CCNP - educate me please

Author

educate me please

Sea Dragon

2002-02-05, 8:40 pm

I find it funny that companies are not actively searching for potential talent in Cisco. As I go through the search engines "CCIE's wanted" or "LAN/WAN engineers wanted" how about this "CCNA wanted, *this is not an entry-level position*"

Is there a mass suicide of Cisco people happing here? Where did the network engineer that worked for these companies go, abductions? Does corporate America not understand that there are not that many CCIE's out there.

It would behoove Corporate America to look for entry-level talent as a redundant fail-safe. They cry BS in computer Science, which is not Networking Science, as a Professor explained to me last week ' there is not a Network degree program" furthermore he explained " electrical engineering is where you may want to start" well that sounds good if you have time.

There are a lot of "Sr." positions out there - you know the 30 year vet, which he himself is disqualified because he does not have a CCNA. I am sure that this person could pass the test, nevertheless I see that companies are fighting for experience. As far as I can tell they are not willing to invest in new talent, therefor they are not investing in themselves, leaving their company naked with out an engineer.

So some one please educate me on the relative perspective of this add. I entered 'Cisco entry level' Is this position for one person? If so he or she should make one dollar less than the CEO. My view is this company is standing there with its pants down to their ankles. I would not want to work for a company that as left themselves this open to a collapse. Secondly, what would the maximum Qualifications be?

What do I say when this company ask " what Cisco equipment have you worked with" I look at them and say - I have a lab - 2 -2501's - many will die laughing

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

1. One (1) year experience within the past three (3) years, in a production Data
Center environment, performing the following duties:
a. installation,
b. configuration, and
c. maintenance support of Cisco routers/switches, with
d. hands-on experience on in the following areas:
i. Catalyst 6500 switches with MSFC/PFC modules
ii. Cisco 7200, and 7500 series routers
iii. Cisco Channel Interface Processors (CIP)
iv. Cisco Local Director load balancers
v. Cisco Internet Protocol Television (IP/TV) content delivery systems
vi. Cisco Intrusion Detection Systems for both Network and Hosts.

2. Six (6) months experience within the last one (1) year working in the
following areas:
a. installation,
b. configuration, and
c. maintenance support of the associated current software levels used on the
above hardware (The Cisco Catalyst switches run CatOS 5.x, the Cisco
routers run Internetworking Operating System (IOS) level 12.x).

3. One (1) year experience within the past three (3) years, working in the
Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) and Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP)
domains:
a. configuration,
b. operation, and
c. troubleshooting of installations with 30+ VLANs and CDP domains.

4. One (1) year experience within the past three (3) years, working with Local
Area Network/Wide Area Network (LAN/WAN) networking related issues,
supporting routing issues such as the following:
a. load sharing/balancing,
b. multi-homing,
c. Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), and
d. Border Gateway Protocol (BGP4) routing.

5. One (1) year experience within the past three (3) years, working with
Multi-protocol Language Scheduling (MPLS) Virtual Private Network (VPN)
design/implementation.

6. A strong technical knowledge, to be determined by questionnaire given at
the time of interview, of the following:
a. Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP),
b. Net-working hardware architectures, and
c. knowledge of regular expressions,
i. route-maps,
ii. access-lists, and
iii. switching/queuing techniques.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
a. HP Openview Network to Network Management (NNM),
b. CiscoWorks 2000
c. Concord Nethealth experience.
d. Familiarity of Intermediate Distribution Facility (IDF) and multi-max panels.
e. Security Certifications
f. Cat 5 and fiber-optic cabling uses and implementation.

Hell I am familiar with much of this, but I don't have "enterprise experience" I ahve a small lab *lol* - the egg comes first or was it the chicken. Not so Lastly (borrowed from not so stubby in OSPF), CCNA is being taught in high school as a "college level class" this is refreshing. Can some one say Juniper, Avici, or Procket Networks.

peterd

2002-02-06, 2:52 am

Hello Sea Dragon,

if you fancy the job then apply for it whether you're 'qualified' or not.

A lot of job adverts list everything under the sun because the guys that wrote it haven't a clue and took advice from an agency, etc.

I've heard of job adverts stating 'degree essential' and the guy that got the job hadn't got a degree but he did have other qualities that came through on the interview.

At worst you waste a stamp and few minutes composing a suitable letter. Don't ever apologise to a prospective employer along the lines of, "I haven't quite got what you're asking for but...".

Your attitude should be 'I'm the man you want but you don't realise it until I've explained it to you!'. Grab them by the throat and tell them they're stupid!

Go for it!

Regards
Peter

Sea Dragon

2002-02-06, 10:31 am

Peterd

Thanks for the clues
I like your attitude

Chuck

dmaftei

2002-02-06, 10:59 am

Hey, peterd's advice is sound (especially the "Grab them by the throat" part

), and I don't know if there's much to add to it. However, I got a question...

quote:
Originally posted by Sea Dragon
...
Multi-protocol Language Scheduling (MPLS)
...

Did you pull this out from an actual job description?! MPLS is MultiProtocol Label Switching, not Scheduling...

Sea Dragon

2002-02-06, 12:11 pm

dmaftei

This the actual post - I was puzzeled by this too along with -

Internet Protocol Television (IP/TV)

Multi-protocol Language Scheduling (MPLS)

and the software that I do not have like all of them.HP Openview Network to Network Management (NNM),
b. CiscoWorks 2000
c. Concord Nethealth experience.

and

Familiarity of Intermediate Distribution Facility (IDF) and multi-max
panels.

thanks agian - this is helpful - I too like the "grab them by the throat" attitude

haseeb_eng

2002-02-07, 1:57 am

Nobody is expert since his birth . You guys are hearing since many years that " shortage of IT professionals" this means that shortage of professionls by experience not by certificates . Major goal of a company is to look for experts who can work well with them & can finish job/work on time . The problem which Sea Dragon mentioned here is the common problem all over the world .
I had applied job in one largest telecom company last year and i was refused because of less experience . And they appointed another person he was having same experience as mine but he said to them that he is well experienced so they gave him job and he was applying his skills whatever he learned from the CCNA & CCNP course at his job . So this means that anybody can do that job who had done CCNA & CCNP lab atleast once .
One big reason why companies ask for more experienced persons is because of cheating material & dumps and the other big reason is that someone's exam is given by someone else . So thats why they don't take risks to appoint fresh certified people . And sea dragon just don't worry " WHEN THERE IS A WILL THERE IS A WAY " just remember one thing your hard work does not waste it definately gives you return . And when you will get that return i don't but you will get .

Good luck

Sea Dragon

2002-02-07, 2:29 pm

Thanks for education haseeb_eng - so what I am getting here is to go beyond the truth - true?

The Reamer

2002-02-07, 4:41 pm

My advice is to go for it. The only caveat is to be careful. I keep thinking of George O'Leary and the Notre Dame job. There have even been a couple of assistants with problems on their CV that have resigned or been fired. Stretch the truth, but don't lie.

Reamer

huntert

2002-02-07, 5:00 pm

I do agree with you sea, i have seen and keep seeing very moronic job listings on dice,flipdog,computerjobs,hotj
obs and they make no sense at all. Do understand that most companies will either:

A: hire a college grad with less exp, so they can pay him/her pnuts.
B: they will just take a person that works in a dept similar to the needs that they have and train that person and not hire at all.

You have to just keep on sending them resumes out or try local shops that may be cisco authorized sellers and try to do some sale and maybe implement for some of the customers, that is a great way to learn the router/switch/cisco models and know exactly how to set them up.

Goodluck

Sea Dragon

2002-02-07, 8:54 pm

The recruiters that I receive mail from "send more money" and many people from many disciplines use to find jobs - They are high paid middle men - true? What is their take on placement on a high profile job like the ISP's or teleco's, 15 - 20% of one's annual salery?

What are some tactics to break through security (human). How can I go to a large company and talk their IT guy. "Do you have an appointment?" looking down at my bare feet, I look up and so "no" as I walk to my car and look back at the impeccable structure with Enron written in gold, I think to myself……

Lastly, there has to be a small team that will run the network, like the example above, how many Cisco personal would they have to hire to run this network. * From the equipment - I know that they have many nodes maybe 250 nodes, max per VLAN / top of the line MLS and routers. I am sure they have regional offices - remote as well, they are probably implementing multiple routing protocols. How many people would they need to handle 5000 to 7000 nodes plus all the gear 24/7

peterd

2002-02-08, 2:14 pm

hi Guys,

I wouldn't ask to speak with Personell/HR, and probably I'd not go to the IT Manager...

I'd ask for one of the techies, if queried by the switchboard operator I'd say that I'm testing the wires and need someone to look at some LED's (whatever, you're not interested in talking to the switchboard!).

Have a chat with a 'fellow' techie and see if there are and changes going on, recruitment, etc. Find out the best person to send your resume to and tailor your covering letter to suit that person or anything you find out about the company.

I'd try a few times with different approaches to see which one gets the best response...

There are plenty of companies in yellow Pages!

Regards
Peter

Sea Dragon

2002-02-09, 12:26 am

There is a good tactic - I will have to be real creative - I am going to have to think outside of the box

haseeb_eng

2002-02-09, 12:34 am

Ya peter you are right to give CV to a right person is very important . I used to fax my CV in many companies but secerties they don't pass my CV to their managers . So sea dragon you have to be careful from this & in my previous post i mean to say that don't loose hope you never know when luck will knock your door .
My last job was in a telecom company (not that one which i mentioned b4) but before applying job there i had applied job in some of the largest companies (by which i was refused) and when ever i was going for an interview i was having tie with suite & clean shave (but again refused) but when that telecom company call me for an interview i thought that "another one for the collection " actually i was not going to go there then i thought lets see " then i did not even make shave and wear just normal jeans & shirt and went for the interview and the interview i did not even gave from heart and after 2 days they called me you are choosed ( so this means that you should not loose hope ) . And remember one thing this problem will be with you for some time when you will get some experience then there will be no problem.

Good luck .

TheDaveO

2002-02-09, 1:02 am

A lot of times the recruiter or the person in HR gets the job description over the phone. By the time they write it they sometimes don't get half the stuff they wrote down when they took the call and aren't interested in finding out "what it all is" in the first place. We wind up looking at job postings that have strange descriptionsor are even in the wrong categories. You really don't know what the job is about until the interview. All too often you don't know what the job is until you've been in it for a month or so!!

haseeb_eng

2002-02-09, 2:56 am

Offcourse nobody is going to tell you the whole story i.e what is going on inside their company unless you become the employee of that company . And some companies they even don't take from you proper work for 90 days this means that you have to be honest with them and have to prove yourself .

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