Cisco Experience or lack thereof.

epo299 · 14th July 2012, 8:20 PM

maybe not appropriate.

HUMMER · 14th July 2012, 8:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by epo299

been studying cisco certs for a while.. progressed through ccna just finished ccnp academy self studying the ccna streams but dont use the skills at all in my current job.

if you want to use what you learnt. then its time to look for another job where you can.

Quote:

Originally Posted by epo299

3 occasions now i have had people in to reconfigure or troubleshoot problems and i was genuinely excited to see the things i have been studying put into action by a guru.

The first an optus tech came out to replace a piece of cisco gear. Had NFI. i basically guided him through it while he called back to base for the commands.

the second a contractor came out to diagnose a connection issue.. didnt even know the command to show the interfaces.

the third another contractor to fix a wireless issue. the first thing he said when he sat down to diagnose i dont really know the command line stuff much more comfortable with the gui.

a lot of the time. the field engineer they sent there is just just field service which are usually only doing basic troubleshooting and replace if it still does not work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by epo299

i have been stuck in support for ages fearing i dont know enough.. perhaps i should just bite the bullet and google or wing it like others seem to do.

are these three instances just bad luck or is this the norm?

if you think you can do better. its simple. apply for a network role. you seem to know enough about doing it since you are going for CCNP.

biatch · 14th July 2012, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HUMMER

a lot of the time. the field engineer they sent there is just just field service which are usually only doing basic troubleshooting and replace if it still does not work.

+1 to this. The people who are sent to site are rarely network people. They're the hands and feet that are sent by network people to do the physical stuff for them.
They usually communicate with network people who are back at the office.. looking at things remotely that are necessary to fix your shit... while someone else heads to site do deal with the cocky clients.

HUMMER · 14th July 2012, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by biatch

They usually communicate with network people who are back at the office..

i have been on the other end of these calls. where I have to instruct the field service what they need to do based on what they can see on the physical device. majority of these people sent on site is nothing more than hands and feet.

the few times where a network engineer has been sent to site is when we had cisco sent their CCIE certified engineer to replace the blades on our 6500. they had to send one of their network engineers as they needed to make sure that the 6500 is working as it was once the parts where replaced.

nowlan · 18th July 2012, 7:00 PM

The onsite guys are really phone techs, eg, data cablers/austel license.
They can test phone line for faults if internal cabling issue.
For the most part, they just upload a standard template to the router.
Probably edited back in the main office by someone else.

When ive spoken to them, its after they swap in new router, or fresh install, and want to prove to me comms to our routers, radius etc. Sometimes id ask them to reboot to make sure the config held. On with next job.

---
With cisco studies, keep going with labbing at home, read up on things. If you are geniunely interested, it wont feel like such a chore. Get GNS3 and some 2950 switches.

Talk to the guys above you. Let them know your studying. Ask them questions.
If your in a dead end at the company, then start looking for greener pastures.

LostBenji · 19th July 2012, 7:25 AM

Now that you have dragged up an old and pretty much dead thread that the OP backed out of, I will throw my 2 cents worth back at the almighty network guys who live in there precious little A/Ced offices and never get their hands dirty.

Now I am the guy who is sent to various sites to troubleshoot connectivity issues on behalf of various carriers, companies and customers. I don't have any Cisco C-letters on my title nor really any others and for good reason. I am self-taught and usually have enough nous to work around issues or have contacts with those who do.
Now lets look at why someone like myself is sent out, connectivity. Now this happens when the customer has drop-outs or slow speeds or whatever. Now this is pretty easy for me when I am there on behalf of the carrier/supplier, I look at the physical state of the lines feeding (regardless of type) and also look at their BORDER or NETWORK BOUNDARY gear. This is the equipment supplied by the carrier and is known/supported by the carrier and has remote access to the managed hardware. If the device cannot be access remotely, I place in a test device (usually a known working modem/device) and check connectivity, if bad, cables/lines replaced or whatever. If good, then border device is reset and default config blown in. If connectivity is restored then we change the password and access and ensure the customer is locked out.

If I attend and find customers networking after the border is to blame, I have a simple response, please support your own gear/mess or be prepared to pay applicable labour costs for my call out and/or fixing the issues caused by gear I am not responsible for.

9 times out of ten, it has been the customer who has bricked the device or fucked it.

Now this sounds narky or pissy but when you look at all the different products out there and all the different vendors, there is no way I am going to try and support everything including Cisco and their special little fanboys of them.

biatch · 19th July 2012, 8:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LostBenji

I will throw my 2 cents worth back at the almighty network guys who live in there precious little A/Ced offices and never get their hands dirty.

I'm not really sure what your problem is? Noone was trivialising the job. It's a critical part of the process but the OP's post specifically criticised the lack of networking knowledge of the people who've been to his work. It was pointed out by a few people that the people who go to site aren't network people, which is probably why they didn't do what he was expecting.

Feel free to throw shit around because you feel personally offended though.

epo299 · 19th July 2012, 8:26 PM

Interesting reading thanks for the comments. I only blocked it in case my co workers are also on this site. but guess i was too slow!

It wasnt meant to bag out the people they sent out. They are just doing their job and i would never insult them for it.

Its true the guys they were calling who i ended up talking to seemed very good. I was hoping someone like that would be coming onsite.

14th July 2012, 8:20 PM	#1
epo299 Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Melbourne Posts: 68	Cisco Experience or lack thereof. maybe not appropriate. Last edited by epo299; 14th July 2012 at 8:24 PM.

18th July 2012, 7:00 PM	#5
nowlan Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 87	The onsite guys are really phone techs, eg, data cablers/austel license. They can test phone line for faults if internal cabling issue. For the most part, they just upload a standard template to the router. Probably edited back in the main office by someone else. When ive spoken to them, its after they swap in new router, or fresh install, and want to prove to me comms to our routers, radius etc. Sometimes id ask them to reboot to make sure the config held. On with next job. --- With cisco studies, keep going with labbing at home, read up on things. If you are geniunely interested, it wont feel like such a chore. Get GNS3 and some 2950 switches. Talk to the guys above you. Let them know your studying. Ask them questions. If your in a dead end at the company, then start looking for greener pastures.

19th July 2012, 7:25 AM	#6
LostBenji (Taking a Break) Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Not around here anymore.. Posts: 5,298	Now that you have dragged up an old and pretty much dead thread that the OP backed out of, I will throw my 2 cents worth back at the almighty network guys who live in there precious little A/Ced offices and never get their hands dirty. Now I am the guy who is sent to various sites to troubleshoot connectivity issues on behalf of various carriers, companies and customers. I don't have any Cisco C-letters on my title nor really any others and for good reason. I am self-taught and usually have enough nous to work around issues or have contacts with those who do. Now lets look at why someone like myself is sent out, connectivity. Now this happens when the customer has drop-outs or slow speeds or whatever. Now this is pretty easy for me when I am there on behalf of the carrier/supplier, I look at the physical state of the lines feeding (regardless of type) and also look at their BORDER or NETWORK BOUNDARY gear. This is the equipment supplied by the carrier and is known/supported by the carrier and has remote access to the managed hardware. If the device cannot be access remotely, I place in a test device (usually a known working modem/device) and check connectivity, if bad, cables/lines replaced or whatever. If good, then border device is reset and default config blown in. If connectivity is restored then we change the password and access and ensure the customer is locked out. If I attend and find customers networking after the border is to blame, I have a simple response, please support your own gear/mess or be prepared to pay applicable labour costs for my call out and/or fixing the issues caused by gear I am not responsible for. 9 times out of ten, it has been the customer who has bricked the device or fucked it. Now this sounds narky or pissy but when you look at all the different products out there and all the different vendors, there is no way I am going to try and support everything including Cisco and their special little fanboys of them.

19th July 2012, 8:26 PM	#8
epo299 Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Melbourne Posts: 68	Interesting reading thanks for the comments. I only blocked it in case my co workers are also on this site. but guess i was too slow! It wasnt meant to bag out the people they sent out. They are just doing their job and i would never insult them for it. Its true the guys they were calling who i ended up talking to seemed very good. I was hoping someone like that would be coming onsite.