Bewbies
Mildly Menacing Medic
@chuckwagon
Interesting story. Good to see you landed on your feet. Regarding your next career goals, Cisco is a very common progression from where you are now. As you hinted at, though, there is a big danger of Cisco-based roles being taken by offshore and H1B folks. 11/12 of my Cisco Call Manager admins, for example, are located offshore. Regarding IOS/network ops, 100% of our task workers ("flip this port") are offshore. In our industry, if there is no reason for them to be physically onsite, they should be offshore for cost savings. Not trying to scare you, really.
One way to mitigate this danger is to get settled in a federally-regulated environment such as utilities, finance, or defense. There are many audit requirements that keep activities and information from being handled overseas.
Something you might want to consider: Cisco identity management. It's been around for a while, in different forms, CNAC/Anyconnect/ISE etc, but still has tons of potential to grow. Take a look if you haven't already.
It's very easy to get stuck where you are now.. people often sit in Tier2 for years because they're comfortable and the pay is tolerable. DON'T. Every day should be spent with your next role in mind. To this end, I actually authored a plan to keep my Tier1/2 folks in a position for a maximum of 2 years. Unfortunately abbreviated SCAT: Synergistic Career Advancement Tree. Basically, within 3 months of joining a role, you must pick a specialty.
Interesting story. Good to see you landed on your feet. Regarding your next career goals, Cisco is a very common progression from where you are now. As you hinted at, though, there is a big danger of Cisco-based roles being taken by offshore and H1B folks. 11/12 of my Cisco Call Manager admins, for example, are located offshore. Regarding IOS/network ops, 100% of our task workers ("flip this port") are offshore. In our industry, if there is no reason for them to be physically onsite, they should be offshore for cost savings. Not trying to scare you, really.
One way to mitigate this danger is to get settled in a federally-regulated environment such as utilities, finance, or defense. There are many audit requirements that keep activities and information from being handled overseas.
Something you might want to consider: Cisco identity management. It's been around for a while, in different forms, CNAC/Anyconnect/ISE etc, but still has tons of potential to grow. Take a look if you haven't already.
It's very easy to get stuck where you are now.. people often sit in Tier2 for years because they're comfortable and the pay is tolerable. DON'T. Every day should be spent with your next role in mind. To this end, I actually authored a plan to keep my Tier1/2 folks in a position for a maximum of 2 years. Unfortunately abbreviated SCAT: Synergistic Career Advancement Tree. Basically, within 3 months of joining a role, you must pick a specialty.