Re: Looking for a Tier 1 ISP Mentor for career advice.

[JC Dill <jcdill.lists () gmail com>]

On 22/11/11 10:46 AM, Matthew Petach wrote:
> And then start experimenting and breaking things--some of your best 
> understanding is going to come from breaking your setup when 
> experimenting, and then figuring out why it broke, and how to get it 
> working again in the way you want. Debugging dual-stack networks is 
> going to be required knowledge by the time you hit the industry; no 
> reason not to start learning and using the information today, to 
> really get comfortable with it.) 

I know I'm days late replying into this thread, but I wanted to 
highlight and emphasize this comment.  IMHO, the people who are most in 
demand are those who know how to fix stuff when someone else does 
something bone-headed and then can't fix it themselves and it gets 
bumped up the ladder to someone with super debugging skills who can fix 
it.  So don't hesitate to do bone-headed things to break your setup, and 
then figure out how to fix it.

+2 on working with dual-stacks and knowing everything you can about 
ipv6.  From the questions we see here on nanog it's clear that there are 
a whole lot of people who should know more about how ipv6 works (and how 
to integrate it into an ipv4 network) but don't.  When you graduate and 
are looking for that first job, you will likely come across a hiring 
manager who should know more about ipv6 but doesn't yet, and if you can 
position yourself as the person who can help with solving the ipv6 
knowledge gap in that organization it could put you above other 
candidates with more "experience" but who don't know anything about 
ipv6, and get you that job.

jc