[TriLUG] GSK needs a contractor - my replacement

[Greg Brown]

Like to work?  Then GSK might have a contract job for you.  Currently
it is a contract position slated for 3 months but if you work out
there is work until at least June, probably longer.

The good:

You get to play with some sweet hardware: Cisco 6513s with 10 gig
interfaces, blade servers, 24 port gig stackables with 10 gig
uplinks.. mostly Cisco stuff in a large, complex global network.  The
position is in network delivery and you get to play with a wide range
of hardware, mostly network stuff but there are also wireless
projects, server stuff (blades mostly), anything that needs to be
"deployed" to GSK business units.

You are also NOT ON CALL and there is no pager to carry.

The biggest benefit?  The people you will work with are professional,
knowledgeable, and very, very eager to teach.  Think you know
wireless?  Oh, doggie, so did I.  :)

The bad:

You have to do some grunt work, mostly do cable duty in the data
centers.  The data centers (two in NC) are fairly advanced, and there
are floor junction boxes with pre-pulled CAT6 cables so you don't have
to crawl under the floor or anything like that.  Just pull some raised
tiles, patch things between the junction boxes and the cabinets where
servers will be located then patch from the patch panel on the switch
side to an open switch port.  Basic stuff really.  "Basic stuff"
accounts for ~40% of the work with the remainder being more advanced
stuff, and when a really cool project comes down the pike you can
always volunteer to help - there is always work to do.

This is an excellent position for anyone who wants to cut their teeth
on (mostly) layer 3 and up gear on a huge, global network.  And as a
plus, it never hurts to have some time in at a fortune 500 company
(and some references from one too boot).

If you are interested send me an e-mail off list and I'll send you the
contact information.  Oh, the only other "bad" thing - GSK has an "18
month rule".  After you spend 18 months on a contract you can't work
there until you spend 6 months away at another company, then you can
come back for another 18 months.  Just wanted to make sure everyone
knew that going in.  Chances of being converted to a full-time
employee are about zero.  But it happened to me.  But just don't bank
on it.. I sure didn't.

Greg