For Hire - Networking

Network Administration & Engineering

Network Administration & Engineering (6 Years)

I managed to work my way into the networking field, but later realized that I had gone about it a little... backwards. From others I have spoken to, they see DOCSIS as more of a "once you've got some networking under your belt" sort of work.

Outside of Mom & Dad's Netgear, DOCSIS was where I started my real networking career. It is interesting to move from DOCSIS into 'regular' networking at the start since your initial habits formed in a different fashion. This page touches on all information related to "plain ol' networking."

There is an awful lot to networking. I would like to think that anybody in the field would agree. However, since there's so much to it, there's a great deal I have never had the opportunity to see or do.

My Pluralsight initial Networking Skill IQ is to the right.

If its public, you can verify here: https://app.pluralsight.com/profile/jon-lightner

That said, I am not much of a believer in "the paper says it so its true," so here's a few lists of items and processes rated by percentages where I believe I am, as well as systems I have worked with (which have no weight to them--range is from "have worked on it a little to a lot.")

Another add-in to this.

Every location I have ever worked has silo'd me to some degree. None of what I've learned in networking ouside of DOCSIS has been put to anything close to actual use short of just the basics. That means routing, IS-IS, OSPF, etc in practice--I have no practice. The opportunities have never arrisen to build something up from nothing with oversight, which is my most successful method of learning something. Reading a cisco ccna book has nothing on "this is how we do it, go here, do this, check that, see that? that's the ti--yeah, now do --okay you're ge--no, no no no don't do that, yes, that" kind of environment.

I have fantastic flow once I am going, but getting going is the difficult part. For a rough idea, when I joined up with Cable to begin with I was told "nobody really understands whats going on for like a year and a half." In three months I was doing the work of L2-L3 engineers, because I am inquisitive and want to do the best job possible. Pushing the envelope I am in is part of my core.

I never saw how standard networking could possibly be different, but I run into a major issue with that particular community: "How do you not know that."

Well... how about you show me. Because I'm not wired to retain technical data through books. I do it through interaction, practice, repetition.

[Employer Available Upon Open Communication]

Network Engineer

Salina, KS - July 2018 through June 2019

Covered eighteen locations
Internal Network Support for PC Technicians
- Port Security
- Network Troubleshooting
- Patch Management
External Network Support for Vendors
- Site-To-Site VPN
Internal Support for Telecommunications Department
Network Switch Updates
Network Switch Replacements
Migration from ACS to ISE
Network Troubleshooting & Break/Fix
DHCP Scope Management
VLAN Configuration
Network Design
Site Audits
Firewall Audits

[Employer Available Upon Open Communication]

DOCSIS Engineer

Remote - Nov 2021 to Current

Responsible (though not entirely solely due to some territory overlap) for 40 CMTS & 86 municipalities
CMTS
- Arris E6K
- Casa C40g
- Casa C100g
- Calix (starting/novice at this point)
Maintenance Cycles
- Over 800 Maintenance and Incident ticket counts since hire date
- Firmware upgrades
- Hardware upgrades
- RFoG/HFC Deployment
- Contention Mitigation
- System Troubleshooting
- OFDM/OFDMA Deployment
- Resolution of systemic issues regarding OFDMA
- Out of Box thinking to resolve problems tied to OFDMA and matching customer demands
Field Work
- Rebuilds
- System Standardization
- MCX-F Conversion
- CMTS Deployment
- Troubleshooting
Migration from Radius to TACACS
Site Audits

[Employer Available Upon Open Communication]

Network Engineer

Merrimac, WI - July 2016 through February 2018

Handled business customer planning and deployments for public Layer 2 Network
Infrastructure Design and Deployment
Reworked connections from CMTS to Core
Built DHCP System and handled migration
24/7 Emergency Field Support

[Employer Available Upon Open Communication]

DOCSIS Network Specialist / Data Network Transport Division

Madison, WI - Nov 2013 through July 2016

Deployed IP Scopes through HPNA
- No other Non-DOCSIS IP/Networking exposure while at Charter

[Employer Available Upon Open Communication]

Field Technician (Network Cutover)

Gravette, AR - 2011 & 2012 - Nationwide

Occasional manual console work on deployments, first taste of networking
Rack, Stack, & Cut Over

Configuration & Concepts

Can't remember it all. Ask if its not here.

Experienced (>60)

(Little to no guidance required)

Switch Base Configuration
Switch Port Configuration
Switch Port Security Configuration
Port Channels
Access/Trunking
Debugging
Monitoring Commands
VLAN Configuration/Deployment
DHCP Scopes / Helper
IP Subnetting
Network Design
SSH/SFTP/TFTP/FTP/Telnet

Mild/Moderate Experience (25-59)

(Guidance may be required)

Static Routing
OSPF Routing
RIP Routing
Inter-VLAN routing
Site-to-Site VPN Configuration
- Local Device/Network Setup
- Troubleshooting
Linux Software Firewall
FatPipe
DNS

Less or no Experience (<25)

(Guidance necessary)

BGP Routing
EIGRP Routing
Access Lists
IDS/IPS Systems
Supernets
Ethernet Backhaul
Barracuda

Hardware, Associated OS, Software Systems & Periphery

Can't remember it all. Ask if its not here.

Experienced (>60)

(Little to no guidance required)

Cisco Catalyst Systems
Cisco Nexus Systems
TP Cabling / Validating
Fiber Cabling / Validating

Mild/Moderate Experience (25-59)

(Guidance may be required)

- Cisco ASA
- HP Procurve
- MikroTik
- Fortigate Systems
- PFSense Systems
- Cisco ACS
- Cisco ISE
- Cisco Prime Infrastructure
- FatPipe
- Wireshark
- Solarwinds Suite
- HPNA

Less or no Experience (<25)

(Guidance necessary)

Cisco Fabric
Cisco WLC
Cisco AP
Cisco Firesight/Firepower
VXWorks

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