From: Darby Weaver (dweaver@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Date: Sun Jul 14 2002 - 15:18:03 GMT-3
Hmmm...
It all started when I got laid off some 6 weeks ago...
I thought it was somewhat hopeless - I even got my old "will route for food"
sign ready.
So there I was a deserted Network Specialist with no job and very few
prospects...
Sure plenty of experiences in 3-12 month contract/contract-to-perm types of
positions for the last 8+ years and another 6.5 years in the military with
some IT experience there as well. But not many jobs were listed and even
fewer were calling back.
A hiring manager from Sprint even called me " Over-Qualified" - Go figure, it
was for a sales role...
Most of the most sought after certs - except the LAB :(
Even had it scheduled for today as a matter of fact. - I had to reschedule.
So now it will be 03-22-03 (Sorta like my b-day in a certain light). Imagine
being born on during the Ides of March and then 34 years later being re-born a
CCIE...
OK - Takes a little imagination...
Anyways - Every potential job offer came in the form of an IP Telephony
Project. These guys are still thinking about their projects, I suppose.
Except one...
It was to migrate a Novell Network to 2000...
A dubious guise. I was really not very interested in it at all as a matter of
fact.
But when I got there I found two very personable gentlemen who wasted no time
evaluating my goals and then quickly explaining the "big picture". They
already knew my credentials and skill-sets and had probably verified my
references as well.
It turns out that they had a monstrous network to be designed and implemented.
Complete with IP Telephony using Cisco CallManager and U-One, a 6513 for the
core, at least one 6509, and as many 3550's as you could count. 140 or so
Servers, Clusters, Sans, etc.
A living breathing CCIE Lab - Perfect!!! :)
In addition to most of the rest of my resume as well:
Novell/NT/2000/Solaris/PIX/Cisco Works/HP-Openview, Security and even IP
Telephony. This was the job I had been preparing for all of my career.
There was a catch. - Basically minimum wage for salary. But there is a
pension fund, fully paid insurance, and even paid over-time (that will
probably cover the salary differential).
But it does pay overtime and is the most diverse environment I could have
possible hoped for - "My Dream Job".
My old skills don't get weak and all of my newer skills get put through the
frying pan. And they are even implementing almost the enire host of Cisco's
Emerging Technologies - as if nearly every single current technology was not
enough...
Which I happen to be studying/practicing as we speak.
Again - My Dream Job.
So I looked at it carefully and decided I am going to take it.
Hey working for the government and education has its very distinct advantages.
- Newest Technologies, access to Testbeds, and with this much diversity - no
time for boredom.
So the morale of the story is - If you want it - it will come.
In a round-about way.
Anyway I figure 2-3 years implementing ths beast, completing my CCIE (the
background is ripe for R/S, C/S, and even Security) - then I have an excellent
"hands-on" experience in an enterprise environment to help validate my CCIE
credentials - Maybe 5 years would even be better.
So how's that for a success story?
And to top it off I may be able to teach at a Cisco Academy in the Fall as
well during my "free" time.
So I have met all of my career objectives in a single week.
Whew!
Of course - I already have many of the skill-sets in question and have been
training/studying for the rest. So this was quite inevitable that I would
find a job like this one.
But - Boy did it come at the right time...
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Sep 07 2002 - 19:36:30 GMT-3