I've noticed in networking, compared to other IT fields (which is a mixed bag/YMMV situation to begin with), is mainly comprised of people with solid interpersonal and communication skills. The hard skills in this filed /almost/ seem to be secondary in this line of work.
I've met individuals with multiple certs and an accredited college degree related to networking who were unemployed. At first I thought Networking was a worthless field, but then I realized most of the kids who couldn't land a job would literally turn into a bowl of spaghetti if they managed to land an interview. Not to mention they all were super out of shape (UPSs and aggregation routers aren't fuckin' light).
Is anyone here not a Networking NEET?
>>54467287
i would love to be, but have no idea what to do after the 4 CCNA certs i got. would be a really fun field to work in.
afaik there arent any uni courses for it.
>>54467943
Well the certs alone are more or less toilet paper if you haven't worked a day in an IT field.
Networking/Sys Admin cheat code is to take any low tier IT job and constantly "bug" the guys doing the real footwork. I started out working at my highschool with the systems/network admin as a general on the go helpdesk guy. I started to weasel my way into less client side issues and work with 3rd party contractors for infrastructure related problems.
The only catch is you have to deal with 10/15 dollar an hour pay for a short while. You need to demonstrate the fact you can
>show up on time (big thing that IT spergs can't do)
>be okay with being thrown over your head (aka problem solving)
>be a cool guy/gal to work with (you can be 100% right, but 100% fired)
Don't think you're going to be fucking with Cisco shit every day, thing is, you can plug a fucking router or switch in, do basic config >copy-run-start, and that thing can be left alone for years, that's why corporations pay $$$ for Cisco. Take some time to study for something Microsoft related (MCSE level or something). 'Cause reality hates a specialist.
>>54467943
I get harassed constantly.
>>54468222
i did not know that, huh. i don't think those three things would be an issue, but i see, i have the chance of becoming a "networking specialist" but im not sure if i should take it or not, we didn't do all that much with actual hardware at the academy thing, so that's a minus...
thanks for the explanation though, appreciate it.
>>54468483
If you are being offered a position as a networking specialist, take it. You'll fill in the gaps as you work on the job. The hardware isn't /that/ much different from how it works on Packet Tracer. If you got your CCNA, you can manage figuring out how to rack mount a switch or install a fiber module.
>>54468568
oh, not a job, i can take the specialist exam now that i have the CCNAs.
>>54467287
> is mainly comprised of people with solid interpersonal and communication skills. The hard skills in this filed /almost/ seem to be secondary in this line of work
"cyber security" with meh tier computer skills checking in. I'd like to talk to you about 16 character passwords and explain to you that your favorite forum just got blocked.
>>54468222
all the green text in here is gold.
I'd add in that internships, local sys admin, security, network engineer, whatever meetups and hacker spaces are amazing and that you can cut the $15/hr shit much shorter with a little bit of that or an internship.
I'd also add that YMMV by area in terms of certs and specialties. All the "networking" jobs are clustered together in my region and all the specialist/high level/ manager shit is clustered together in a city that's a different area.
Do some research, spin up your favorite job search engine and realize that if you are attached to a part of technology or a type of thing to work on you might have to live in a specific region.
Once you start working look for the projects no one wants to touch because they are difficult, annoying or hard. Shit like rewritting corporate security policy because everyone else can't be bothered will make a nice line on your resume and probably will befriend the manager you are doing it for.
Network Engineer here, work for a large IT contractor in western Canada, $89k base salary per year, but I cleared $109k in 2015.
I wouldn't say I have good social skills, I generally hate people and have no friends other than my girlfriend. I'm good at presenting and explaining things though. I would make a shittt salesman, my negotiation skills suck, and I don't care about making a personal connection with people. Soft skills do matter, but nowhere near as much as your hard technical skills.
>>54467287
a ton of network support and admin gets outsourced to india, they are fucking useless and difficult to work with
Former network engineer here.
I agree mostly with >>54469376, that's almost the same experience as me.
However, I find network engineers to be the angriest, least tolerant, and least willing to dumb down their explanations for non-networking people. If someone understands subnetting and the TCP handshake they'll generally get enough respect that networkers will help more. But if someone doesn't have a basic understanding of TCP/IP and starts asking stupid questions, most network engineers just shut down and consider the person an idiot not worthy of their presence.
>>54469821
this is all of /g/ and pretty much anyone else in the world numbnutz
>>54469821
how do you define puce to a blind man?
