My Journey of the Last 4 Years

[deanwebb]

4 years ago today, I was studying up to take my CCENT.

Today, I had a chat with my boss about 2017 compensation. He showed me some numbers. I had a good reaction:



I had to work hard in 2016, not because I wanted to ace out in getting a bonus or raise, but because I was the guy that was there to do the work, and there was lots of it to do. But it's good work, I've got good people around me, above me, and below me, and I've got the tools I need to do the work, even if I have to add "eventually" to that sentence sometimes. I've worked other places - including the teaching gig I had before getting back to IT - and this one is really good.

I write this because I was 45 when I needed a job that would ramp up quickly to get back in pace with what I made as a pretty-much plateaued-out teacher where I was. I got my CCNA, CCNA-Security, and then CCNP-Security and that got me the interviews. Because I hadn't dumped, I knew my stuff in the tech part of the interview. That, and being a likable guy, got me the job I have now. This career path has some great rewards and some great work to do.

A huge thanks goes out to all my good online buddies here at Networking-forums.com. I am very fortunate to be able to have a place where I can ask about some odd issues and get some great ideas on what to do about them. When I'm out of my comfort zone, I've got confidence that I can get responses from the forums, and that's better than a free call to the vendor TAC, any day of the week.

Pretty much after I got my CCNP, AspiringNetworker directed my attention to the old forum and I loved it there. I'm glad we've got a lot of that "old forum" feel here, and I'm doubly glad to see new members joining up and people coming here to ask one-off questions. I guess I'm triply glad that we're also getting some solid prep materials on the forums here so that we can not only help people close the gap between what's in the cert guide and what's on the test, but so that we can also boost the knowledge level in the community and know that we stand for high personal standards in competence and expertise.

There are times when I'm reading what someone's doing with OSPF or BGP and think "I want to be that guy when I grow up!" And then there are times when I look over something I just wrote about RADIUS authentications and realize, dang... I *am* that guy, at least about this topic! I may have known Jack Zip about RADIUS 4 years ago, but the excellence I see around me when I'm active on these forums got me to pursue what my career put in my path and not be content to rely on some support engineer somewhere to do my job for me.

My Journey of the last 4 years is, therefore, for the most part, a journey with all of you. Thank you for adjusting the QoS settings on your time to allow for your great posts here! It has meant so much to me, and I am honored to be in your company.

[that1guy15]

Great job dude! You deserve it!

Its an amazing feeling and I wish I could show more IT guys the value we see in online communities like this. Not how many up-votes or likes or re-tweets can I get, but true honest discussion and geek talk.

I have learned over my career that none of us will ever know it all, even in smaller circles we each will have our strong and weak areas. I think true value comes from recognizing this and leveraging it to help grow the group as a whole instead of strengthening the individual. Doing this we all grow stronger than we would have alone.

Kudos to you and also the forums here you have created!

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[NetworkGroover]

Great job dude! You deserve it!

Its an amazing feeling and I wish I could show more IT guys the value we see in online communities like this. Not how many up-votes or likes or re-tweets can I get, but true honest discussion and geek talk.

I have learned over my career that none of us will ever know it all, even in smaller circles we each will have our strong and weak areas. I think true value comes from recognizing this and leveraging it to help grow the group as a whole instead of strengthening the individual. Doing this we all grow stronger than we would have alone.

Kudos to you and also the forums here you have created!

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I second this, and grats Dean.

[deanwebb]

Thanks again That1guy15 and Aspiring.

And, to anyone else looking to start networking late in life's game, I know I'm not the only one who's made the change. Yes, it's some tough work, but it's work well worth doing.

[SofaKing]

Congrats Dean!!  Definitely well deserved and thanks for keeping the forum running

My wife taught high school science for about 7 years before changing careers, going back for another 4 years of school, and becoming a veterinarian.  Like you said it is tough work and in my opinion takes a lot of guts to make the jump.  Once again Congrats!!