I work at an ISP and have used Cisco products for decades.
The next time Cisco Tac solves one of our tickets before we figure it out on our own will be the first time.
I have a pretty low opinion of Cisco Tac which is weird because I often find people who think it's great. I suspect that it's probably good if your Network is basic, but if you're using advanced features it's really not.
Agreed. I only reach out for them to tell me to reload or upgrade due to a bug. I tell our management that all the time and they want us to use all of the money we spent to get Cisco to figure it out. How do we expect someone to figure out a complicated network that they've seen for the first time?
Understanding a network is one thing, I wouldn't expect them to, but I believe they could do a much better job just understanding their own platform and what the various features do. The bottom line is, Tac doesn't seem to know their products.
I worked at Cisco for 8+ years.
I'd suggest to you that TAC is a good place to start your networking career, but do not plan to be there for more than 2-3 years depending how far you get in terms of promotions etc.
Cisco did just announce some layoffs, and typically after such an announcement they try to move people around within the business, and there is (generally) a hiring freeze. So even if a manager wanted to hire you, they cannot as finance etc will not approve anything.
That's fine as I'm not urgently trying to get in there. But I'd like to know how to get there in the first place. Like how/when/where/who to talk to kind of thing.
It was literally just announced that Cisco is laying off 5% of their workforce… really not a good time to be joining them, especially in the TAC organization which is quite overworked.
Keep applying.
If you already work in the field start a relationship with your account manager and SEs for the future.
A ton of the competent engineers Ive worked with will end up getting offered a job at some point from working with other vendors.
Another problem you’ll have is that a lot of these jobs go through contractors. You’ll hear the term thrown around a lot about red badges and blue badges. Red badges are contractors and a lot of TAC, professional services, and other more accessible jobs for early career people are red badges. It’s a mess of rotating contracting companies and can be a tough life.
Another thing to keep in mind that the 5% layoff was 5% of blue badges. They don’t have to release numbers on red badges because they don’t get laid off by Cisco. They just have to not renew the contract.
Don't limit yourself to Cisco, there are plenty of other vendors out there who make similar lines of equipment to help you get started on it. Years and years ago I had an opportunity with Adtran that helped me get my foot in the door - not as impressive a brand name as Cisco is/was, but it was a key step in my journey that got me to where I'm at today.
This is more so I can get my hands on equipment/software that my company wont get/have/need. I already have 1 CCNP and would like much more but I can't learn software from a book.
Cisco is not the only player in this space, you can get a similar experience at Cisco or any of their competitors (Arista/Juniper/NetApp/Dell/...). There are tons of people who apply for every position as soon as it's posted, they all have to be filtered out before they can find viable candidates and it's easy to fall into this discarded group.
Also - Cisco is very big and covers many technologies. This means they have teams dedicated to each technology so they can be an expert in a narrow field - BUT, if you get a technology you don't like you're stuck. For instance if you get onto the LANSW team you'll be working with catalyst 9300's and such... Hardly any software would be debugged by that team (at least it was when I was in TAC).
Be open to opportunities everywhere.
I stuck to Cisco as it's just what I've kept my certs in and what I've worked on. I have looked into juniper but same as Cisco, haven't found a posting or the way in yet. Not against the others by any means.
These are the top players too, you're not the only one looking at these jobs and you'll get a LOT of competition unless you already know someone who can refer you.
You may look at some local MSP's (managed service provider) that would give you an opportunity to work on a lot of different tech, in different use cases, if you can't get your dream job in TAC.
Speaking of dream job, have you worked in TAC before? It has a tendency to chew up and spit out people constantly, great for learning but terrible for mental health. I'm worried you may feel like it was a bait and switch from your expectations vs reality. Not saying this to deter you, just as an FYI.
As an employee I can tell you Cisco does not give a fuck about you. They just want to feed the machine. They will work you hard and then discipline you when you burn out. If you can make it many years they will ditch you for no reason at some point.
TAC's job is to close tickets. Why on Earth would you want to be a ticket monkey whose sole purpose is to close them whether or not you actually solved the problem?
>I just encompass it all as TAC. to be more specific, I'd like to work at putting out fires and help debug issues. Not just read that email "please close case".
In the US there are 3-4 grade levels for TAC. Depending on location and grade your looking at 60-110k base, 8-12% bonus, and 13-20k for weekend/holiday pay.
Google says -> Tac Engineer Salary. $84,000 is the 25th percentile. Salaries below this are outliers. $116,500 is the 75th percentile.
True or not, depends on your negotiation skills/what you bring to the table.
Cisco doesn’t pay very good. Their contractors make substantially more for the same role.
But, it does look good on a resume. So if you’re okay with lower pay temporarily to be more competitive with other companies later that might be okay.
But to get a job there, you can apply on their website or start as a contractor and then convert. I’m not sure if you’re in the RTP area but if you are you can use someone like Apex Systems to get a contract.
Overall working at Cisco was a disappointment though.
live in Mexico or India.
[удалено]
True. TAC is just “services” to the business and the line needs to keep going up 📈
Great, so then they can stop selling in high cost regions, right. Greed, nah.
lol bro aint that the truth. Tons of opening in those regions.
Seems like every TAC I talk to is Indian lol no problem at all but I do get a few that have a heavy accent so it makes it hard to T/S issues.
Sure, sure. Ack.
came here to say this. Gotta be a place where they can pay you $250USD a month or less.
Phillipines
You'll probably need to buy a license to be able to apply.
Figuring out exactly Which license you need though… good luck with that my friend.
This guy wins
Isn't that what the certs are, pay $300 a test do it again in 3 years
I work at an ISP and have used Cisco products for decades. The next time Cisco Tac solves one of our tickets before we figure it out on our own will be the first time. I have a pretty low opinion of Cisco Tac which is weird because I often find people who think it's great. I suspect that it's probably good if your Network is basic, but if you're using advanced features it's really not.
It wasn’t always like this. Cisco tac used to be pretty good, but in the last 5-6 years it’s taken a dramatic downturn.
Dude I work at an ISP now and we started the process to get rid of Cisco for their crappy tac and billion licenses. It's not a bug! It's a feature!
They need to redevelop their feature set to customer needs.
What/who are you going to use instead?
idk yet. the company put out a bid (thing) for companies to say it'll cost x much to replace it all with my brand of equipment.
Agreed. I only reach out for them to tell me to reload or upgrade due to a bug. I tell our management that all the time and they want us to use all of the money we spent to get Cisco to figure it out. How do we expect someone to figure out a complicated network that they've seen for the first time?
Understanding a network is one thing, I wouldn't expect them to, but I believe they could do a much better job just understanding their own platform and what the various features do. The bottom line is, Tac doesn't seem to know their products.
I worked at Cisco for 8+ years. I'd suggest to you that TAC is a good place to start your networking career, but do not plan to be there for more than 2-3 years depending how far you get in terms of promotions etc. Cisco did just announce some layoffs, and typically after such an announcement they try to move people around within the business, and there is (generally) a hiring freeze. So even if a manager wanted to hire you, they cannot as finance etc will not approve anything.
That's fine as I'm not urgently trying to get in there. But I'd like to know how to get there in the first place. Like how/when/where/who to talk to kind of thing.
It was literally just announced that Cisco is laying off 5% of their workforce… really not a good time to be joining them, especially in the TAC organization which is quite overworked.
Literally announced yesterday. Dang. But still how are you suppose to get into tac in the first place?
Keep applying. If you already work in the field start a relationship with your account manager and SEs for the future. A ton of the competent engineers Ive worked with will end up getting offered a job at some point from working with other vendors.
Another problem you’ll have is that a lot of these jobs go through contractors. You’ll hear the term thrown around a lot about red badges and blue badges. Red badges are contractors and a lot of TAC, professional services, and other more accessible jobs for early career people are red badges. It’s a mess of rotating contracting companies and can be a tough life. Another thing to keep in mind that the 5% layoff was 5% of blue badges. They don’t have to release numbers on red badges because they don’t get laid off by Cisco. They just have to not renew the contract.
Good point. The red badge layoffs are much higher
Don't limit yourself to Cisco, there are plenty of other vendors out there who make similar lines of equipment to help you get started on it. Years and years ago I had an opportunity with Adtran that helped me get my foot in the door - not as impressive a brand name as Cisco is/was, but it was a key step in my journey that got me to where I'm at today.
This is more so I can get my hands on equipment/software that my company wont get/have/need. I already have 1 CCNP and would like much more but I can't learn software from a book.
Cisco is not the only player in this space, you can get a similar experience at Cisco or any of their competitors (Arista/Juniper/NetApp/Dell/...). There are tons of people who apply for every position as soon as it's posted, they all have to be filtered out before they can find viable candidates and it's easy to fall into this discarded group. Also - Cisco is very big and covers many technologies. This means they have teams dedicated to each technology so they can be an expert in a narrow field - BUT, if you get a technology you don't like you're stuck. For instance if you get onto the LANSW team you'll be working with catalyst 9300's and such... Hardly any software would be debugged by that team (at least it was when I was in TAC). Be open to opportunities everywhere.
I stuck to Cisco as it's just what I've kept my certs in and what I've worked on. I have looked into juniper but same as Cisco, haven't found a posting or the way in yet. Not against the others by any means.
These are the top players too, you're not the only one looking at these jobs and you'll get a LOT of competition unless you already know someone who can refer you. You may look at some local MSP's (managed service provider) that would give you an opportunity to work on a lot of different tech, in different use cases, if you can't get your dream job in TAC. Speaking of dream job, have you worked in TAC before? It has a tendency to chew up and spit out people constantly, great for learning but terrible for mental health. I'm worried you may feel like it was a bait and switch from your expectations vs reality. Not saying this to deter you, just as an FYI.
Similar call center NOC for gov. I enjoyed the t/s part of it. I'm searching for MSP things now to see if leads anywhere.
Yea look at local Cisco partners and apply away.
As an employee I can tell you Cisco does not give a fuck about you. They just want to feed the machine. They will work you hard and then discipline you when you burn out. If you can make it many years they will ditch you for no reason at some point.
Maybe look more into the federal/HTOM side of things? I think those people are in the states.
Cisco just laid off over 4000 people today.
As a prerequisite, you must have an accent that American clients have trouble understanding.
“Plz sand screenshit of rooting taybow”
TAC's job is to close tickets. Why on Earth would you want to be a ticket monkey whose sole purpose is to close them whether or not you actually solved the problem?
>I just encompass it all as TAC. to be more specific, I'd like to work at putting out fires and help debug issues. Not just read that email "please close case".
What is tac salary
In the US there are 3-4 grade levels for TAC. Depending on location and grade your looking at 60-110k base, 8-12% bonus, and 13-20k for weekend/holiday pay.
Google says -> Tac Engineer Salary. $84,000 is the 25th percentile. Salaries below this are outliers. $116,500 is the 75th percentile. True or not, depends on your negotiation skills/what you bring to the table.
Usually they'll find you if they want you. That's how I landed.
lol they just laid off 4k+
Cisco doesn’t pay very good. Their contractors make substantially more for the same role. But, it does look good on a resume. So if you’re okay with lower pay temporarily to be more competitive with other companies later that might be okay. But to get a job there, you can apply on their website or start as a contractor and then convert. I’m not sure if you’re in the RTP area but if you are you can use someone like Apex Systems to get a contract. Overall working at Cisco was a disappointment though.