From: Vijay Ramcharan (vramcharan@thedeal.com)
Date: Thu Sep 15 2005 - 10:50:22 GMT-3
If this thread is depressing anyone, please accept my apologies.
Thanks Rik and everyone else that replied. Your encouragement is very
much appreciated.
I usually clear my Inbox daily and keep only pending tasks in it. Rik,
your last email to me since I got it a few weeks ago, is still in it. I
keep going back to it every so often.
I believe some of my frustration stems from the fact that I don't deal
well with rejection nor do I adjust easily to disappointment especially
when the hopes that you've nurtured for many months (years?) on the way
to CCIE, basically disappear. It's like someone just knocked you off
your feet.
So, with all the good advice that I received since yesterday, I think it
prudent that I set my sights lower than what I hoped I'd be working on
after passing the CCIE.
Thank you all very much. I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out
in the coming months...
Vijay Ramcharan, CCIE #14824, CCDP, MCSE
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
Guyler, Rik
Sent: 15 September, 2005 09:20
To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: RE: Newly minted CCIE travelling the well-beaten path of
inexperi ence
Vijay, I think we've talked about this before. While most/all of us
here
know that while you don't have a lot of the needed hands-on experience
(for
Cisco gear), you do have a very solid foundation to build upon. If
nothing
else I believe passing your lab proves this much. I am certain that
there
is an employer somewhere in your area that will be happy to take you
under
his/her wing and be willing to accept your downside with the potential
huge
upside you bring to the table. Experience should not be summed up just
as
"Cisco" experience for a CCIE. You have five years experience in IT
(if I
remember correctly) so you still posses some of the intangibles that
these
potential employers are looking for. For example, you know to have a
healthy fear for changing production equipment. It doesn't matter if
you
are changing a router setting or a server setting...the potential for
downtime is the same. You only develop this healthy fear through
experience.
Vijay, have you considered looking at smaller networks? While you may
not
be working on BGP, MPLS, etc. technologies in these smaller
environments,
the small to medium sized employers are probably more willing to hire
you on
faith. Also, another great place to look is contractors. Most Cisco
partners would be overjoyed to have a CCIE on staff. The marketing
value
alone is worth a ton to them as they can advertise you to their
customers.
In addition, contractors need bodies and usually have a higher turnover
rate
so opportunities present themselves pretty frequently. The best thing I
can
tell you about contractors is that you will get exactly what you want -
experience and tons of it. You could be in a new environment nearly
every
day of the week. Of course it depends on the contractor, project type,
clientele, etc. but in any case, you will get the experience you need.
You
might even find you like this type of work. I know a lot of people that
do.
I worked in this environment for several years before I decided to
settle
into a large corporate environment. Contractors also usually value
certifications so you should also expect ongoing training and
certification
support.
Vijay, you are well spoken (at least written ;-) and I am sure you will
land on your feet. In the meantime, keep up with GS, read all that you
can
to stay current and keep your chin up. Remember to always accentuate
your
strengths whether they be technical or not.
BTW - I checked out those links and the arrogant a$$ in the longer one
would
have been eating with a straw for weeks if he had treated me that way!
I
would have walked out within five minutes of that and taken some of his
blood with me. I won't let anybody treat me that way. Remember, these
people don't own you in any way and the worst thing that will happen is
you
won't get that job. But really...would you want to work for people like
that anyway? ;-)
Good luck and stay in touch with us!
Rik
-----Original Message-----
From: Vijay Ramcharan [mailto:vramcharan@thedeal.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 6:41 PM
To: Cisco certification
Subject: Newly minted CCIE travelling the well-beaten path of
inexperience
I've been searching for an active networking role since July and I'm
slowly
despairing of ever finding something. Seeking some encouragement, I
began
searching the GroupStudy archives and found this thread:
http://www.groupstudy.com/archives/ccielab/200404/msg00115.html
This message in the thread sums it up nicely.
http://www.groupstudy.com/archives/ccielab/200404/msg00265.html
If I had taken a better look at my situation and gone searching the
archives
2 months ago, I'd be less disappointed than I am now. Since I posted my
resume on Monster and Dice this July, I've been on a number of
interviews
but my lack of "large network" experience has been my Achilles heel.
That's
not to say that I'm inept or anything like that.
My most recent round of interviews resulted in this, "Everyone that
interviewed you came away very impressed with your knowledge and
presentation abilities. We have however, identified a candidate that
has
more practical experience, and are going to pursue him."
Before that it was something along the lines of "we feel you are
technically
sound for a level 2 position but you have no practical experience in
large
networks so we cannot go forward with you"
And so it has been for pretty much all of the in-person and phone
interviews
that I've had.
I'm not even concerned about pay rate as job satisfaction is much more
important to me. Being a great network engineer is my long-term goal but
it's impossible to be great without day-to-day experience. I find that's
what helps to solidify the theory and lab work and keeps what I've
learnt on
the journey to CCIE from becoming ephemeral.
I'm willing to put in the time to learn and do more and I've proven that
I'm
technically capable but it seems that even with the CCIE, getting a foot
in
the door is not that easy. Maybe it's because I live in NY and there's a
bit
of a competition for junior level spots but I sure was hoping that my
cert
would put me near the top half of a candidate list.
I know there are others on this list in the same plight that I'm in so
as a
word of encouragement to myself and those, "hang in there, somewhere,
someone, is willing to give you a chance".
I'm still searching...
Vijay Ramcharan, CCIE #14824, CCDP, MCSE
P.S.
I'm currently employed and have been at the same employer for almost 5
years
now. I don't do much day-to-day networking duties nor is there any
future
opportunity for that here or I'd be glad to stay.
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