True, There really is no such thing as an 'entry' level network position. You usually start in a setup or helpdesk type postion to get your foot in the door, thats what I did and learned more than any class in the first year ...way back when

 

HR FTL. I can connect you with some good recruiters in the NE if you are interested but you'll pay between 10-20% of first year salary for the search. When I was an IT/IS director I always had to resort to this. Too many BS resumes full of lies to deal with and I dealt with similar high consequence SLAs to chance it.

JAA

 

Get into a callcenter helpdesk or a remote NOC. you'll learn more there than anywhere and that experience is so valuable. most datacenters are colocation or going that way nowadays and people who can manager remotely and coordinate field support/engineering efforts will be most valuable.

 

The hard part really is that you picked a field (networking) that most people migrate into as their career evolves. I know very few people who started off in networking. My career progression over the last 10 years has been:

- Junior didn't know **** help-desk technician helping secretaries with MS Word and fixing printer issues on a .gov contract.

- Junior sys-admin fresh out of MCSE school doing windows work for a dot-com (that eventually shut down without paying any of us our last months pay). This is where I did my first bit of networking and really got hooked on it.

- Junior network engineer at AT&T. They helped pay for my CCNP certification. Steepest learning curve on the planet. This job was worth it's weight in gold as far as experience. Also got lots of experience with Linux as a corporate support platform.

- Mid-level network engineer for Sun Microsystems doing contract support of other company's networks.

- Senior network engineer for a company that was purchased by my current employer (they were also a customer when I was at Sun).

This happened over a period of 10 years. Everytime I outgrew a position (which I worked my *** off to make sure happened), I jumped to a new gig and took substantial pay-raises in the process. If you're young, screw long term job stability in favor of challenging, difficult positions where your head hurts all the time because you're learning so much. Shoot for job changes every 2-3 years. If you can't learn everything there is to know about your job in that amount of time, you're not trying hard enough, or you're in one seriously dynamic environment.


ETA: And in fairness, I should disclose that I didn't get the help-desk job mentioned above until I was 25 because I spent 6 years riding around in helicopters for the Army right after HS. I still don't have a college degree (in fact I don't have a credit to my name). The path for college grads is probably different.

 

Nope, but this position offers relocation assistance if you're interested in living in one of the most high-demand markets in the country for IT pros.

 

I wish i could apply, i have experience in everything else, but load-balancers, i just finished setting up the whole network in our Kentucky facility.

 

kcobean, what company is this?

Any mid level software engineering positions (3+ yrs)? j2EE (javaEE) stuff preferred.

 

We're HEAVILY vested in Java technologies. Shoot me a PM.

 

Java FTW!!!!

Oh.. and .. Internet **** is still where the $ is at I'll make you famous

 

Who isn't? Web apps are the way of the future . I'm glad I'm along for the ride.

 

aw man,i knew i shouldn't have slept through java class

 

currently.. im looking for job.. i can send u my resume?

 

Are you a network admin/engineer?

 

right now im Senior System Engineer but im looking for either network admin or eng position..

 

I really need someone who's had a couple of years beating on network gear.

 

gotcha~ may be next time~

 

I have been beating on networking gear for 20 years... Synoptics, Wellfleet, Bay Networks, 3Com, Crisco, Nortel, and poked a Juniper once or twice...

Gainfully employed though...

 

Do you guys also need software developer with 3+ years of experience?

 

I'm not HR or recruiting for the company, I'm a hiring manager for the network department, so while I can't say for sure, you can check out the website for what positions are open. www.real.com.

 

Cisco routers/switches/load-balancers/firewalls, Netscreen firewalls and VPN technologies


^^^^^
Sounds like a NOC position, VPN techologies such as what ??? Cisco Secure?? I deal alot with VPN stuff Active Directory. You are right though if you don't learn anything new then it's time for change.
BTW I have a clearence, just got my "favorable adjudication" papers.