After the Interview

I attended an interview this morning. Orange Telecoms is opening in our country so I gave it a try.
They called me the day I was in Kef and scheduled an interview.
There were 3 preliminary tests. Too many logic tests. Where the Hell did they come from? :) I got a headache after.
Then I met the recruitement agent, a young man in his early 30s. After some routine questions he asked me where I "see " myself on the company hierarchy.
I was disappointed. They have an already fixed hierarchy. Old stuff, old management.
I inquired about "consultant" and "application administrator" positions. Neither of them interested me. So I pointed upper.
"You have not the right qualifications to get that position. You are too young. We can't give you project management positions yet. What would employes say if they are supervised by a younger man?.."
I accepted every thing he mentioned, except the last sentence.
"What do I need to do to get that position?" " - work hard, work in projects".
On my way home, I felt that a new challenge is facing me. I need to think more about my current work now. I need to work on large projects, not on small troubleshooting tasks.
My current company is facing problems. We're losing contracts because of bad management. The problem is that we - support team- are aware of it, but managers aren't.
I'll wait and see what happens the coming days. Otherwise, I must work with IBM.
I need to become CCNP.

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Personal Power II - Finished

I consider it as a small accomplishment. As I was listening to Tony's words, I recalled all those chunks of time I spent during the program.
Now, the challenge is to take action and do the exercises continually.

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Near the Storm

I've been on a little mission in Kef. We had to setup the networking "stuff" of a new office. As usual, my job was to ensure that the configuration meets the IP scheme of the office. It was a regular task.
What was interesting, is that it was heavily raining. On the radio, we heard that storms and floods killed 17 people in the south. We're not in the south, but the storm is said to be coming near our region. Nice.
It was very cold. The three of us were wearing tee-shirts. People looked at us as if we were a band of crazies :). Really cold.
During a routine check, I received a phone call. I was greateful to Allah for it.

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Tough Choice - part III

I'm almost fed up with my current job. The tasks become too monotonous, and my learning curve is hitting the ground. I need an exciting job. I need a new job.
But I'm confused. On one hand I want to improve my routing&switching skills so that I could one day prepare for CCIE. On the other, I'd like a more financially-rewarding job. But The opportunity I'm offered doesn't really include routing&swiching. It's about computer&network security.
I know, I said I'll give it a try. But I'm a little afraid of the future. I'm afraid to spend the years ahead on daily non-engineer-related tasks. I feel disgusted when I'm used in low-value tasks.
I'm confused and confusion is an often too subtle sign of paranoia

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What's wrong?

I attended my second interview session. This time, I mentioned to the interviewers that I'm interested in their offer.
However, today I called my potential boss. He told me that I looked hesitant.
Yesterday evening, I was thinking too much. I was watching TV with my family, but not really watching. "I don't know why you looked hesitant" kept on playing and playing in my head.
I didn't want to look that way. Perhaps it's because, as the interviewer listed my tasks, I was wondering, not smiling and nodding. yeah maybe. At the time of the interview, I was projecting too far in the future, seeing myself years ahead. They though I was hesitant.

It's my fault.

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Personal Power II - Progress

I'm on my day 23. This far, I am aware of some changes I'm experiencing:

• feel calmer,
• know better what I want,
  
• can understand my innerself better,
• less limiting beliefs; beliefs restructuring (in progress)
• ...

I'm happy that I got this program. I'm committed to it.

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A new Turn?

Last month, I was interviewed for a position of Security & Quality Engineer. The position encompasses all the aspects of network security (solutions design, firewalls, IDS, monitoring,...), software security (patch management, code verification,...) and some management aspects (policies, writing procedures,...).
At first, I told the interviewer - who is luckily an old collegue- that I'm not really fluent in this field, because I spend the last year working solely on routing & switching. He told me to think twice and that he'll wait for my final answer.
But now, when I see my daily tasks and my career growth rate, I think he was right. I'm caught up in technician-level tasks. I'm losing my motivation at work. There's plenty of time but a lot of interruptions to do stupid tasks.
I'll pause my CCNP studies for now. Yes. I already passed BSCI this year. So I almost three years (March 2012) to finish it. As for all what I learned so far, it's not a waste of time. All that knowledge will help me one day or another.
I know, I've been "pausing" a lot of studies this year. But I'll keep adjusting it until I find the most suitable ground to grow.

Designing the security architecture of an emerging bank, with top-notch technology, that seems to be quite challenging.

So now what? I have about one month and a half to "touch" network security. I need that knowledge just in case I get another call from my last interview - and that is almost certain.
I'll give it a try. I'm not 35, so I'm still young :-). Besides, there's a damn good pay for skilled security engineers out there. And even if I don't get a call from him. No big deal! I'll add those skills to my résumé.
And who knows, maybe I'll succeed better in network security than in routing & switching :)

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