+1 for experience.. being able to teach yourself just about anything drops you into the top 20% of any industry (with maybe a few exceptions). one thing I noticed is that the best professionals I met out there are just as good with people as they are with routers and console screens. IT is usually just a cost center (unless you work for a tech company), so if you learn how to navigate office politics and push change, then you will have a spot with the packet wrangling Gods.
On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 9:27 AM, Steve Mikulasik <steve.mikula...@civeo.com> wrote: > 25 year old neteng reporting in. I got into networking when I wanted to > play Quake against my brother and trying to share a single dial-up > connection between all the computers in the house. > > Well I still have a long way to go (employed full time in IT for just over > 6 years), I think I am ahead of most IT pros in my age group. At the end of > the day us young kids learned the same way most of you did, bit of > education, and the vast majority from experience. > > I am at the point know where my self-education skills are effective enough > that I can learn whatever I don't know and solve most any problem I come > across. From what others have said, I think this is the key to success in > this field, although I think this is a skill you develop early in life or > you never get it. I am now trying to learn the things I didn't know I > needed to know to solve problems I didn't know existed. > > I do agree there isn't a big interest from youth in this field. A lot of > people get introduced to networking through education and never develop a > passion for it. When they graduate they choose IT areas more interesting to > themselves. Most schools are teaching recycled CCNA curriculum and/or > thinking from the early 90s. Can't blame anyone who hasn't developed a > passion for networking outside of education for not entering the field. > Memorizing what an Ethernet frame looks like doesn't build an appreciation > for networking, unless you can see the bigger picture. > > Steve Mikulasik > > -----Original Message----- > From: NANOG [mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org] On Behalf Of Ray Soucy > Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2015 7:37 AM > To: William Waites > Cc: NANOG > Subject: Re: eBay is looking for network heavies... > > I really wonder how people get into this field today. It has gotten > incredibly complex and I've been learning since before I was a teenager > (back when it was much more simple). > > I'm 31 now, but I started getting into computers and specifically > networking at a very young age (elementary school). We had a pair of > teachers that were enthusiasts and built up a computer lab with everything > on token ring running Novell. I thought the fact that I could change to a > different PC by driver letter in DOS was the most amazing thing I had ever > seen in the 3rd grade. From there I was really hooked, got really into > BBSing, and when the first dial-up ISPs started popping up I made it a > point to get a job with them. > > My school district didn't offer a technical program for Internetworking > but they had a technical school that competed in the SkillsUSA competitions > and approached me about competing in the Internetworking event, without any > education or mentor I won the gold medal at the State level both years I > competed and went on to the nationals (where that lack of guidance and > access to equipment to train on meant I got my slice of humble pie). I > held my own, but the guys who won at the national level were just so much > more prepared. Despite the stigma of SkillsUSA being trades focused, the > Internetworking competition was a really great experience that mixed > physical networking and basically a CCNA level of theory (they actually > used an old copy of the CCNA as the exam). > > During this same time I got a paid internship for the local hospital and > rebuilt their entire network after seeing the nightmare it was (they had > the AS400 with all their healthcare data sitting on a public IP address > with no firewall and default QSECOFR credentials sitting there for the > taking with 5020 over IP enabled). It was pretty crazy for a high school > student to be doing a full redesign of a network for a healthcare provider, > even building frame-relay links between facilities and convincing the local > cable company to provide dark fiber between a few. > > When I went to university I made it a point to get student employment with > the NOC they ran to provide all of the public schools and libraries in the > state with their Internet access, and that evolved into a full time job for > them within a few years. > > Looking back, it's been like a perfect storm of opportunity that I just > don't think exists today. I'm really happy I was born when I was and able > to have a front row seat to see the explosion of the Internet. I don't > know if I'm just getting "old" but I feel like technology has gotten so > easy for young people that most of them have no idea how it works, and no > desire to know. > > When we interview for new people, especially fresh out of school, its > really disappointing when I hear them start to talk about a /24 as a "class > C" and go on to find out the extent of their understanding ends at a > textbook that is 20 years out of date. When I ask if they use Linux and > they respond yes, I start getting into the details and learn they don't > even know the basics on the CLI like being able to find and kill a process > (thanks, Ubuntu). I think it's a big part of why the industry finds so > little value in a degree vs. experience. > > That said, there are schools with dedicated networking programs that have > really impressed me. RIT is the first that comes to mind. > > > > > > On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 8:53 AM, William Waites <wwai...@tardis.ed.ac.uk> > wrote: > > > On Thu, 11 Jun 2015 14:24:31 +0200, Ruairi Carroll < > > ruairi.carr...@gmail.com> said: > > > > > What I found is that back in early-mid 00's, the industry was a > > > black box. Unless you knew someone inside of the industry... > > > > I suspect this is partly a result of the consolidation that went on. > > In the mid 1990s when I started, there were tons of small mom and pop > > ISPs with 28.8 modems stacked on Ikea shelving. The way that I got my > > first job as a student was literally by hanging around one of them and > > pestering them until they hired me part time. These small ISPs grew > > and most were eventually were acquired and people who stuck around > > through that -- especially the often quite complicated network > > integration that happens after acquisitions -- learned quite a lot > > about how the Internet operates at a variety of scales and saw a > > variety of different architectures and technical strategies. > > > > The scale and stability of today's Internet means that path is mostly > > closed now I think, particularly if what you want to do is get a job > > at a big company. But not entirely, there are still lots of rich > > field-learning opportunities on the periphery, in places where large > > carriers fear to tread... > > > > -w > > > > > > -- > Ray Patrick Soucy > Network Engineer > University of Maine System > > T: 207-561-3526 > F: 207-561-3531 > > MaineREN, Maine's Research and Education Network www.maineren.net > >