Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Jul 26, 2014, at 6:01 PM, William Herrin b...@herrin.us wrote: On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 1:13 PM, Owen DeLong o...@delong.com wrote: Bill, on your list of not so wonderful things in DC, you left off: Weather In the sumer, the DC area is, well, what you’d expect from a hot, humid, fetid swamp. In the winter, you can make ice cream outside without rock salt (though there’s plenty of salt available on the roads). Meh. The weather is always temperate indoors. You ARE a computer guy, right? Yes and no. I like being able to go outside and enjoy things outside of my job environment. To me, weather matters. I guess if I had grown up or been stuck in the DC area for a long time, I might not be so focused on the outdoors. Contrary to Bill’s claims, we have nearly as many data centers housing lots of interconnect, content providers, etc. out here, too. We’re also a primary gateway to Asia and the Pacific as well as Australia. I wouldn't dream of suggesting that silicon valley lacks for anything of interest to computer and networking folks. You even have heavy taxation, heavy regulation and a state government ever on the brink of financial collapse, all things less prevalent in Northern Virginia. Though if you really enjoy those things you can always visit DC or the People's Republic of Maryland. Meh... I don't think my taxation is that high overall. Yes, I pay a slightly higher sales tax than VA, but IIRC, our income tax rate is lower. My property taxes are definitely lower and more predictable. Owen
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On 26 July 2014 17:10, Joly MacFie j...@punkcast.com wrote: On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 7:04 AM, Rich Kulawiec r...@gsp.org wrote: Telecommuting should not be a rare exception: it should be the default. And corporate headquarters should be as small and inexpensive as possible, staffed (in person) only by a handful of people -- if even that. Automattic (WordPress) works like that. There's a book about it. http://www.amazon.com/The-Year-Without-Pants-WordPress-com/dp/1118660633 Yes, and the book title is not at all misleading! However there's a few key differences between Automattic and your regular company. First is that we're flat, so there's no employees to manage (ie: you manage your own workload). Second is that we dont do meetings. Period. Overall, I think remote working can be successful, however you need a few things in place: 1. More efficient information sharing system than meetings (*cough* blogs). 2. Flat to almost flat structure. 3. Senior hires who can manage their own workloads and not be dependant on a big boss to dole out work. There's still some issues that need to be worked out (Timezones, the bane of my existence!), however the benefit of being location agnostic HUGELY outweighs petty fights over the office thermostat, office politics and being forced to recruit from a localised talent pool. The downside is that being located in a different region than you're buying your equipment means that you get stiffed on vendor lunches :) /Ruairi j -- --- Joly MacFie 218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org -- -
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Sun, Jul 27, 2014 at 9:28 AM, Owen DeLong o...@delong.com wrote: On Jul 26, 2014, at 6:01 PM, William Herrin b...@herrin.us wrote: On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 1:13 PM, Owen DeLong o...@delong.com wrote: Bill, on your list of not so wonderful things in DC, you left off: Weather In the sumer, the DC area is, well, what you’d expect from a hot, humid, fetid swamp. In the winter, you can make ice cream outside without rock salt (though there’s plenty of salt available on the roads). Meh. The weather is always temperate indoors. You ARE a computer guy, right? Yes and no. I like being able to go outside and enjoy things outside of my job environment. To me, weather matters. I guess if I had grown up or been stuck in the DC area for a long time, I might not be so focused on the outdoors. Contrary to Bill’s claims, we have nearly as many data centers housing lots of interconnect, content providers, etc. out here, too. We’re also a primary gateway to Asia and the Pacific as well as Australia. I wouldn't dream of suggesting that silicon valley lacks for anything of interest to computer and networking folks. You even have heavy taxation, heavy regulation and a state government ever on the brink of financial collapse, all things less prevalent in Northern Virginia. Though if you really enjoy those things you can always visit DC or the People's Republic of Maryland. Meh... I don't think my taxation is that high overall. Yes, I pay a slightly higher sales tax than VA, but IIRC, our income tax rate is lower. My property taxes are definitely lower and more predictable. Owen Shush, Owen! It's already crowded enough out here--the last thing we need is more people thinking it's a good place to work. ;P You wouldn't like it here in the Bay Area. It's horrible, there's pollution all the time, the traffic is terrible, there's no reasonable public transportation, there's no late-night eateries for when you finish that maintenance window at 2am. You definitely don't want to live here. :D And as far as that government data about salary goes...yeah, that's definitely the mean, and doesn't represent the full range. My W2 last year was *mumble*-times the listed mean for some parts of the country. Telecommuting can work out amazingly well, for the right people. But it takes dedication and focus, and a relentless willingness to be accessible to your coworkers. Matt
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On 7/27/2014 12:41 PM, Matthew Petach wrote: You wouldn't like it here in the Bay Area. It's horrible, there's pollution all the time, the traffic is terrible, there's no reasonable public transportation, there's no late-night eateries for when you finish that maintenance window at 2am. You definitely don't want to live here. :D Well, definitely not. I'll stick to my ranch in rural Oklahoma. Since I was young, I've always wanted to have a high speed connection to a house in the middle of nowhere. Originally, I liked the mountain ranges my great grandmother used to live on. These days, I'm happy with my crop fields and trees, even if it is a bit flat. Turns out, it's easier to bury fiber when you don't have to go through a mountain. :) I know I'm not alone in my duality; the need to balance my geek and my need for nature. It generally does hurt the ability to drive into an office daily, though. Then again, it's over a mile as the crow flies to my nearest neighbor. Still working on a good wireless repeater system to get me from the house to a good resting place in the forest. Trees and wifi not friendly. lol Jack
RE: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
Use this: http://www.dentonrc.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20140512-drone-offers-wi-fi-signal.ece -Original Message- From: NANOG [mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org] On Behalf Of Jack Bates Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2014 2:05 PM To: Matthew Petach; Owen DeLong Cc: NANOG (nanog@nanog.org) Subject: Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins On 7/27/2014 12:41 PM, Matthew Petach wrote: You wouldn't like it here in the Bay Area. It's horrible, there's pollution all the time, the traffic is terrible, there's no reasonable public transportation, there's no late-night eateries for when you finish that maintenance window at 2am. You definitely don't want to live here. :D Well, definitely not. I'll stick to my ranch in rural Oklahoma. Since I was young, I've always wanted to have a high speed connection to a house in the middle of nowhere. Originally, I liked the mountain ranges my great grandmother used to live on. These days, I'm happy with my crop fields and trees, even if it is a bit flat. Turns out, it's easier to bury fiber when you don't have to go through a mountain. :) I know I'm not alone in my duality; the need to balance my geek and my need for nature. It generally does hurt the ability to drive into an office daily, though. Then again, it's over a mile as the crow flies to my nearest neighbor. Still working on a good wireless repeater system to get me from the house to a good resting place in the forest. Trees and wifi not friendly. lol Jack
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Sun, Jul 27, 2014 at 12:04 PM, Jack Bates jba...@paradoxnetworks.net wrote: On 7/27/2014 12:41 PM, Matthew Petach wrote: You wouldn't like it here in the Bay Area. It's horrible, there's pollution all the time, the traffic is terrible, there's no reasonable public transportation, there's no late-night eateries for when you finish that maintenance window at 2am. You definitely don't want to live here. :D Well, definitely not. I'll stick to my ranch in rural Oklahoma. Since I was young, I've always wanted to have a high speed connection to a house in the middle of nowhere. Originally, I liked the mountain ranges my great grandmother used to live on. These days, I'm happy with my crop fields and trees, even if it is a bit flat. Turns out, it's easier to bury fiber when you don't have to go through a mountain. :) I know I'm not alone in my duality; the need to balance my geek and my need for nature. It generally does hurt the ability to drive into an office daily, though. Then again, it's over a mile as the crow flies to my nearest neighbor. Still working on a good wireless repeater system to get me from the house to a good resting place in the forest. Trees and wifi not friendly. lol Jack I wrestled with that duality myself, and finally solved it by buying 10 acres of land about 12 miles from company HQ, so I can be in the office as needed, but still relax under the gentle sound of the wind through the pine trees, watching the birds wheeling back and forth on the wind down in the canyon below. Downside is I haven't solved the high speed internet access question yet; that's still on the to-do list for the property. :/ Turns out high-speed internet is hard to come by in the Silicon Valley area...but that's a topic for another thread. Matt
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Sun, Jul 27, 2014 at 12:20 PM, Kenneth M. Chipps Ph.D. chi...@chipps.com wrote: Use this: http://www.dentonrc.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20140512-drone-offers-wi-fi-signal.ece Combine that with Google's helium balloon idea, and you end up with a positionable wifi platform that can stay aloft for days... hmmm... Nah, already have too much on my plate. but the idea is intriguing. Matt -Original Message- From: NANOG [mailto:nanog-boun...@nanog.org] On Behalf Of Jack Bates Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2014 2:05 PM To: Matthew Petach; Owen DeLong Cc: NANOG (nanog@nanog.org) Subject: Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins On 7/27/2014 12:41 PM, Matthew Petach wrote: You wouldn't like it here in the Bay Area. It's horrible, there's pollution all the time, the traffic is terrible, there's no reasonable public transportation, there's no late-night eateries for when you finish that maintenance window at 2am. You definitely don't want to live here. :D Well, definitely not. I'll stick to my ranch in rural Oklahoma. Since I was young, I've always wanted to have a high speed connection to a house in the middle of nowhere. Originally, I liked the mountain ranges my great grandmother used to live on. These days, I'm happy with my crop fields and trees, even if it is a bit flat. Turns out, it's easier to bury fiber when you don't have to go through a mountain. :) I know I'm not alone in my duality; the need to balance my geek and my need for nature. It generally does hurt the ability to drive into an office daily, though. Then again, it's over a mile as the crow flies to my nearest neighbor. Still working on a good wireless repeater system to get me from the house to a good resting place in the forest. Trees and wifi not friendly. lol Jack
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Jul 27, 2014, at 1:41 PM, Matthew Petach mpet...@netflight.com wrote: Telecommuting can work out amazingly well, for the right people. But it takes dedication and focus, and a relentless willingness to be accessible to your coworkers. It also takes an organization committed to it as well. -dorian
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Sat, 26 Jul 2014, Scott Weeks wrote: Annual Mean Wage of Network and Computer Systems Administrators by State, May 2013 is surprising, though. The numbers are much lower than I would expect. As always, the survey definitions (and footnotes) are important. The survey shows the relative relationship better than the absolute numbers. Of course, there are exceptions. I expect people following NANOG are more likely senior Computer Network Architects, Computer and Information Systems Managers, or Computer and Information Research Scientists rather than specialists or administrators. They are also likely to have compensation packages in addition to wages. Companies may provide free lunches and dinners to encourage employees to stay at the office longer hours. Tech venture capital firms often want their investments close by Sand Hill Road, not in the mid-west fly over country. Large multi-national firms are sometimes more used to a disperse workforce than a small startup firm. Every situation is different. It all depends on what you are looking for, and consider important.
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 05:35:45PM -0700, Scott Weeks wrote: One day, hopefully, telecommuting really takes off [...] It often strikes me as incredibly ironic that companies which *would not exist* were it not for the Internet are among the most resistant to the simple, obvious concept that telecommuting allows them to hire the best and brightest regardless of geography. Telecommuting should not be a rare exception: it should be the default. And corporate headquarters should be as small and inexpensive as possible, staffed (in person) only by a handful of people -- if even that. Asking net admins to do stupid, wasteful, expensive things like commute 3 hours a day and live in areas with ridiculously inflated housing prices is a good way to filter *out* the employees one would most like to have. ---rsk
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
Rich, In principal I agree, and I've said this many times, for years I've telecommuted myself, mostly effectively. I'd work much longer hours, but not always worked as efficiently during all of those hours. When I started my own company, with $$ be in short supply like all start ups I I planned to have as many folks telecommute as possible. In some cases it worked out, in others it was a terrible failure. Maybe it was my hiring choices, maybe it was being a bad manager but without people in the office it was harder to tell. Also with most people under one roof now, I also see the on going information sharing that isn't as possible with a mostly remote office. -jim On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 8:04 AM, Rich Kulawiec r...@gsp.org wrote: On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 05:35:45PM -0700, Scott Weeks wrote: One day, hopefully, telecommuting really takes off [...] It often strikes me as incredibly ironic that companies which *would not exist* were it not for the Internet are among the most resistant to the simple, obvious concept that telecommuting allows them to hire the best and brightest regardless of geography. Telecommuting should not be a rare exception: it should be the default. And corporate headquarters should be as small and inexpensive as possible, staffed (in person) only by a handful of people -- if even that. Asking net admins to do stupid, wasteful, expensive things like commute 3 hours a day and live in areas with ridiculously inflated housing prices is a good way to filter *out* the employees one would most like to have. ---rsk
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 7:04 AM, Rich Kulawiec r...@gsp.org wrote: On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 05:35:45PM -0700, Scott Weeks wrote: One day, hopefully, telecommuting really takes off [...] It often strikes me as incredibly ironic that companies which *would not exist* were it not for the Internet are among the most resistant to the simple, obvious concept that telecommuting allows them to hire the best and brightest regardless of geography. Hi Rich, It's hard to manage telecommuters. Any manager can see whether or not you're at your desk, but gauging your work output and assessing whether it's happening at an appropriate rate is actually pretty challenging. This is especially true of systems administration where the ideal output of your efforts is that nothing is observed to have happened -- you prevented all problems from escalating to where they became visible. So not only does your manager have to be really good at management, he has to understand your work well enough to assess the quality and quantity of your results too. In other words, you may be asking more of your manager than you're willing to ask of yourself. Generally speaking, you're more valuable to a company if that equation is the other way around. Regards, Bill Herrin -- William Herrin her...@dirtside.com b...@herrin.us Owner, Dirtside Systems . Web: http://www.dirtside.com/ Can I solve your unusual networking challenges?
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 7:04 AM, Rich Kulawiec r...@gsp.org wrote: Telecommuting should not be a rare exception: it should be the default. And corporate headquarters should be as small and inexpensive as possible, staffed (in person) only by a handful of people -- if even that. Automattic (WordPress) works like that. There's a book about it. http://www.amazon.com/The-Year-Without-Pants-WordPress-com/dp/1118660633 j -- --- Joly MacFie 218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org -- -
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
Joly MacFie wrote: On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 7:04 AM, Rich Kulawiec r...@gsp.org wrote: Telecommuting should not be a rare exception: it should be the default. And corporate headquarters should be as small and inexpensive as possible, staffed (in person) only by a handful of people -- if even that. Automattic (WordPress) works like that. There's a book about it. http://www.amazon.com/The-Year-Without-Pants-WordPress-com/dp/1118660633 Funny thing. A place I'm working now (not as a sysadmin, though) builds intelligent transportation systems for buses (dispatch systems, passenger information, and the like) - half of us are spread all over the place. A lot of us live pretty far from the home office, and spend most of our time working from home; then there are all the folks on the road doing sales; and the deployment teams working on-site at customer locations. About the only folks who are actually in the office a lot are the design engineers and the folks who build hardware. Works pretty well - though proposals get kind of interesting (which is what I mostly do these days). The problem isn't so much remoteness (email, audio bridges, and webex work well enough) - it's finding blocks of time for meetings - everyone is juggling too many things - kind of organizational ADHD. Personally, I think there's a lot to be said for actually having everybody in the same physical place - makes those impromptu hallway conversations a lot easier. Cheers, Miles -- In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. Yogi Berra
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 7:04 AM, Rich Kulawiec r...@gsp.org wrote: On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 05:35:45PM -0700, Scott Weeks wrote: One day, hopefully, telecommuting really takes off [...] It often strikes me as incredibly ironic that companies which *would not exist* were it not for the Internet are among the most resistant to the simple, obvious concept that telecommuting allows them to hire the best and brightest regardless of geography. Telecommuting should not be a rare exception: it should be the default. And corporate headquarters should be as small and inexpensive as possible, staffed (in person) only by a handful of people -- if even that. Asking net admins to do stupid, wasteful, expensive things like commute 3 hours a day and live in areas with ridiculously inflated housing prices is a good way to filter *out* the employees one would most like to have. Something like 40% of IBM'ers telecommute, saving IBM $2.9B (if you believe some PR). And IBM is about as large and bloated, report heavy, mgmt heavy, conference call heavy, that a company can get. :-) -Jim P.
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 7:29 AM, jim deleskie deles...@gmail.com wrote: In principal I agree, and I've said this many times, for years I've telecommuted myself, mostly effectively. I'd work much longer hours, but not always worked as efficiently during all of those hours. [snip] It's worth noting that working at max efficiency is often not even the best thing for a company. This has been known for years [1], but most companies don't put it into practice. [1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Principles-Product-Development-Flow/dp/1935401009
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Tue, 22 Jul 2014, Nolan Rollo wrote: I've been trying to decide for a while what makes a good home for a Network Admin... access to physical, reliable upstream routes? good selection of local taverns? What, in your opinion, makes a good location for a Network Admin and where in the US would you find that? Some place with someone willing to pay for a network admin services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has employment and salary data for computer and network administrators covering the entire USA. http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151142.htm Other than that, what people are willing to accept, and what people are willing to offer will vary alot. Self-employed, small, medium, large organization. Rural/city. Family/single activities. Work anywhere/Get away from work. Colloborative/solitary environment. And so on. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/network-and-computer-systems-administrators.htm
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
--- s...@donelan.com wrote: From: Sean Donelan s...@donelan.com http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151142.htm http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/network-and-computer-systems-administrators.htm -- As is usual, you come up with the coolest data on stuff. This http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/sw151142.png Annual Mean Wage of Network and Computer Systems Administrators by State, May 2013 is surprising, though. The numbers are much lower than I would expect. scott
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
--- m...@mtcc.com wrote: From: Michael Thomas m...@mtcc.com Maybe the webrtc stuff will help this by making ad hoc communication trivial - Some work from home well and some don't. It all depends on self-discipline. However, for those that can telecommute successfully (I've done that in the past, so I have experience to speak from) easy communication of various types (text, audio, or a/v when needed) with team members is crucial. scott
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On 7/26/2014 5:55 PM, Scott Weeks wrote: Some work from home well and some don't. It all depends on self-discipline. However, for those that can telecommute successfully (I've done that in the past, so I have experience to speak from) easy communication of various types (text, audio, or a/v when needed) with team members is crucial. To be fair, it also depends on the office environment. People slack off in the office just as easily. I find that I prefer self-imposed stress running my own business rather than being stuck in a job where I was unappreciated and had to listen to how replaceable I was. Not all work environments are the same. I definitely agree on the communication, though. However, I think that is vital in any environment. Has this mailing list never helped you out? Have you never made contacts online that have been invaluable? When working in a team, it is vital to have team communications, but does our expertise stop at the team? Perhaps I view things differently since I'm surrounded in real life by people who don't do what I do. My online contacts are my comrades, my sounding board, and my teachers. It's rather lonely to accomplish something and have no one to share it with. I still work in a team environment, but my team covers all aspects of the business. The fun of writing code or designing a routing policy tends to escape my fellow team members. Then again, I probably don't appreciate the success of a sale or successful price negotiations. Jack P.S. You know who you are that have helped me over the years. Thank you.
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 1:13 PM, Owen DeLong o...@delong.com wrote: Bill, on your list of not so wonderful things in DC, you left off: Weather In the sumer, the DC area is, well, what you’d expect from a hot, humid, fetid swamp. In the winter, you can make ice cream outside without rock salt (though there’s plenty of salt available on the roads). Meh. The weather is always temperate indoors. You ARE a computer guy, right? Contrary to Bill’s claims, we have nearly as many data centers housing lots of interconnect, content providers, etc. out here, too. We’re also a primary gateway to Asia and the Pacific as well as Australia. I wouldn't dream of suggesting that silicon valley lacks for anything of interest to computer and networking folks. You even have heavy taxation, heavy regulation and a state government ever on the brink of financial collapse, all things less prevalent in Northern Virginia. Though if you really enjoy those things you can always visit DC or the People's Republic of Maryland. Regards, Bill Herrin -- William Herrin her...@dirtside.com b...@herrin.us Owner, Dirtside Systems . Web: http://www.dirtside.com/ Can I solve your unusual networking challenges?
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On 07/26/2014 06:01 PM, William Herrin wrote: On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 1:13 PM, Owen DeLong o...@delong.com wrote: Bill, on your list of not so wonderful things in DC, you left off: Weather In the sumer, the DC area is, well, what you’d expect from a hot, humid, fetid swamp. In the winter, you can make ice cream outside without rock salt (though there’s plenty of salt available on the roads). Meh. The weather is always temperate indoors. You ARE a computer guy, right? Contrary to Bill’s claims, we have nearly as many data centers housing lots of interconnect, content providers, etc. out here, too. We’re also a primary gateway to Asia and the Pacific as well as Australia. I wouldn't dream of suggesting that silicon valley lacks for anything of interest to computer and networking folks. You even have heavy taxation, heavy regulation and a state government ever on the brink of financial collapse, all things less prevalent in Northern Virginia. Though if you really enjoy those things you can always visit DC or the People's Republic of Maryland. Don't forget the hipsters with their skinny jeans. And $1M median housing prices. It's awful out here. We're on the brink of collapse and will be joining the ranks of Mississippi soon, with our main export being deep fried silicon. Mike
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Sat, 26 Jul 2014 15:34:14 -0700, Scott Weeks said: Annual Mean Wage of Network and Computer Systems Administrators by State, May 2013 is surprising, though. The numbers are much lower than I would expect. Remember that's the *mean*. There's a lot of small companies that have some kid that has a 2 year degree and the first Crisco/MCSE cert and not much else. They're not going to get rockstar salaries in places like Wyoming or West Virginia pgpQJPx4W3j17.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On 2014-07-22 18:20, Nolan Rollo wrote: I've been trying to decide for a while what makes a good home for a Network Admin... access to physical, reliable upstream routes? good selection of local taverns? What, in your opinion, makes a good location for a Network Admin and where in the US would you find that? H. That's a great question. Well does the network admin mostly travel to job sites? Or work remotely? If either/both are true, I'd suggest the DFW area. It's a major hub in both internet and travel respects. (I fly American Airlines exclusively, I live in Austin. Most flights are AUS-DFW-$FINALHOP). Also, I'd like to introduce myself [[ o/ ]] I've been watching the list for a while now and have found it helpful with picking up some best practices, getting use-case scenarios you might not see in text books. Is that code for all you crazies doing crazy things for crazier bosses? :) Welcome to the list sir! I attended Michigan Tech for Computer Networking and System Administration and have been bouncing around for a couple of years trying to find my calling. Yeah. That happens. I've been working a lot with VoIP and that's been my interest ever since middle school. I've been mainly playing with stub networks for most of my life but have recently started working with larger routed networks, leading me to subscribe to the NANOG list. Excellent! My latest endeavor was acquiring and ASN and a /24 from ARIN and multihoming a very small MSP. Oooo. How did that go for you? What upstreams did you connect with? How painful was it? How much convincing did it take to get management to go along? What are the post implementation improvements? etc etc. I've been fortunate enough to have really sharp mentors to help answer any questions I've had along the way. I know there must be quite a few people like myself that are lurking on the list and I just wanted to thank you guys for answering other questions and providing input on topics that have come through the list. Yes. Many lurkers, many off list replies to most threads. Did you get any awesome off list replies? Summarize them back to the list?
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Tue, Jul 22, 2014 at 7:20 PM, Nolan Rollo nro...@kw-corp.com wrote: I've been trying to decide for a while what makes a good home for a Network Admin... access to physical, reliable upstream routes? good selection of local taverns? What, in your opinion, makes a good location for a Network Admin and where in the US would you find that? Hi Nolan, Back in the days of lore when the Internet ran over telephone lines instead of the other way around, the most substantial long haul communications hub in the country was Northern Virginia's Dulles Corridor. More than any other area, leased lines to and from anywhere transited northern VA because that's how the long distance telephone infrastructure was built. Move the call here, switch it, move it back out. This made it the cheapest place to hub your Internet backbone. Indeed, the first large Internet Exchange Point, MAE-East was originally a FDDI ring at 8100 Boone Blvd, Vienna VA in the area known as Tysons Corner. The Internet is much more distributed now, but the area still retains its legacy. Lots of Internet companies continue to house major facilities here and operations such as ARIN are headquartered here. More, many of the folks you've come to know on NANOG and in other forums live and work here. Bonuses: With the possible exception of NYC, nowhere in the U.S. has more or finer quality cultural institutions than DC and its suburbs (Northern Virginia). The Smithsonian's extensive network of museums, the Kennedy Center, and so on. Federal money tends not to wander far, so you'll never want for paying work in Northern Virginia. Nowhere I've traveled has a broader selection of good restaurants. Most places have a local food with a bunch of good restaurants for that food, but we have all the foods and at least a few restaurants for each which are exceptional. Casual conversation is heavy on politics and matters of import Less than wonderful: Not the worst traffic in the nation but not far from it High rent, high cost of living Political conversation is inescapable good selection of local taverns? Octoberfest at the German embassy annex at Dulles Airport. ;) Regards, Bill Herrin -- William Herrin her...@dirtside.com b...@herrin.us Owner, Dirtside Systems . Web: http://www.dirtside.com/ Can I solve your unusual networking challenges?
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
William Herrin wrote: On Tue, Jul 22, 2014 at 7:20 PM, Nolan Rollo nro...@kw-corp.com wrote: I've been trying to decide for a while what makes a good home for a Network Admin... access to physical, reliable upstream routes? good selection of local taverns? What, in your opinion, makes a good location for a Network Admin and where in the US would you find that? Hi Nolan, Back in the days of lore when the Internet ran over telephone lines instead of the other way around, the most substantial long haul communications hub in the country was Northern Virginia's Dulles Corridor. More than any other area, leased lines to and from anywhere transited northern VA because that's how the long distance telephone infrastructure was built. Move the call here, switch it, move it back out. This made it the cheapest place to hub your Internet backbone. Indeed, the first large Internet Exchange Point, MAE-East was originally a FDDI ring at 8100 Boone Blvd, Vienna VA in the area known as Tysons Corner. And here I thought all the submarine cables terminated in Moristown, NJ and Florida. Still DC is a nice place to live. Miles Fidelmn -- In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. Yogi Berra
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
On Fri, 25 Jul 2014 17:52:05 -0400, Miles Fidelman said: Still DC is a nice place to live. Depends on your definition of nice. I'm perfectly OK with the fact that when I look out the window here in my office, the skyline is mostly National Forest. Not many places in DC have that going for them pgpGjWYXKswQ7.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: [OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
--- valdis.kletni...@vt.edu wrote: On Fri, 25 Jul 2014 17:52:05 -0400, Miles Fidelman said: Still DC is a nice place to live. Depends on your definition of nice. I'm perfectly OK with the fact that when I look out the window here in my office, the skyline is mostly National Forest. Not many places in DC have that going for them - Just for fun... Nice is indeed subjective. We have crap for restaurants for the most part, the only mall here is tiny, traffic is terrible and everything is expensive, so we go do free stuff like: hiking http://meteora.ucsd.edu/~iacob/photos/Kauai/napali05.jpg http://www.world-of-waterfalls.com/images/Hanakoa_060L.jpg and surfing http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/db/ca/ff/dbcaff7ecc0504a9278e2b804cd85122.jpg scott One day, hopefully, telecommuting really takes off, I can actually sound intelligent in an interview (I do worse than geek-attempting-to-ask-a-girl-out-for-a-date) and I get to do the job I want from here instead of struggling through what I do for work. You gain some; you lose some.
[OPINION] Best place in the US for NetAdmins
I've been trying to decide for a while what makes a good home for a Network Admin... access to physical, reliable upstream routes? good selection of local taverns? What, in your opinion, makes a good location for a Network Admin and where in the US would you find that? Also, I'd like to introduce myself [[ o/ ]] I've been watching the list for a while now and have found it helpful with picking up some best practices, getting use-case scenarios you might not see in text books. I attended Michigan Tech for Computer Networking and System Administration and have been bouncing around for a couple of years trying to find my calling. I've been working a lot with VoIP and that's been my interest ever since middle school. I've been mainly playing with stub networks for most of my life but have recently started working with larger routed networks, leading me to subscribe to the NANOG list. My latest endeavor was acquiring and ASN and a /24 from ARIN and multihoming a very small MSP. I've been fortunate enough to have really sharp mentors to help answer any questions I've had along the way. I know there must be quite a few people like myself that are lurking on the list and I just wanted to thank you guys for answering other questions and providing input on topics that have come through the list. TL;DR: Hi, see subject
