[AusNOG] Job: Head of Network Operations - NEXTDC - SydneyC

Tue Feb 24 12:16:09 EST 2015

One thing I value the most when doing technical interviews is identifying
the attitude and behaviour of the candidate under different circumstances.
I agree this is quite difficult to analyse through a phone interview but
what I always look for in the candidate is how quick he can learn new
things, adapt to changes and the approach to solve problems that are
outside of his comfort zone.

And yes, you still need to check his technical knowledge too.

Surely experience is important, but how the candidate built his experience,
IMO, is the key factor. This will tell you how fast the candidate can
master a topic and how he may fit in the position you are offering.

./diogo -montagner

./diogo -montagner
JNCIE-SP 0x41A

On Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 6:04 PM, Ross Annetts <
ross.annetts at digitalpacific.com.au> wrote:

>  I have had some experience in interviewing new network engineer
> candidates (at final stages of testing technical ability) for the web
> hosting space where a variety of skills is preferred.
>
> I think the term Jack of all trades can imply "master of none" and
> shouldn't be used loosely in a resume or interview, as we all have limited
> time and energy it is an uphill battle trying to be an expert in all things
> and can indicate spreading yourself thin. I think you clearly need to excel
> in a specific need of the employer and then supplement this with a variety
> of skills/experience, having your resume reflect this as well as the way
> you present yourself. Do your research on the company and what they do
> before hand, what hardware/systems they use etc.
>
> Regards,
> Ross
>
>
> On 22/02/2015 3:10 pm, Michael Wheeler wrote:
>
> I'm yet to find a company that is ok with "jack of all trades" resume in
> Melbourne out of the 50+ jobs I've applied for. Apparently showing any sort
> of interest outside of Network Engineering results in your resume being
> thrown out.
>
>  Anyone aware of any jobs that might be lurking around Melbourne? At this
> stage I'd be willing to answer phones for a NOC.
>
> On 22 February 2015 at 13:25, Cameron Ferdinands <cameron at jferdinands.com>
> wrote:
>
>> +1 I wrote out this long reply but this pretty much.... nail....
>> head.. Especially about "jack of all trades" fitting into large
>> networks well, very well. When I look around this is a commonality of
>> our best people.
>>
>> > Apply for positions at your dream company, even if you think you might
>> not cut it. Many/most of my colleagues never thought they'd get the job,
>> but did.
>>
>> Absolutely, what do you have to lose? Worst case you get a job offer
>> to present to your boss for that raise.
>>
>> The other note, virtualization of network equipment has never been
>> easier, and if you run out of compute there's plenty of that on tap
>> now (<shameless plug> AWS </shameless plug>) if you want those 400
>> routers, that's within your reach for less then $50 for a couple of
>> hours. -- If you have issues getting $50 together for AWS, do let me
>> know.
>>
>>
>> On 22 February 2015 at 14:02, Ben Buxton <bb.ausnog at bb.cactii.net> wrote:
>> >
>> > I will chime in here, I've interviewed well over a hundred network
>> engineer
>> > candidates for Google (hi Phil!). Some personal thoughts here...
>> >
>> > On Sun Feb 22 2015 at 9:14:36 AM Skeeve Stevens
>> > <skeeve+ausnog at theispguy.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> I'm seeing a massive amount of foreign application these days (90%) but
>> >> equally missing relevant experience and the certifications rarely seem
>> to be
>> >> as 'solid' as locals.
>> >>
>> >> What strategies are Google/AWS using to find good candidates locally -
>> if
>> >> you don't mind telling us?
>> >
>> >
>> > I think I've found your problem.
>> >
>> > 90+% of the world's network engineers live outside Australia, so it only
>> > makes sense that you will get a substantial number of applications from
>> > overseas.
>> >
>> > My experience tells me the following generalisations (there are
>> exceptions):
>> >
>> > - Certs are a poor signal that someone may be a good candidate.
>> Candidates
>> > with and without certs are equally likely to perform well in a technical
>> > interview and job. All it tells me is that they can memorise and rattle
>> off
>> > the vendor literature. In fact, I tend to find that those with large
>> cert
>> > counts are particularly poor candidates as they seem to lack actual
>> > experience and cant work through oddball real-life problems.
>> >
>> > - The location of a candidate has no correlation with how good they are.
>> > There are equally good candidates from around the world. You need to
>> seek
>> > locally first to get a 457 i think, but there's only 1% of candidates
>> > locally.
>> >
>> > - Candidates who have worked in large companies can often have very
>> narrow
>> > experience due to siloing. They may have just touched the firewalls, or
>> the
>> > access side, or the peering edge. Whereas often candidates from smallish
>> > companies/networks often have had to be "jack of all trades" and their
>> > dealing with knock-on effects across infrastructure mean they can
>> quickly
>> > become brilliant engineers at large networks.
>> >
>> > So by excluding (or strongly biasing against) foreign candidates, those
>> > without certs, and those from smaller companies, you have just gone and
>> > dropped your pool of quality engineers by 90%. There's your problem.
>> >
>> > Go and find good engineers by speaking with them about interesting
>> > engineering challenges rather than first looking for CCIE numbers. And
>> be
>> > open to global candidates.
>> >
>> >>
>> >> Or... what advice would you give to engineers who might be missing in
>> some
>> >> experience, to help them fill the gaps?
>> >
>> >
>> > Be curious. Turn on interesting protocols in a lab and fire up
>> > wireshark/tcpdump on them. Break them in interesting ways (and see what
>> > tcpdump shows). Write some software to do tedious tasks for you.
>> >
>> > Dont just memorise the cert cram material. This becomes really obvious
>> to a
>> > seasoned interviewer.
>> >
>> > Apply for positions at your dream company, even if you think you might
>> not
>> > cut it. Many/most of my colleagues never thought they'd get the job, but
>> > did.
>> >
>> > Unfortunately it seems you may need certs to get past some resume
>> > screeners...but you probably wont be happy working for those companies.
>> >
>> > BB
>> >
>> >
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>
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>
> --
> Regards,
> Ross Annetts
>
>
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