From: Scott Morris (smorris@ipexpert.com)
Date: Wed Feb 20 2008 - 22:39:47 ARST
I'm still not sure I entirely "get it". In order to be trained (or at least
to be useful IMHO) in a technology, one would presumably want to be clueful
about the different implementations and important differences that may occur
because of it.
I certainly appreciate the idea of needing good L1/L2/MPLS folks out there,
but to learn any technology without the idea of how reality intervenes in a
deployment with actual equipment is very shortsighted.
There are some significant differences in capabilities of Cisco vs. Juniper
vs. Riverstone vs. whoever when it comes to MPLS design and deployment
ideas. And I'd even further that point telling you that the routing
protocols truly are important to any good MPLS deployment. At least
assuming you're going to do TE and/or VPN's and other fun stuff.
From the standpoint of things changing... Well, there's certainly always
the chance for that! :) But could you still be happy without it?
Absolutely!
It's all about what your short-term goals are, and what your long-term goals
are and determining how you'll get there.
HTH,
Scott
_____
From: Alan Chng [mailto:ccieteam@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 6:29 PM
To: smorris@ipexpert.com
Cc: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: Re: Moving away from Cisco
Thanks for all the overwhelming responses.
FYI, I've had the pleasure to work for Cisco and a few large
organizations(SP and enterprise), and absolutely had a ball of a time esp
over whiteboard discussions...
This also includes picking up other vendor skills such as F5, NetApp and
Juniper and I certainly agree with Scott's statement that CCIE teaches you
the interworkings of protocols rather than the IOS, which is more like what
CCNA caters :)
Reason I mention abt moving away from Cisco is a recent opportunity with
another vendor advertising CCIE-level candidate but willing to be trained &
involved in purely Layer 1-2, 2.5(MPLS) for migrating customers from legacy
ATM, FR, TDM networks to the IP/MPLS core. L2VPN stuff basically no IP VPN
or anything IP related except management perhaps.
Obviously, financial benefits will be justified for the switchover and
perhaps you become a Subject Matter Expert, so in that sense I mean you're
not one of the many but become one of the 'few'. Yet the thought of not
working with routing protocols, or IP does twiddle my mind a bit. The fun
level just seems to dip a bit ;-)
The fact I'm discounting Juniper is I see them as equivalent to Cisco since
the 'protocols' are simply applied in a different manner as prev stated.
Has anyone been in similar circumstances, made the leap and walked away
smiling? The industry we're in is so fast-paced that stepping away for a
couple years can mean a lot of lost time. just look at the CCIE numbers
these days ~ :)
On 2/21/08, Scott Morris <smorris@ipexpert.com> wrote:
I suppose the first question would be why you were discounting Juniper. The
second would be why it had to be a rold of complete isolation?
Either way, one of the nice things is that the basic technologies (for the
most part) are pretty much the same vendor to vendor. You'll have CLI
differences, you'll have different intracacies and proprietary things, but
most stuff won't vary that much.
So (IMHO) it's a mistake to look at the CCIE as simply a familiarity with
IOS. That's a secondary feature. You've likely learned more about things
like OSPF, BGP and multicast operations than you normally would. The fact
that you can do it in IOS is nice, but doing it in JUNOS isn't all that much
different. The theory is mostly the same.
If you're looking for something ENTIRELY different (you note less
competition, so one has to wonder) then I suppose it would simply be a
matter of what happens to interest you at any point in time. In which case,
the CCIE has become a lesson of process and/or troubleshooting. Both skills
which should not be underestimated.
From a consultant's viewpoint, I always look at things to ADD to my
skillset, but it would have to be one hell of an opportunity for me (again,
just my opinion) to completely forego all the stuff I've learned.
Good luck no matter what you end up doing though!
Scott Morris, CCIE4 (R&S/ISP-Dial/Security/Service Provider) #4713, JNCIE-M
#153, JNCIS-ER, CISSP, et al.
CCSI/JNCI-M/JNCI-ER
VP - Technical Training - IPexpert, Inc.
IPexpert Sr. Technical Instructor
A Cisco Learning Partner - We Accept Learning Credits!
Telephone: +1.810.326.1444
Fax: +1.810.454.0130
http://www.ipexpert.com
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of Alan
Chng
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 7:23 AM
To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: Moving away from Cisco
Fellow experts,
Considering the amount of time and 'sacrifice' made to achieve the
CCIE and make our mark in the networking field, would anyone here
contemplate on moving to a role supporting another vendor (e.g. Alcatel,
Tellabs, Ericsson) ??. I'm referring to a role which requires in-house
training to learn the intricacies, proprietary protocols and CLI of the
vendor and be completely "isolated" from the Cisco world. I'm discounting
Juniper since I tend to see them in the same market segment.
Would anyone do it? And if so, what would be the factor? Better opportunity?
Less competition? Another challenge?
I find the switchover challenging as I believe a lot of us started the CCIE
journey more as a hobby and through the course of the time and developed a
familiarity to the IOS, not to mention the resources, information,
forums/communities that are widely available today.
Any opinions will be much appreciated
Regards,
Alan
CCNP/IP/SP, R&S due in May
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