From: darbyweaver@yahoo.com
Date: Sat May 13 2006 - 11:15:12 ART
I'm actually responding to another thread but decided to change the topic.
Let's see...
1. I always give at least 2 weeks notice, I don't recall 4 being the norm at least not in my neighborhood.
2. A given company is not obligated to train a person for something like the CCIE or any certification for that matter. They may ask for it as a basis for employement, and then they may support it or they may just like to have it.
3. A Cisco Partner, in particular, needs "X" number of certified "Cisco" professional with certain designations to maintain their partnership for audit purposes and to ultimately provide the level of service that Cisco expects its partners to maintain. It also has a program, which every CCIE candidate should know very well, that protects the partner against the partner helping to get a CCIE certified and then that CCIE subsequently leaving the company.
4. For other companies, your mileage may vary.
Personally, I have began negotiating my certification and education requirements as a part of my compensation package.
I don't even consider a company without at least 2 weeks of paid training and at least 1 conference per year as a part of the package.
I have gone to three weeks of advanced CCIE Training so far this year and even though I did not make it to networkers last year it was paid for on my behalf and I also received 3 weeks of paid training last year as well.
I expect that I will probably maintain this level of advanced training.
I was also able to send my co-worker to two weeks of training last year to learn to support our WLAN Campus, further he has been to two weeks prior to this week of advanced security training at SANS, and is currently in San Diego at his third week this year at a SANS Conference.
====================================================
On my co-workers, behalf he has also taken the torch a step further and provided training for both Network+ and now Wireless training to our internal staff and as a result several of our team have become certified due to this fact.
He is now teaching the fundamentals of Wireless to a new group.
I am an MCT and as such I am required to train "X" number of individuals per year as well. So I have offered to teach classes to further help our fellow co-workers expand their own knowledge and certifications.
Currently, I am completing a major network overhaul, so I was asked to wait until after my projec was complete to begin instructing our internal staff.
But it is likele that in the either 4th quarter this year or 1st quarter next year, I will begin training internal staff.
So you see you can have it both ways if you are willing to educate your employer about your own training needs and are willing to provide some type of cost benefit to the employer.
===============================
Oh, and did I forget to mention, that our network has become majorly stable in the process...
Last year, my trip to networkers was cancelled at literally the last minute due to the "possibility" that something may go wrong... and the most senior guy would be in "Las vegas"...
And I still recall vividly having to work most of my evenings late and I could count on working every single weekend as well... and yes, it is true I once had to cancel my lunch 3 times in the same day...
However, I love challenges and live for them... I chose this life and career and would do so again...
And I explained to my management that this was unacceptable and that if they would let me work in my own fashion, that "by this time next year" we would have some sort of improved stability.
I was even argued down that it would "never" happen on this network. There were always fires and there was never time to do it right the first time anyway.
Well, I'm here to tell you... I just do not believe that philosophy. I spent my days, nights, and weekends... I put off my own training and conferences which I had negotiated for to make my network stable.
I have what my last boss referred to as an 80/20 rule... 80% planning and 20% doing and I even recall a director who told me once that if fhe were going to have brain surgery, he'd want his surgeon to use my philosophy. Well in the midst of fires and outages, it is sometimes hard for management to see this philosophy as being tangible... And that's where it becomes my job to show what "measure twice, cut once" really means. I see it as a challenge and I meet that challenge every time. It is probably what I love about this field more than anything else.
Yes, as the Cisco guy, I had to jump in and fix WINS, DNS, DHCP and even have to provide guidance on how to fix the AD problems in Windows 2003...
Yep, I had to do those things to remove the "Ghosts" from the network...
I had a tremendous amount of legacy gear and Cisco equipment with the dfault VLAN 1 sprinked everywhere and problems with native VLAN mismatches...
Cisco Works and Openview were installed but were not taken advantage of, I used them to help me idenity the issues and I set out about fixing them.
Now I must say I work in a very dynamic environment and no my field equipment does not have UPS's as they should and no I do not have redundacy beyond the core, but I have made the network stable and my configs in over 1000 devices are now standarized.
I used to call the place the "Pretzel" and with good reason... I don't have to use that term anymore...
Sorry to diverge so far from the question...
But this is why when I ask for advanced network training, I get it without question or doubt or even when there is no budget otherwise. I think my management has seen the results of my coworker and myself... and found the results to their linking.
As far as I can tell, this network is more stable that it has ever been and I can say that due to the inclusion of strict change control and my own efforts to clean up the town is a direct result of my training and ability ot apply the concepts learned consistently.
Since about January of this year, I can say proudly now that I rarely get called after hours and maybe once in a month or two or more...
It is like that...
I have justified my training and my salary increases by delivering on the promise of designing, configuring, and implementing a stable network that can meet the business needs of the company both now and in the future.
And yes, I will continue to request more time for training as I deem necessary this year to help meet the goals of my company and maintain my own level of knowledge.
Now, I also will be proving the resiliency of the network as we conduct our first Disaster Recovery scenario this year. So I get a chance to prove the infrastructure I have designed can survive in the event of an emergency...
And FYI - I'm even getting more redundancy now as well. It took a year of tring to justify such things but it CAN happen if you insist on it and if you maintain your integrity.
=================================
I know many will say that, well I already do these things and it doesn't work...
I will admit it takes persistence, it takes perseverance, it takes integrity, and it takes a strong belief in your own self worth.
I have followed this style of "Giving to Get" for the last 4.5 years or so and through three employers now and I promise you it does work.
It will especially work if "YOU" make the difference and create you own opportunities, especially when others see none.
If you are waiting to see the bandwagon to get on, you already missed it...
I know some people will mock me and say I must be dreaming, but I assure I a not and I work very hard and late into the night to meet my goals, professional and personal.
And yes, I even have pre-paid for my CCIE Lab and something at work could come up and cause me to cancel at the last minute...
I am a professional and I would probably cancel my lab to meet whatever the demand was... This is the obligation I took and it is the one I honor, I can always reschedule and take the lab again...
Knock on wood here...
So just because it has not worked for you does not mean it won't work.
I have also discounted the belief that "if you train them, they will leave"; well honestly even if I were to leave any time soon, I have delivered an ROI that is undeniable and the value of keeping me trained has been retained by the company.
I came in well-certified, I ask that futurre employers understand that I am committed to life-long learning and yes, I take college-level courses and read books outside of my studies as well (well not for a while now) but in general.
Forgive any typos please...
:)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Thu Jun 01 2006 - 06:33:21 ART