Working at an ISP (Networking?)

[TheGrim123321]

(Background: I'm 14 and I know it's a long time before I'll be working at one of the said company's)

 

So I have a few questions.

 

(Backgroundx2: My grandfather worked at one of these ISP company's and says you don't have to go to college at most go to a trade school)

 

Basically what I want to do with my life is wiring? I don't know the technical names for it, but I want to route Ethernet cables set all that up. Repair and fix routers, servers and that sort. Things a typical ISP company would do? I've done some googling but wasn't able to find much information and if any of the LTT community worked for company's like. Centruylink or other ISP. And could provide me with information regarding a career of that sort I would appreciate it.

 

*Edit*

Tutorials regarding the kind of things one working at one of these company's would do would be welcomed

[,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,]

Start out in technical support. You need a diploma (at least where I live).

[TheKDub]

(Background: I'm 14 and I know it's a long time before I'll be working at one of the said company's)

 

So I have a few questions.

 

(Backgroundx2: My grandfather worked at one of these ISP company's and says you don't have to go to college at most go to a trade school)

 

Basically what I want to do with my life is wiring? I don't know the technical names for it, but I want to route Ethernet cables set all that up. Repair and fix routers, servers and that sort. Things a typical ISP company would do? I've done some googling but wasn't able to find much information and if any of the LTT community worked for company's like. Centruylink or other ISP. And could provide me with information regarding a career of that sort I would appreciate it.

 

*Edit*

Tutorials regarding the kind of things one working at one of these company's would do would be welcomed

 

Some might call that job you're looking for: "Network Administrator" "Network Specialist" "Network Engineer" etc...

[TheGrim123321]

Start out in technical support. You need a diploma (at least where I live).

Thank you,

 

Some might call that job you're looking for: "Network Administrator" "Network Specialist" "Network Engineer" etc...

Can you give me more information on what they would do?

[manikyath]

well, i'm gonna give a very local example: my very own ISP i've been an exclusive fanboy of since 2002.

 

they have a bunch of jobs available:

- call center, you talk to grandma to help her watch cat videos again. requires social skills and minor technical knowledge.

- the "guys with the van" that drive around replacing grandma's modem to help her watch cat videos again. requires a driver's license and minor technical knowlegde.

- the technicians that build the network. this is the one i know the least about, but i'm guessing its pretty intense. (they're actually keeping rusty coax infrastructure run competitively)

- the programmers. i've had a chance to talk to one of these guys. this is their pride and joy. these guys are the reason everything works as smooth as it does, because EVERYTHING is a unified experience. and its coded well. this'll be a very hard field to get into, because you'll be writing modem firmware, settopbox OSes, website, database backend, all the joy.

- then theres offcourse the datacenter folks like every company with a datacenter.

 

should add that here working for said ISP is considered "the last resort" if you're a failure in the techincal world, you can always still work for the ISP.

(i know a guy that got fired at the isp because he's too incompetent to install modems... he's a lost cause...)

[TheGrim123321]

well, i'm gonna give a very local example: my very own ISP i've been an exclusive fanboy of since 2002.

 

they have a bunch of jobs available:

- call center, you talk to grandma to help her watch cat videos again. requires social skills and minor technical knowledge.

- the "guys with the van" that drive around replacing grandma's modem to help her watch cat videos again. requires a driver's license and minor technical knowlegde.

- the technicians that build the network. this is the one i know the least about, but i'm guessing its pretty intense. (they're actually keeping rusty coax infrastructure run competitively)

- the programmers. i've had a chance to talk to one of these guys. this is their pride and joy. these guys are the reason everything works as smooth as it does, because EVERYTHING is a unified experience. and its coded well. this'll be a very hard field to get into, because you'll be writing modem firmware, settopbox OSes, website, database backend, all the joy.

- then theres offcourse the datacenter folks like every company with a datacenter.

 

should add that here working for said ISP is considered "the last resort" if you're a failure in the techincal world, you can always still work for the ISP.

(i know a guy that got fired at the isp because he's too incompetent to install modems... he's a lost cause...)

Interesting, Thank You

[tt2468]

I own a server host. If you like messing with ethernet and servers (not old coax stuff), working at a datacenter would fit you. You do have to know a lot about networking, routing, servers, and especially stuff like PCI compliance wiring and stuff.

[TheKDub]

Thank you,

 

Can you give me more information on what they would do?

 

Plan, setup, configure, repair, etc.. networks.

 

 

I myself would love to be something along the lines of a network & systems administrator, being in charge of networking and pcs

[manikyath]

I own a server host. If you like messing with ethernet and servers (not old coax stuff), working at a datacenter would fit you. You do have to know a lot about networking, routing, servers, and especially stuff like PCI compliance wiring and stuff.

cisco certification certainly cant hurt your chances.

 

because y'know, datacenters dont run off Dlink...

[TheGrim123321]

I own a server host. If you like messing with ethernet and servers (not old coax stuff), working at a datacenter would fit you. You do have to know a lot about networking, routing, servers, and especially stuff like PCI compliance wiring and stuff.

Thank You

 

 

Plan, setup, configure, repair, etc.. networks.

 

 

I myself would love to be something along the lines of a network & systems administrator, being in charge of networking and pcs

Thank You

 

cisco certification certainly cant hurt your chances.

 

because y'know, datacenters dont run off Dlink...

What's a Cisco Certification?

[manikyath]

What's a Cisco Certification?

cisco is a manufacturer of mostly enterprise networking equipment.

with things being enterprise they also are hard to configure.

 

so cisco has an official "education" from what i've heard its a few weeks of evening school with some pretty intense theory.

in the end you get an exam of 50 or 100 multiple choice questions (i forgot how much it was ) and you need to score something insane like 80% to get a certification.

the questions are both very device-oriented and very basic networking questions. (one of the questions i ran into was asking about a certain field in the IPv6 header)

 

the moment you have that piece of paper that says "certified" companies know you know what you're doing with networking, and that you can operate the -often very complex- networking infrastructure in datacenters or on an ISP level.

 

they having trust in you is pretty important, because if you make a screw up on the public side of things, that could suddenly be quite a lot of money worth in damages.

(at my ISP a while back someone screwed up an update to the DHCP servers, causing them to crash, and because they were in a rush, they applied the same update to the backup servers at the same time, causing those to also be down for several hours)

[TheGrim123321]

cisco is a manufacturer of mostly enterprise networking equipment.

with things being enterprise they also are hard to configure.

 

so cisco has an official "education" from what i've heard its a few weeks of evening school with some pretty intense theory.

in the end you get an exam of 50 or 100 multiple choice questions (i forgot how much it was ) and you need to score something insane like 80% to get a certification.

the questions are both very device-oriented and very basic networking questions. (one of the questions i ran into was asking about a certain field in the IPv6 header)

 

the moment you have that piece of paper that says "certified" companies know you know what you're doing with networking, and that you can operate the -often very complex- networking infrastructure in datacenters or on an ISP level.

 

they having trust in you is pretty important, because if you make a screw up on the public side of things, that could suddenly be quite a lot of money worth in damages.

(at my ISP a while back someone screwed up an update to the DHCP servers, causing them to crash, and because they were in a rush, they applied the same update to the backup servers at the same time, causing those to also be down for several hours)

Do you know what age you have to be to take one?

[TheGrim123321]

In the US you need to get an AA/Associate in networking for most of what you want.

As a 14 year old can I ask, whether that's college or like a voc/trade school?

[TheGrim123321]

Community college with an IT department.

Alright, Thank You

[MatthewEnderle]

I own a server host. If you like messing with ethernet and servers (not old coax stuff), working at a datacenter would fit you. You do have to know a lot about networking, routing, servers, and especially stuff like PCI compliance wiring and stuff.

There's a difference between "Owning a Server Host" and running a server especially when you're only 14.

 

For what you want to do, in today's world, it's not about what you know. It's all about what you are certified for. I work in the USAF and I know how to do alot about how to do a SYSADMIN job but I'm no longer certified in it and I can't do that. You will need all the various certs to operate hardware and be trusted with it. 

[manikyath]

Do you know what age you have to be to take one?

once you make your way trough college you'll encounter the test at some point. (when studying something networking related)

 

the tests are also quite expensive i believe, so dont bother with taking it before you feel ready.

[TheGrim123321]

There's a difference between "Owning a Server Host" and running a server especially when you're only 14.

 

For what you want to do, in today's world, it's not about what you know. It's all about what you are certified for. I work in the USAF and I know how to do alot about how to do a SYSADMIN job but I'm no longer certified in it and I can't do that. You will need all the various certs to operate hardware and be trusted with it. 

Alright, Thank You

 

 

once you make your way trough college you'll encounter the test at some point. (when studying something networking related)

 

the tests are also quite expensive i believe, so dont bother with taking it before you feel ready.

Alright Thank You

[MatthewEnderle]

A Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Costs $295 to take.

 

 

 

The CCNA certification has been devised by CISCO and stands for Cisco Certified Network Associate. The certificate validates a professional’s ability to understand, configure, operate, configure and troubleshoot medium-level switched and routed networks and also includes the verification and implementation of connections via remote sites using WAN.

[TheGrim123321]

A Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Costs $295 to take.

So I should make sure I'm going to pass before I take one?

[MatthewEnderle]

one other important thing to note. If you get into the right company and prove that you know how to learn and study, they may hire you and send you to get all the certs, that's called an apprenticeship. You can also call up local data-centers and see if they are willing to do and apprenticeship. But that usually means you will be contracted to work for them for so many years and if you quit there may be a legal repercussion.

 

Also IDK what you are thinking, but data-centers are all over the place. I for the longest time thought that there wouldn't be one in Wisconsin at all, turns out there were a few within 30 minutes of my house in the country. I went to my first data-center for my two servers at 16. Just got my license, still in HS. The company was curious to know what a 16yo was doing with a server. I showed them my server which was a virtual machine host (VmWare ESXI) and had a webserver, mail, minecraft, file, vpn, etc. They wanted me to work for them but I couldn't because I was in school and already had another job. When I was 18 I went back to upgrade the server and the owner/ceo offered me the job again. I turned it down because I was leaving for the air force, hence the server upgrade. 

 

If you can get your foot in the door, you can achieve great things.

[TheGrim123321]

one other important thing to note. If you get into the right company and prove that you know how to learn and study, they may hire you and send you to get all the certs, that's called an apprenticeship. You can also call up local data-centers and see if they are willing to do and apprenticeship. But that usually means you will be contracted to work for them for so many years and if you quit there may be a legal repercussion.

 

Also IDK what you are thinking, but data-centers are all over the place. I for the longest time thought that there wouldn't be one in Wisconsin at all, turns out there were a few within 30 minutes of my house in the country. I went to my first data-center for my two servers at 16. Just got my license, still in HS. The company was curious to know what a 16yo was doing with a server. I showed them my server which was a virtual machine host (VmWare ESXI) and had a webserver, mail, minecraft, file, vpn, etc. They wanted me to work for them but I couldn't because I was in school and already had another job. When I was 18 I went back to upgrade the server and the owner/ceo offered me the job again. I turned it down because I was leaving for the air force, hence the server upgrade. 

 

If you can get your foot in the door, you can achieve great things.

I've just done some googling and there are some near me. Thank You :D

[tt2468]

cisco certification certainly cant hurt your chances.

 

because y'know, datacenters dont run off Dlink...

The only time you will see cisco in a datacenter, is the catalyst switches, which most of the time use the CLI, so a cert is usually highly recommended or required. For other stuff, you will need to know other equiptment like juniper stuff.

[tt2468]

There's a difference between "Owning a Server Host" and running a server especially when you're only 14.

 

For what you want to do, in today's world, it's not about what you know. It's all about what you are certified for. I work in the USAF and I know how to do alot about how to do a SYSADMIN job but I'm no longer certified in it and I can't do that. You will need all the various certs to operate hardware and be trusted with it. 

Let me clarify. I co-own a server host with some other people. I choose and manage the hardware for everything. I am not a software person. You can check out my gallery images for a bit of a hardware nerdgasm.

[TheGrim123321]

Let me clarify. I co-own a server host with some other people. I choose and manage the hardware for everything. I am not a software person. You can check out my gallery images for a bit of a hardware nerdgasm.

Your profile says your 14. Can you legally do that at that age? (Not insulting or anything)

[tt2468]

Well, no... It's technically an internship, but I have lots of connections