Current Events > Almost 5 years ago, I started as an entry level NOC tech

(+) Yeah! (+)

Holy crap, how time flies. I was studying here and there for my CCENT certification at the time, but wasn't taking it seriously. I knew some basic things like subnetting, the OSI model, and basic switch/router functionality, but I had never had any actual real world experience.

They decided to hire me, and I started out doing graveyard shifts. It was super slow at nights, so I'd be on Netflix, Youtube, etc. just watching TV shows and movies most of the night until it was time to go home. Every few hours there was 1 or 2 tickets to work on.

Six months into that job, I realized I wasn't as good at networking as I thought I'd be by that time. So I decided to use the time I would normally spend watching tv shows and movies to study seriously. I brought in my CCENT study book and read it cover to cover. It took me about 3 months to read the whole thing. As I went along, I used packet tracer for most of it and explored more complex commands in actual production Cisco equipment.

CCENT exam day was 8/22/2013. I was nervous AF. I went through the questions and was pretty confident in most of my answers. Cisco exams are pretty thorough, so you gotta know what you're talking about in order to pass. You get one chance to answer each question. Once you click next, that's it for that question. I got to the last question, answered it, then clicked next. The computer screen froze and my heart was pounding so hard. This is something that I'd later realize is a common thing with Cisco exams. The computer freezes for a few seconds when you click next on the last question.

The screen changed to a congratulatory page saying I passed. I was ecstatic. I jumped out of my chair and walked around the exam room with my fists raised in the air. I'm glad I was the only one in there, though, lol. I knew this would be the start of something huge for my career.

Fast forward 5 years later and I'm now *the* network engineer for a company in Austin, TX, along with a CCNP Route/Switch cert, a CCNA Security cert, and a Cisco Meraki cert. Life is pretty good right now.
---

congrats TC, that is good progress and it's great that you made the best of working overnight to study and better yourself rather than get yourself in a rut watching netflix all day. wish i had some of that motivation right about now
---

If you aren't CableZL then this will be pretty weird
---

MegaTech posted...

If you aren't CableZL then this will be pretty weird

I am. I'm trying to get some use out of this alt.
---

IncredibleHulk posted...

MegaTech posted...

If you aren't CableZL then this will be pretty weird

I am. I'm trying to get some use out of this alt.

Oh lol. Ok, I was like this story is word for word exactly the same.

You're an inspiration my dude. I wanted to do exactly what you did but was never motivated enough to stick with it. I hope one day to pick it back up.
---

5 years ago, I was unemployed and about to start working at McDonald's even though I had just gotten my Bachelor's degree
---

how much do u make
---

MegaTech posted...

IncredibleHulk posted...

MegaTech posted...

If you aren't CableZL then this will be pretty weird

I am. I'm trying to get some use out of this alt.

Oh lol. Ok, I was like this story is word for word exactly the same.

You're an inspiration my dude. I wanted to do exactly what you did but was never motivated enough to stick with it. I hope one day to pick it back up.

Yeah, the things that did it for me were:

1) I was working 55 - 60 hours a week just because they would let me.
2) While I was working a lot of overtime, I still wasn't making much progress in life.
3) I worked with some really great network engineers as a NOC tech. I saw how good those guys were, and that inspired me to try to get on their level somehow. I remember watching our senior network engineer (genius level network engineer, could do anything with networking and solve any problem quickly) configure a VPN tunnel in a Cisco firewall. I didn't even understand what a VPN tunnel was at the time, but I was like "I wanna learn how to do that."

So for the most part, I decided to cut my working hours back to 45 hours at the most, study as much as I could at work, then go home and study for another 10 - 15 hours per week. Worked out pretty well.
---

Damn_Underscore posted...

how much do u make

Right now I make $35/hour.
---

What you make 35$ with Cisco? I had to do this at school and I hated this. I may try doing the "real" final exam.
---

epik_fail1 posted...

What you make 35$ with Cisco? I had to do this at school and I hated this. I may try doing the "real" final exam.

I don't work for Cisco. I'm a network engineer for a company that uses Cisco products for their network.
---

epik_fail1 posted...

What you make 35$ with Cisco? I had to do this at school and I hated this. I may try doing the "real" final exam.

But really, what you'd need to figure out is if you hated learning networking concepts or if you just hated the school itself.

I went to UTSA for 1 year and dropped out. I was so f***ing tired of school and I really didn't want to pay another $13k+ for more prerequisite classes that had nothing to do with what I thought I wanted to do with my life. Having to spend a whole year and ~$13k doing classes like English Writing, Psychology, Anthropology, World Geography, and Chemistry was so boring. This was in 2004 - 2005 when Google Maps was extremely new. I remember being so terribly bored in World Geography class, wondering why I'm even taking it when something like Google Maps existed.

It took me years to realize that I was tired of school, but not tired of learning. I thought the two were one and the same for the longest time.
---

Godnorgosh posted...

I'm about where you were five years ago, minus the self-study part. I just passed my first exam with a perfect score, so I'm feeling pretty good about the progress I've made so far.

Soon, Cable ZL. Soon, I will be your worthy apprentice.

You got your CCENT?

Edit: Forgot you're taking classes for it

Still, congrats. It's definitely worth it.
---

Godnorgosh posted...

Hah, yeah, I don't learn that quickly, unfortunately. But I've made a lot of progress. I've learned how to subnet, I know the OSI model like the back of my hand ("all people seem to need drugs periodically"), I know how to perform basic configuration tasks on routers and switches and I can connect small networks.

Taking this class was a great life choice for me. I'd be so far behind where I am right now if I hadn't.

Awesome. That's how it all starts. There's a ton to learn, but you just have to learn a little at a time.
---

CableZL posted...

epik_fail1 posted...

What you make 35$ with Cisco? I had to do this at school and I hated this. I may try doing the "real" final exam.

But really, what you'd need to figure out is if you hated learning networking concepts or if you just hated the school itself.

I went to UTSA for 1 year and dropped out. I was so f***ing tired of school and I really didn't want to pay another $13k+ for more prerequisite classes that had nothing to do with what I thought I wanted to do with my life. Having to spend a whole year and ~$13k doing classes like English Writing, Psychology, Anthropology, World Geography, and Chemistry was so boring. This was in 2004 - 2005 when Google Maps was extremely new. I remember being so terribly bored in World Geography class, wondering why I'm even taking it when something like Google Maps existed.

It took me years to realize that I was tired of school, but not tired of learning. I thought the two were one and the same for the longest time.

it was the cisco chapters online that I had to read, they were extremely long
---

epik_fail1 posted...

it was the cisco chapters online that I had to read, they were extremely long

I'd give the Cisco Press books a shot. They do a really good job of explaining the material without dragging on forever and ever. They follow a flow, typically.

brief history if necessary & Conceptual understanding > how to configure > how to verify configuration
---

---

If I do the real cisco exam? Do you think I am likely to get employed?
---

Meanwhile my Network+ cert is about to expire...
---

epik_fail1 posted...

If I do the real cisco exam? Do you think I am likely to get employed?

The higher up in the chain you go, the more attractive you are to employers that need people with networking skills. Doesn't guarantee you a job of course, but it definitely puts you ahead of other applicants.
---