From: Mark Lasarko (mlasarko@co.ba.md.us)
Date: Mon Jun 06 2005 - 13:08:45 GMT-3
Greetings David,
I see much of this technology as a natural progression for many
CCIE_and_networking_types_in_general;
And you do not necessarily have to be an SP to make effective use of these
technologies.
Examples of these technologies as potentially used in a modest company or
municipality could include:
Convergence: optical networking allows for more flexibility to converge voice
and video with data, natively, and at greater speeds than many traditional
layer-3-based implementations
Extensibility: DWDM/CWDM can be an excellent way to extend a SAN or DR site,
without the need for FCIP, additional overhead, or excessive facilities
Additional services: Though less common of late, you can still provision DSx
circuits and stuff, sometimes useful for last mile connectivity where
resources are at a minimum without the telco draining the bank account
Security: Many of the agencies I support appreciate that they have their own
lambda as this offers a degree of physical separation. This can be useful in
situations where you have a mix of customers/agencies and may not want or need
to encrypt *everything* for sake of confidentiality, dealing with regulations,
mandates, etc...
Having noted the above, I would say just about any company who covers more
than a couple of zip codes should value this knowledge.
Likewise, a small campus environment with limited facilities may find benefit
in a small optical core for the reasons above and then some.
I am personally aware of many municipalities whom currently use or have plans
to use optical and/or xWDM technologies in the near future.
And many companies use xWDM transport, leased or in-house, for sake of hot
sites, DR, SAN replication, etc...
Some may argue that once a company or municipality implements these things
they in essence become a SP.
They may very well be right, and I would not debate otherwise.
While there are certifications available, I think the key here is more
understanding, being able to talk intelligently about this stuff. Once you get
there the vendor-specifics are mostly a difference in syntax. At the very
least, once you begin to understand these 'side-step' technologies, you are
better able to support and troubleshoot services provided to your organization
by SP's and others. This has been a definite plus in my career as I am better
able to understand and analyze variables beyond the edge of my network
consistently, often with more knowledge and insight than the service
representative made available by the SP.
I also see the legacy voice support for many organizations turning to the
IP-oriented networking staff for input. The two roles merge closer every day
IMHO and the best way to survive the collision will be to have a solid
understanding of what is headed for you. While it may not be commonplace today
it's only a matter of time before most higher-level networking types will be
expected to be familiar in these areas. I predict those who do not will simply
be referred to as LAN Administrators. Not to offend and LAN Admins of course,
if that's what you do, that's exactly my point.
My main concern regarding your post would be not for the content of the
position, but the understanding of the interviewing panel.
I am certainly not suggesting that everyone should know the detail of CCIE
curriculum, but as individuals involved in hiring highly skilled technical
professionals they do have a responsibility to be familiar enough to
understand the educational journeys a hiring candidate has been on en route to
meeting them. As you point out, unfortunately this is often not the case. A
few years back I did some heavy CheckPoint work on Nokia platforms and
obtained an NSA (Nokia Security Administrator) in addition to the CCSE thing -
I have yet to meet anyone else who knows what an NSA thing is - they all think
"National Security Agency" something or other :)
The best resources for your friend to determine this path may be to read a
good book or two on optical networking technologies as there are a few (Cisco
and non-Cisco) titles available.
Personally, every time I come across something new, which was the case for me
in regards to all the optical stuff once upon a time, I either need to know as
much about it as possible or I forget the orientation post-haste and move on.
For me optical has been, and continues to be a lot of fun.
Bottom line: Do what you love and pursue that which is of interest to you.
If your friend is sincerely interested it will likely be a good career move as
they will learn and grow from it.
I know it's karmic perspective, but it works for me and many others with whom
I have discussed similar things.
(Sorry for the long-winded answer, I just have a lot to say about this.
Hopefully it will be helpful to your friend and others as well)
Best,
~M
>>> "David Duncon" <david_ccie@hotmail.com> 06/05/05 8:37 AM >>>
Hi Group,
I was wondering if any one can give some guidance on the following career
transition issue.
A friend of mine ( who apparently is preparing for his CCIE R & S Lab exam )
got an opportunity to work as a Network Engineer with an Optical Network
vendor who manufactures and install WDM (Wave Division Multiplexers) and
FDMs ( Frequency division Multiplexers) with in Carrier exchange
environment.
As he was totally confused about the offer because half of the interview
panel was not aware ( or less keen should I say) on what the CCIE
certification is all about as they are all hard core Carrier back ground
people with more focus on Optical Networking , Juniper gear and CLNS stack
(ISIS) and with much lesser focus on IP Data Comms as such. So my friend was
not sure whether it is a career limiting option or career enhancing option ?
Any feed back on following information is much appreciated.
1) Is this moving (from purely IP based Data Comms role to Optical
networking Engineer role) a completely side step with limited future
opportunities ( i.e. less employers in the field) or it is moving up the
food chain kind of process with in to a complex Telco or Carrier arena ?
2) What kind of career certifications are available with in Optical
Networking & which ones are valuable/useful to have ( on WDMs , FDMs and
related products) 3) What kind of employers in the market employ these
Optical Networking skill sets ?
Thanks in advance...
Cheers
David.
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