Is there such a thing as a Guru?

[moose4me]

Ladies/Gentlemen,
I have been working with both Avaya and Nortel platforms for quite sometime. I consider myself quite good, on a scale of 1 to 10, I place myself an 8, since there is always room to learn. I been unemployed for several months and came across a position I thought I could easily qualify for. There were ten other technical requirements listed but I stopped short when I read the last lines of the job requirements which stated:

"Must have a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications, Computer Science, Information Systems, or related technical discipline or equivalent telecommunications experience. Certification on administration of Avaya systems preferred. 8+ years’ experience in Communications and/or Technology Management; 2+ years are in project management or implementation including research, cost analysis, and Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity planning. MUST be an Avaya Guru – experience preferred with all of the following: Avaya Dialer, IVR, AES, CCE, CAS. Must be familiar with Avaya 8700, S8300 series Communication Managers, Pro-Logix, VoicePortal, Verint Call Recording, Verint QM, Verint WFM, Modular Messaging, Audix, eCAS and CMS, Avaya Enablement Server, Proactive Contact and Contact Center Express, Avaya SIP Enablement Servers and AudioCodes Gateways."

Now I ask you guys, is there such a thing as an Avaya Guru? Just for kicks, how many of you would actually qualify 100% for this position? The position is for a Telecommunications Engineer in a major call center. It would be interesting to get a feedback and perhaps, some of your own job hunting experiences. Thanks.

 

[Stinney]

In my experience, most job postings are to try and hire the "ideal candidate" so they list everything in the world but they always have to settle for the closest match. That's why they use terms like "experience preferred with..."

My best friend for almost 30 years now has been in the field of career counciling for 20+ years and has always stated that employers overstate their needs to get the best candidate they can.

No one is going to be an exact fit for this posting and if they are, I bet this position doesn't pay close to what would be expected from someone who is a master of all these systems.

I always look for issues in the postin to see if the person that created it knows what they are talking about or looking for, such as: Avaya 8700, S8300 series Communication Managers? Not S8700 and the servers are not Communication Managers, the software on the server is Communication Manager and no release provided? They list S8300 but don't mention multiple sites or the gateways such as G450, G430, G350?

Why does it group eCAS and CMS in a list of things? Makes it sound like they think they are somehow similar in technology. In addition, they already listed CAS. If they have both CAS and eCAS why not list them together? Why the alphabet soup but list Avaya Enablement Server and Avaya SIP Enablement Servers instead of AES and SES? No mention of the model phones they are using?

I bet for this position you would interview with the manager that created this posting and be able to wow them with your knowledge. The people you might have to impress are the actual telecom engineers and techs that you might have to interview with as well. They are going to understand that no one will know all these systems. You just need to present yourself in a way that demonstrates your ability to understand the technology that you might not consider yourself and expert. If you are unfamiliar with a particular system, read up about it, see what you can learn about it before you go, see if any of it relates to systems you have worked on so you can talk about it logically in your interview.

At my last company my manager barely understood the technology, was more of a "people manager", yet was responsible for creating the job postings, which were hilarious to read sometimes. Serveral times we had to ask HR to pull them back and correct them.

Peronally, I don't think the term guru should be used in a professional posting. I think they are just trying to sound trendy or "hip".

- Stinney

I love learning and passing on knowledge. "Because knowing is half the battle".... GI JOOOOOE!

 

[moose4me]

Awesome response Stinney,
I am willing to be that these people grab all those pretty accronyms from other postings and paste them to their own without the faintest idea of what they mean. They ask for S8300 experience but if you worked with X8700, they won't bother looking at you because in their minds, they do not understand the similarities in these two platforms, they look at them as different as you would a boat from a plane. They turn down many good technicians because of this mindset. I just don't get it.

 

[NewNic]

If" I were truely quilifyed in everything they list id want at least 180,000 per year

 

[avayasmith]

So you're not an Avaya guru, it's not the end of the world!

i prefer clarity to agreement - dennis prager

 

[jimbojimbo]

I consider myself fairly close to a "guru" but there is at least one product on the list I haven't really touched other than to perform the initial integration. You may find some customers in a contact center environment that have "touched" all of the listed but they wouldn't have depth in each one and I wouldn't classify them as a "guru".

This is not a position I would apply for since they appear to be on what I now consider legacy equipment. They are a contact center and are looking for someone to run the systems. I prefer being out on the leading edge. I don't see UC/Video/Session Manager/System Manager. They are probably a CM release 13.x or 14.x.

 

[mikeydidit]

I think to begin with you have to understand that most people don't know what it is we do. I have yet to have a boss that would know what anything is in here. Unless it's words like server, Cisco (network switch), or maintenance agreement. Other than that their clueless. Stinney posted them as "people managers" and that hits it on the head. With most telecomm departments falling under IT now, thats what you get.

A while back a girl here (brownnoser) mentioned to one of my higher up's the word "vector". She Immediately "assumed" that this person knew something about Avaya systems (after hearing me mention the term a few times through the years). Now two of my higher up's arrange a meet and greet for me a new employee with the two of us. After lunch she came by and looked around my equipment room. The first thing out of her mouth was, "How are they on training"?? Wow. I later found out (You know us telecomm guys are a tight knit bunch) that 20 years ago she worked on a G3V? switch. And she wasn't worth a damn on them then.


So it's not you brother it's them and where telecomm has ended up.

When is the last time you helped someone, just because you were able to?

For the best response to a question, read faq690-6594

 

[DAVIDPAYNE]

I would agree with most of what mikedidit said. In 20 years in the telecom field (all Avaya), I have had one manager who knew anything about the telecom system, and he knew just enough to be dangerous.
And even with as much experience I have, I would not call myself a Guru. I consider myself to be a telecommunication engineer, and a subject matter expert.

But no one is going to have everything they are asking for, or as others have said if they do, then it very little, or they aren’t going to be able to afford them.

But I will say this, IMOP, a call center is the only place most of us will be able to find jobs. At least using Avaya, the days of the corporate PBX our limited.

David Payne