Well, if you have previously studied and understand CCNA, then you have the first step. Keep in mind that passing CCNA via memorizing does not count. Sure you have the cert for doing that but your career will not rocket anywhere. So what's the big deal on TCP/IP? In a network engineer's world, that like everything. Regardless whether your focus is on network security, wireless, ISP, routing, load balancers, WAN or LAN, they all require knowledge on how TCP/IP functions.

It's kinda weird seeing those questions. To me, those are more like academic questions rather than interview questions.

Assuming that you're a freshie, they would normally ask what type of exposure you have in networking. For your case, the answer will be mainly lab. And PLEASE don't answer you setup your own home Streamyx modem if you are applying for a network engineer position. Another popular question will be on your final year project. They will want to know what components are involved. Such as type of hardware, design and your role in the project group. Frankly, they don't really want to know what your final year project is all about. They just want to see your softskill and level of commitment.

Be frank when you answer. If you don't have actual industrial experience, just admit it. I've seen some people BS until they get cornered to a point of no return. If the company ask you for an interview after going through your resume, chances are they are expecting to hire a freshie. And if they somehow insulted you during the interview stating that you have no experience and bla bla bla, it's a good thing. At least you now know that the interviewer is not a nice person to work for. There are other vacancies out there. Network engineers are in high demand.

Another thing you might be interested in knowing - will company hire freshies? Yes. Let's be realistic here. Freshies are cheap. And since freshies do have actual academic qualifications, they have better work attitude. Freshies might not get the job done but senior engineers rely on them to do mass deployment. Is being a freshie bad? Well, everyone was once a freshie. Freshies in the computer field progress faster than others. We don't have to endure 3 years of suffering like account freshies. We don't have to go through internship like management freshies. So start off as a low paid freshie and with 1 year exposure, you will have a much better life.

It's 3am now and since I have an hour to kill while waiting for my washing machine, I might as well give you some tips on which career path to take for the network world. These are all based on my observation and others may not agree. You will definitely start off with simple stuff like customer support or assisting the seniors. There's no way you can start off as a project engineer. The risk is roo high. Starting low is fine but don't start off as call center, computer shop technicians or printer technicians. I have no grudge against those jobs. Just that I believe graduates should start somewhere more proper after spending 5 figure college fees. Getting to the network project engineer position is dependant on your attitude. Average around 3 years. Keep in mind that from customer support to project engineer is a HUGE leap. Between that, there are senior customer engineer, team leader and 2nd level support. Once you achieved the project engineer status, you can opt for things like project consultant.

This post has been edited by pkh: Apr 7 2011, 03:09 AM

Well ... in my opinion, starting in a NOC can sometimes backfire. This is based on what I've observed. Correct me if I'm wrong. People in NOC has 24x7 shift rotation which is fun for some reasons and less stressful. But whenever anything happens, their job is just to contact the technical guys and escalate the issues to them. Ok, unless you're on technical standby but that usually applies to field engineers.

Some of the NOCs which I see is worse. People who has a night shift just watch football, sleep or drink tea. And when something happens, contact the technical guys and ask 'why ah?', then go back to watching football.

Ok. I might be wrong. Just that the NOCs I've been to are of the same nature.