Entry level networking tips?

[Solinary]

Heya,
Curious if anyone knows of any companies that take in recent networking grads? I have been in IT for 13 years, but have zero real-world networking experience beyond VPN and firewalls. I have been looking for a while now, but I am finding it impossible to get away from desktops and servers to the network side of the house with just a degree and CCNA.

Thanks,
Joe

[Ghosty]

Damn, a bachelors, CCNA, and 13yrs IT exp. incl. a little VPN & firewalls, but STILL difficult to find an entry position in network ops?! I'm shocked (not being sarcastic either), I'd think you'd be able to find something, maybe not in the perfect place or highest salary, but still some entry opps, weird.

How recent is your CCNA? Not expired?

For starters, hit up the job tabs on websites of Qwest (careers.centurylink.com), Comcast (Denver/DTC), IBM Global Services (Niwot & DTC), Level3 (Broomfield), Verizon (Springs), Cisco (DTC), Avaya (Broomfield), various big banks in Denver, and other larger techie companies with strong presence in Colorado. You never know when they'll have a junior netops opening.

Your best bet might be how I started, which is as a contractor instead of a permanent career position. There are several IT/Networking consulting companies in Denver that would love to pimp you out, and for good pay and decent benefits. Great way to get your foot in the door, but many people love just consulting for 6-month gigs or whatever. The pay is frequently high enough to tide you over between gigs.

[Matrix]

PM sent.

[Solinary]

I took and passed my CCNA just a little over a year ago so it is still valid. Contractor spots are a good idea as you mentioned, admittedly I tend to steer away from them based on past experience but that could be a good way to break through; I have been hitting company sites as you mentioned though. As for the pay, I do not expect to get what I make now, but at the same time one can only afford so much of a cut before it would be setting one's self up for failure.

[TurboGizzmo]

So 13 years in IT, what is your experience in?

[TFOGGuys]

[puckstr]

Just left my position at JCMH. Listing may not be up yet.
http://www.jeffersonmentalhealth.org...employment.cfm

Great company with 3 weeks vacation in the first year

[Solinary]

Persistence and a positive outlook paid off as I was offered a network engineer spot today. Pretty wicked excited and a bit nervous as I am going from lots of experience to the nub.

[Ghosty]

CONGRATS!! What kinda stuff in the job descript? Mostly Cisco or what else? Routers and switches, LAN mostly, or WAN too? Any firewall/security stuff?

[Tylar]

New 32 bit masking, 128 bit is young Jedi. Go forth and /64.

[Solinary]

It will be primarily Cisco with a dash of others in there. I will be doing field work which is cool because that means I will not be sitting at a desk watching Nagios or something, but rather out there installing, configuring, troubleshooting etc. So, mostly LAN stuff from what I understand, but there will be a bit of WAN side in there. One of the bonuses is that they pay for your certifications up to, and including, CCIE and they seem all around very interested in employee development so I will be all over that stuff.

Exciting stuff!