CCIE job search considerations

by Emmanuel Conde

April 1, 2008 —

You have a great resume, bought a new tie, shined your shoes, cut your hair, taken out a few of your visible piercings and are shopping for a new job. Don't go into the job market even one in such high demand as CCIEs without giving your next steps some thought! When preparing for your job search you must take stock of where you have been.

What made you happy in those old roles? What made you want to leave? How were you supported as you prepared for your CCIE written exam? How were you supported when you took the lab? How about the second time? Looking back over your past can be ugly, but the past can hold clues to where you want to be and how you want to be engaged in your next role.

Take the things you liked about your previous jobs and look for them in your next. Make sure to look for a defined career path since you have a good idea of where you want to go and what you want to be doing in the future. Are you planning on keeping your CCIE and adding a second or third Cisco certification? Do you intend to accomplish this through independent study? Will your new employer support this with a lab?

Your next employer may support your efforts and even provide a lab but will you use the skills? If you really enjoy networking technologies then you want to get into them every day. Where do you look to find a company that will allow you to play with the current and emerging Cisco technologies? So many questions you may want to climb a mountain in search of a guru.

Here's where I am going with this line of questioning.

If you want to maintain a certification and possibly add more then you will want to find a company that supports these efforts. Ask in the interview how or if they support CCIE certification goals. There are plenty of bonuses out there for having your CCIE and other certifications, but if you cannot maintain key certifications you may find it difficult to keep the bonus money coming in. If a company does not support your goal of maintaining or obtaining your Cisco Certifications you may want to look for different options. There are many companies that do actively support Cisco professionals as they purse and maintain their CCIE.

Eman's Points to Consider:

> Work with an agent who will support your career objectives and help you make decisions. Many recruiters do not have many options beyond their customer base when recruiting and giving advice, so make sure to ask who they are representing.

> Look for a company that has been recognized by Cisco and obtained or is obtaining Silver or Gold status. Plenty of companies have become Cisco partners, but look for those that have been recognized for services and innovation.

> Since you have already asked why they need CCIEs on staff, you will want to know how many others and what kind of certifications their staff possesses. When you hear about a lot of big money being offered you may want to beware. If it sounds too good to be true, then it may be too good to be true. Check the details and reputation of the company by asking around your network of professionals. Some compensation plans are tied into sales commissions, productivity bonuses, utilization and other factors which you may or may not have control over or a desire to be tied into. Some companies will pay a lot of money to you but how long can they sustain big salaries?

> Make sure there is a documented or defined technical and professional growth plan.

> In the interview, find out who is talking to you. If you get nothing but HR and Recruiters that could spell trouble and might be a sign of a quick turnover company. If you are talking to senior level managers and technical peers that's a good sign.

> Ask questions, lots and lots of questions.

> If your potential direct manager is present then make sure you could work for him or her. Use the looking back on your career method of assessing your potential manager. What did you like about some of
your previous managers? What did you dislike? Take a look at this manager under that criteria and you might be surprised at what you find.

Here are a couple of questions I've received this past week:

A future CCIE from Fiji wrote me and asked:

1. I sat the CCIE R&S Written exam and I passed. I am currently preparing for the R&S lab which I hope to sit by December this year or even early next year. In the mean time I was thinking doing some Cisco professional certs along the way, namely CCIP, CCSP or CCVP (I already have CCNA & CCNP). Which one is more valuable in the real world right now?
2. I am from Fiji and I intend to go to Sydney, Australia next month on a job hunt. According to the Aussie IT job websites, there is a lot of demand for Cisco skills there. If I can't land a Cisco Network Engineer post straightaway, what would you advise me to do? I have more then 3 years experience in the Microsoft MCP, MCSA field but not much in the Cisco field except routing and switching at school and at home using my Dynagen lab.
3. Do you know of any good contacts in Sydney, Australia who will be able to provide me with a Cisco opening plus maybe support me with my lab preparation?
4. My intention is to be Fiji's first CCIE. After passing the R&S lab, which other CCIE track do you recommend I should go after?

My advice:

CCVP and Unified Communications for newbies to our field. There is huge demand for IPT and VoIP support. By all means complete the CCIE lab and obtain your CCIE since this will surely raise your value on the market in any country.I have a strong network of Cisco CAMs and have begun locating those Cisco partners with high demand in the Sydney area.I recommend Voice and Security as next targets and can advise on companies that will foot the bill.

This query from Malaysia asked a question some of us baby-boomers worry about:

Dear Mr Eman,
I am from malaysia would like to ask some questions
Firstly, I am 35years old, it is too old for me to learn from CCNA, CCNp and CCIE from now?Secondly,does a company hire people with CCIE at the age of 40?kindly advice me sir. thank you

My advice:
35 years old and worrying about being too old? Maturity is no replacement for aptitude but maturity and a strong technical acumen are an attractive combination for many hiring managers. But 35 or 40 are not old! Many of the CCIEs are over the age of 40 so my advice is to plow ahead and let me know when you have your CCIE at any age!

This email from a refugee camp in Lebanon has given me a challenge and I remain in contact with the sender. I am now working with several Cisco CAMs and partners in the Middle-East to help this Cisco Engineer find a new home.

Dear Mr. Eman

Good day, I saw your article about how to improve job searching for Cisco professionals, it is so interesting but living the role of finding a real job is so hard, I have my CCSP certification also some other vendor certifications some for Comptia and others for Siemens, I worked in the IT field for 5-6 years but for the bad circumstances I had to leave my homeland (Iraq), I tried every possible way (I think) to have a job in my specialty, but always I fail, 90% of the rejection I receive from companies is that because I am Iraqi, what can I do to have a job, I spent about a year looking for a job in middle east (many countries I searched in) but no response, by the way I can't search in the united states or Europe because they do not permit Visa's for iraqi's, what can I do please I need your advice.

Best regards

Dear Sir:
Thanks for your reply, first of all I was born in Baghdad in 1979, finished my study and obtained my B.Sc in computer science and information systems from
the university of technology in Baghdad in the year 2001, after graduating I started my first job as a helpdesk in one of the computer centers in Baghdad I started to move from one place to work to another until I had my own computer center that delivers network solutions and hardware maintenance also I started to work on Cisco devices (routers & switches) selling, installing , and configuring, after the war in 2003 job opportunities started to increase and I was looking for a job with a fixed income (salary), you know that the situation directly after the war was not so bad in Iraq , not like now (it starts to get worst in 2004 till now), I found a job with a company (health care field) in Baghdad in 2004 which offered me a job as a network administrator (little amount of money but a lot of hand on labs for me to work ), I began my first full time job and I started to improve my self with more real life experience and working on to get my CCNA and security + certs , life seems good and moving toward a good future but the truth is not, because things start to get worst due to the security crisis in my country many of the private companies started to move their work to other countries, I lost my job in January 2007 because the company I worked for closed, and I tried to find another job but the opportunities for finding a job was so small, it seems to be so hard to find a job now days in Iraq because about 90% of the companies left the country due to the bad circumstances, I had to leave Iraq ( you know , no electricity, no security, no good running water to drink, no services at all) I had to leave to Lebanon, in order to stay here in Lebanon and have a residence permit I am not allowed to work in Lebanon, I spent my time reading and working on some labs I rent , preparing to have my CCSP, I finished my last exam two months ago hoping this cert will help me to find a job or increase my opportunities in finding one, I started to send my CV to many Recruitment agencies (Dubai, Bahrain, Jordan , etc..) but no response, also I tried to get a schengen visa to search a job in Europe but the embassies for many European countries do not give Visa to Iraqis ( I have to be invited by a company in Europe to obtain the Visa), I applied my CV on some job hunters sites on the internet to find a job in any place but I failed also, for Canada I applied to the immigration process a year ago but I have to wait for 5-6 years till I can have a meeting appointment in the Canadian embassy ( too much immigration applications from all over the world, a lot of load on them), I tried every possible way but I could not make it to find a job in the Field I like, please I need your help, my CV is attached as you requested

Thank you with my best regards

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