On Sun, Nov 20, 2011 at 8:40 PM, Tyler Haske <tyler.haske@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm looking for a mentor who can help me focus my career so eventually I wind up working at one of the Tier I ISPs as a senior tech. I want to handle the big pipes that hold everyone's data.
Replying on-list, as I think a route for this desired target can be neatly summarized (oh, networking term!) in the following list: 1) be 2) do 3) have First, start by being the sort of person that might work at these places. Don't know how or who they "are?" -- meet a few, interview them, ask about their life, attent NANOG (student rate: $100/meeting) and have a drink or three with them, etc. Next, do the things they do--this may take a while. Finally, you can 'have' whatever they are having once you've traversed 1) and 2), assuming there's a spot on the far-side of this bet. You can thank Janet Plato (a great ex-Ann Arbor/ANS person) for this method. I hope she doesn't mind my paraphrasing here. Best, -Tk