[AusNOG] Work experience in networking/telecoms/DCs? Getting my foot in the door?

Mon Dec 22 14:57:49 EST 2014

Back in my day they didn’t have a B.Comp.Sci when I started it was Maths specialising in computing ☺

Personally I found only 1 or 2 course subjects  to be ever relevant in my working life.
What I have found sitting on the “Job seeking” and  the “Hiring” side of the fence.

You get lots of applications for a single position.
People use a filter to go through applications rightly or wrongly filtering on whether a person has a degree helps to whittle down the list to something more manageable.

Then I would have a look at real work experience, not certification boot camps..

I have found

·         Ability to learn / problem solve ++++

·         Ability to communicate  ++++

·         Who you know ..

I don’t think truthful needs to be listed as it should be a given, just like being punctual …

Doing internships or open source projects, you build a reputation, you get to know people and they you.

Alex

From: AusNOG [mailto:ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net] On Behalf Of Chris Gibbs
Sent: Monday, 22 December 2014 2:45 PM
To: Julian De Marchi
Cc: <ausnog at lists.ausnog.net>
Subject: Re: [AusNOG] Work experience in networking/telecoms/DCs? Getting my foot in the door?

+1 Completely agree. It is so easy to fall into the pattern where to expect to find a decent job at the completion of an IT degree.

Unfortunately that isn't how it works in the real world. I know when I did Computer Science all those years ago, I also ran my own business doing SMB networks that gave me a leg up after I finished the degree. That leg up was level 1 helpdesk and from there I worked my way up.

There are always opportunities to find work or gain experience. For example:
1. Internships. UNSW used to invite(?) global IT companies in that would sprunk (for lack of a better phrase) their companies. Often they would be on the hunt for up-and-coming people who are still studying. These seminars used to be conducted after lectures and were usually accompanied with pizza and a good chance to chat. I'd highly recommend trying to attend them.
2. Join an open-source project, open a git-hub account or similar and try to solve a problem that is relevant to where you want to be.
3. Additional to Uni, grab a subscription to CBT Nuggets and/or Safari online books. Try to learn something outside of the 'fixed' learning environment.
4. Build a home lab.
5. If you're in a capital city, join a user group.
6. start a blog. write about your learning, study or various problems you ran into.
7. study and grab an industry exam, ie CCNA

In saying all that, Comp Science gave me a great platform for coding in the 'new' devops world. I think that formal education has it's place and for me was invaluable resource that contributed to where I am today.

Regards,
[http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/6317ed025faeb1698ce6a8458e625f0d.png] Chris Gibbs Network Engineer (Team Lead)

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On Mon, Dec 22, 2014 at 2:22 PM, Julian De Marchi <julian at jdcomputers.com.au<mailto:julian at jdcomputers.com.au>> wrote:
On 12/22/14 13:19, Cameron Worts wrote:
What’s the point of going out and getting an expensive degree when most employers want employees with these requirements?

This. The same problem occurred to me while I was studying. The only solution was to start at the very bottom and work my way up. Which IMHO was a very good approach in the end.

I worked my way up from Level 1 support to where I am now, systems/network monkey.

--julian

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