Eman

The year 2011 started off for me with a bang. In the first two weeks of 2011 I have received calls and emails from dozens of Cisco Channel Partners from around the world. It seems like the drought is at an end and maybe one of my prediction for 2011 is coming true. This year I predicted on a friend’s blog that it will be easier for a Neophyte Network Engineer and Newly Minted CCIE to find a job. I am not saying the jobs will pay as much as a senior level engineer, but the jobs are out there and employers seem to be willing to interview. Yeah it’s a good time to be a young and smart Cisco certified person. So listen up all you greenhorns and tenderfoots get ready for the interview as if each was a final exam. Study up, make yourself comfortably conversant on the details in your resume and stave off the crickets during an interview. Active listening is critical, so make sure to be conversant in general, not just in technical discussions. Remember crickets can kill an interview! But I am getting ahead of myself; I do that when I get excited!

Money! Yup that’s right, M O N E Y (no dummy, don’t hide your wallet). A CCIE in the eyes of a Cisco Channel Partner represents revenue, they all want the highest ROI (Return on Investment) and that is the bottom line. Do you want the big bucks as a CCIE? You have to earn them; you did not win the lottery when you were certified, you won the chance to stand out in a line up.

Important and often number one is the ability to communicate. You can carry around in your gray matter information on how subatomic particles influence the flow of IP data during sun spot activity, but if you cannot convey the information to a sixth grader you are not prime cut. Make sure you can communicate techy to any audience. Practice doing it even if it feels silly; drive your mom and dad crazy with MPLS and OSPF.

Next is Presales skills. Like it or not, you as a CCIE, (or any other IT eye catching certification for that matter), are the link to revenue in developing client relationships for your employer. If you are working for a Cisco Channel Partner then you have to help sell yourself because you are the subject matter expert. Yeah, those are awful big shoes for some youngsters, but confidence is contagious and it’s your job to gain it.

Next in line is technical acumen. The technical skills assessment in an interview can be debated and often is by anyone who has been eliminated in one. That CCIE number did not automatically and permanently install instant recallable technology details in your synapses. You have to prepare for an interview and be able to communicate in a way that makes you a rock star, but not a snob. That old “CCIE tude” thing I have heard so much about in feedback after a CCIE has interviewed is real to some people. Like Sasquatch though you have to be the right person in the right spot at the right time to see it. I am not really sure if its intimidation or snobbery or what, but you have to keep an eye out for the beholder’s expressions I think.

Last but not least is price. What is your price? Is it steeped in legend and was it found on hieroglyphs pointed out by some oracle from a place no one has ever been? Don’t price yourself out of a job because of a legend. The legend of the $150,000 entry CCIE job has as much to do with hype as it does with fiction. Remember you are young and you will have to climb a few rungs before you can hook the golden ring. Show a little patience and get the discussion started simply based upon your needs first. Entry level network engineers with a CCIE certification are going to be around $100k (many places lower) as a base in the USA. India maybe 1,000,000 INR, Europe 60,000 €, South Africa about 400,000 ZAR, Brazil 100,000 BRL, please note these are estimates from chatting with so many Network Engineers around the world. But my point is you have to get on the ride first. The professional journey you have undertaken is like a roller coaster. The ride will pick up speed rapidly so tuck away your ego to win the first job and the money will follow in your jet stream soon enough.

I am telling you that the Neophyte Network Engineers are getting curtain calls. Yeah the hiring trend is finally creating a chance for the young’uns to interview! Tenderfoot resumes are getting more reads and I have "Heard it through the grapevine", as Gladys Knight and the Pips first sang back in 1967. And what I heard was that “Certification Starvation” along with the exodus of baby boomers from the work force is creating a void that is drawing in younger talent. So dust off the old shoes, remove some of the facial piercings, allow your hair to return to a natural color (for humanity’s sake please stop dying your hair purple and pink and orange) and yes (I know it’s hard) iron something professional looking and business dress (not casual) and "Get Ready to Rumble"!!!

I would like to say in my best radio announcer’s voice, "Today’s trend towards casual dress has eliminated the need for gentlemen to don ties and ladies to wear blazers for interviews" but I would be lying. In fact preparing yourself for an interview must include avoiding Business Casual dress. If you are going to be taken seriously you must make the interviewer feel like you dressed up to impress them. It does not hurt to play ZZ Top’s, "Sharp Dressed Man" while you are showering and getting dressed either.

Enjoy 2011 and make it your year to shine!