Hmmmm.... Interesting. I bought my first Model 30E in 2006 - I believe it was a 9006.2 switch. Knowing better than to trust management to support me I had them bury the cost of my 1-week EMML programming class into the cost of the system. Back in those days I was trained by a major vendor, and went to Plymouth MN, a halfway decent suburb of Mpls.
After I got back the tech I was working with on the install was impressed at how fast I picked it all up and gave me the key to accessing the system as a tech, in more ways than one. I have been 100% self-taught and self supporting since then except for system upgrades and one failed HD - everything else I do myself, and I would do the upgrades too but I don't have access to the EIP scripts. I have a well-deserved reputation among the tech support folks and the vendors, and they know when I call them it is only because I'm desperate and can't figure it out on my own. I have also acquired a full-set of documentation on CD that was accidentally left behind once after an upgrade. They know I have enough common sense to not run a command or do a procedure if I'm not 100% sure of myself.
I have several Model 30 and Model 80 switches now and even a few with the newest version of the software they are making - I've never been uncomfortable with it.
In 2000 I bought a Hicom 150 version 1.0 and the self-teaching training kit that had the cable I needed, the software I needed, manual and some CBT. I taught myself that but never got to take the test and get certified because my company wouldn't pay for it. I have since self taught myself way into the depths of that system as well, and have upgraded it myself to v2.2 and most recently to v3.0. It's really NOT that hard, and most of the stuff is very logical and only requires a tad of common sense. I have not touched one yet, but have heard the 3000 programs much like the 150 with a software tool, but adds AMOs like the 9006 has. I've requested money to put a small 4000 in one of my sites next year but have not heard back yet if I'm getting it. I'm not afraid of it, and I have heard much more good than bad. Everyone that's been in the industry for a while can probably tell you all sorts of different horror stories, but most of them are generally the exception to the rule.
If I have to complain about one thing in the 9006 line of things, and only because I went to college to become a computer programmer and had to work on modular software design teams, the development group for the 9006 language didn't have that good of communication skills. For some of the commands you have to type STN as a parameter and others are STNO - there are a few other commands like that too, but once you know them it's no big deal. Just like in the English language where a clock gets Wound and the flesh receives a Wound, it's all semantics to learn.
The other thing they like to do is every time they touch my switch they take all my wired-for card slots that are not populated and change them to the newer board type (which requires an adapter and for me to PAY for the board) but that's no big deal either because every time they turn their backs I just put them back the way they were and add the boards I have in stock (other than T1 cards, which I know the reason why it was done that way).
If I need to be prejudiced I would say I resist changing away from Siemens because A) I've never had any serious problems in 12 years, and B) I'm too lazy to learn a new box. If I can keep my existing investment and just slowly migrate to newer product (adding a small 4000 to my 9006 switch and gradually migrating over to the 4000 over a few years rather than throwing everything in the dumpster)then why should I not do that? Other than a few work at hom transcriptionists, the MIS geeks, and the Admin folks, I have no need to migrate this place to IP right now - I just need to support the technology and migrate when I get around to it or need it for something significant other than learning about it. And maybe by then they will have figured out a way to keep the internet hackers out of the telephony systems once they are connected to the world!
So no matter how you slice it, they're just boxes and boards. Just like Mopar vs Chevy, they all have their special ways of doing things, but that doesn't make either one bad - you just have to go to more than one school, and hang out with more than one crowd to get what you need.
And be NICE to your techs - no matter how little personality some of them can have (yes I've had one or two of those over the years). You never know when you're going to need a favor in the middle of the night, and having their personal cell numbers can be a real asset when the chips are down!!
