Looking for a Tier 1 ISP Mentor for career advice.

Mark Foster blakjak at blakjak.net
Mon Nov 21 20:32:38 UTC 2011


On 22/11/11 03:09, Tyler Haske wrote:
> I really appreciate the specific insights offered by Keegan and Valdis.
>
> - Linking me places to apply for jobs doesn't help. I'm aware of who is
> considered Tier I, and how to find their website.

Don't limit yourself to Tier 1's on the outset.
A lot of Network Engineers have worked at least a couple of engineering
roles before landing the one that best suits them.
Companies usually want to hire experience.  That experience coming from
as many varied places as possible, actually has some value.

In my own case, aside from pure bit-pushing I have had retail sales
(electronics sector), technical support, sales, pre-sales and design
experience as well as the hands-on engineering of supporting
infrastructure (datacentre & rack environments, electricity and
environmental systems exposure, plus Layer 1-4+...)

The disadvantage in angling directly to Tier 1 and working your way up
within that organisation will be the potential lack of diversity in your
experience.  The best thing you can do (IMHO) in lieu of moving to a
network-hub city for your hunt, is get your foot in the door with a
company that has a significant need for input at the network level, that
can help you get your start in terms of hands-on exposure to network
operations and management.  It'll give you some real-world perspective
and it'll provide some of the experience that people will be looking for
when reviewing your CV.  If you have that, are visibly keen, flexible
and continue to (visibly) develop your talents as an engineer, you'll
never struggle for work.  You can pidgeon-hole yourself pretty quickly
if you narrow your skill-focus too far.

Mark.

PS: Accepted i'm not in the US, so YMMV, but nothing i'm saying strikes
me as generically unreasonable.






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