilty.
6 years, US Navy, Submarine Service. All computer, missile subsystems, etc.
Good computer training. Plenty of training for which I paid in time away
from family, duty to Country, etc. Pay scale not too great. Decent upward
mobility (as long as YOU ducked when they yelled "incoming!" Just kidding.)
8 years, NCR/AT&T. Field Engineer, front end processors in SNA enviroment.
Learned WAN early on, got LAN training, all CNE training plus some PC
classes. Pay decent, went from junior guy to junior-guru. No one else would
touch that new-fangled Novell stuff. Took every bit of training I could
scrounge. Here is where I learned customer service skills.
4.5 years, County Govt. IT department. PC and LAN/WAN gig. Pay was
sub-standard but I got to work with anything and everything they had (a
large, forward thinking County) and again took every chance to learn.
LAN/WAN/router/switch/hub, Novell, NT, TCP/IP, internet, Web stuff, layer 3
switches, etc you-name-it. Also did a fair amount of teaching. Started out
mid-level, worked to top level techie and all around go-to guy... after that
no one would die so I couldn't advance into Management. (Just joking... or
am I?)
2 years, regional network integration firm. Pay decent, started at Senior
Network Engineer. Hired for my server background, but primarily did networks
and WAN stuff, Cisco/Bay/IBM routers, WAN circuit provisioning, switches,
etc. Pretty much anything and everything... always short staffed so we just
did whatever it took. Whatever I didn't know, I went home that night and
learned it so I could be the expert onsite the next day. (what? you expected
a "just kidding" here? No way... gospel truth)
So far that is, hmmm... 20+ years not counting the radio gig. Now I am with
a major, best-in-class, top-notch, outstanding (this is all in case my boss
reads this list) consulting firm... working with the best and brightest
folks in the biz (no snow job there, I am in awe of some of these folks,
scary-smart dudes and dudettes).
I didn't my first Cisco cert 'til I got to my current employer. I give more
weight and credence to verifiable experience. But I will continue to back up
that experience and test towards more certs with the rest of you guys and
gals.
Can you do it faster than I did? You sure can. That's just my story... and
I'm sticking to it.
Hope this helps, and had some value. Good luck!
Mark O.
_______________________________________________________
To unsubscribe from the Jobs list, send a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx with the body containing:
unsubscribe jobs
