Re: OT: Cisco Certified Architect

Technically a skilled a CCNA with a Smartnet contract and even anyone with
any access to TAC can work wonders.

You guys are laughing because this is a CCIE venue.

However, think of guys who are working where CCIE's used to work and doing
the job CCIE's used to do... maybe better, maybe worse, but they are doing
the job and getting paid equal or better to do it...

Sorry - how many times has anyone heard of the story of people not hiring a
CCIE after the interview or CCIE's (professed at least - I've not had the
experience personally just yet) that don't feel like completing the
interview or had trouble with the interview for whatever reason.

Keegan's at SunGard.

My interview at Sungard was a 3-hour hands on lab over a variety of
protocols and technologies - non-stop. It wa as tough as any CCIE Lab and
it was real time under the watchful eye of the guy I would have to work
with. He wasn't a CCIE because he never attempted the lab, but he was all
about the verifcation and prove-it to me methodology.

SunGard hires a large number of Cisco Professionals at all levels for a
great package and they do a lot of great work internationally and
nationally. Some may be CCIE's and most are probably not. But neither is
everyone on TAC a CCIE just yet either.

There are a lot of people who are damned sharp who aren't CCIE's.

Now the funny part of this:

My interviewer's name was: Proctor.

I think that quite ironic actually. A compliment to himself and to SunGard,
his employer. His boss never doubts his work or his ability to resolve a
problem. And when the guy puts in a TAC ticket... he gets his money's
worth.

Hey - Sorry if this offends you but I passed some CCIE Written exams and I
list them in that same section that covers whatever CCIE training I've been
to or other advanced courses and certifications. It is considered a bullet
in my resume. No it's not on the top of the page or any sort of misleading
advertisement. No digits and no logo.

Like it or not, they are accomplishments (as passing any exam might be), and
as long as employers hire me and pay me CCIE-level wages (more than the
recent years salary surveys) to perform the job (some held by previous
CCIE's) then let the employer decide. I paid for the exam, studied for
it,and passed it (3 times to date for RS) and I do list it as an exam I
passed. That is not misleading it just says I passed the CCIE XX Written
exam and when I did it (each time) and for each discipline.

I do use my logos for CCxP and they may or may not be displayed prominently
on the resume, depending on whether they are needed or not.

And as Keegan said... I do Firewalls, Load Balancers, Content-Switching,
WLANs, VPNs, modest Project Management/Visio/Diagramming skills, ITIL, and a
host of other tasks and services but that's just the job. Not every CCIE
I've come in contact with always has the whole skill-set desired/required by
employers. Whose fault is that?

As much as we seem to think of R&S, the whole job does not always encompass
100% R&S. Maybe it does for some.

As for salary there are a lot of great 60k-90k salaried jobs out there too
with great companies.

At a time when CCIE's are out of work and at a time when jobs are available
for CCIE's....

No one should blame anyone else for their unemployment. Even in this
market.

Go to monster.com or dice.com -> when there are 200-300 job on any day for
anyone close to a CCNP or CCIE level. Not sayiny it is easy to get up and
move to a new city or new state or even new country - but hey do what you
gotta do.

Myself... if I could not find a job that met my requirements, I'd go get my
business cards made and start knocking on doors. This actually pays better
than corp work if one has a certain skills and mindset to do it properly.

On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 10:08 PM, <Keegan.Holley_at_sungard.com> wrote:

> I hate to tell you guys this but the CCIE is not the highest bar in
> technology, not even close. If you look at the salary charts it is beaten
> by certs based on business intelligence such as the PMP or ITIL3. There
> are alot of companies where a CCNP on the road to the CCIE, but with good
> soft skills and maybe even some systems/application knowledge may be worth
> more than a CCIE that knows nothing but. That and there alot of CCIE that
> tend to be arrogant. Choosing unemployment over sub 100k salaries,
> assuming they are too good to do documentation or load-balancers or
> firewalls even. I think most companies need an asset not a cisco text
> book and there are alot of NP's that are winning that battle. And let's
> face it.. Life outside of the lab comes with full access to the cisco
> website, an account team, other peoples configs to cheat from, the ever
> ubiquitous TAC contract and no 8 hour time limit. Granted there are
> engineers that still can't find the right answer with all those things,
> but how many can (and are) doing just fine?

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Received on Wed Jul 22 2009 - 23:49:41 ART