Talk to the professionals in an online chat
Date: Thursday 26 January, 2012
Participants: Garrett Heraty and Adam Grennan from Cisco
Garrett Heraty
On Thursday 26 January from 7pm we held a live discussion with Garrett Heraty and Adam Grennan from Cisco.
Garrett is an Account Manager specialising in data networking, data centres, server virtualisation, digital media signage, IP CCTV and data security. Adam is a manager of the engineering team.
If we didn’t get to your question during the 40-minute chat, please check back as we will be following them up.
Find out more about Cisco in Ireland
So we’ve made it to the last session of our online careers fair! We have Garrett and Adam with us now from Cisco. Please do join in and post your questions.
Hi, This is Adam. I’ve been a long time in the IT/Communications industry and I’ve worked for a number of different companies including Siemens, cable & Wireless, Avaya and now Cisco. I’m almost seven years in Cisco and I find it to be a great company. There’s never a dull moment! I manage a team of engineers who help our customers and partners design communications solutions. I also represent the company in the media from time to time.
Garrett Here. I’m responsible for Sales in Cisco for all our Higher Education Customers within Ireland as well as the Health Service Executive and its respective hospitals. I have worked for Cisco for 4 ½ Years in this role which has afforded me many exciting opportunities from a training and personal development perspective as well as travel to the United States and across Europe.
Hi guys, is it worth getting Cisco certification such as CCNA as well as an ICT degree? Also, do you think cloud computing will still be a big hiring area in 3/4 years when I graduate? I’m just worried if I specialize in cloud computing now, there might be some other new buzz in the industry by the time I’m looking for work.
Hi Lyndsey, Adam here. Yes it is absolutely well worth getting any Cisco certification. They are valuable whether you work for Cisco or not because networking is so pervasive. Also, in regards to Cloud Computing, which we also got a question from Fiona about, I believe it is definitely here to stay. We’re really only at the beginning of this new trend.
Sorry if this is a silly question but cld you explain more what a pre-sales engineer does?
Garrett here. Somebody asked what a Pre-Sales engineer is. Within Cisco our Pre-Sales team work closely with the Sales account Managers. When we meet with our customers our Pre Sales Engineers are subject matter specialists on specific technologies that we make. Traditionally our Pre-Sales Engineers brought this expertise on all our technologies however as our product portfolio expanded we made the decision that pre-sales engineers would focus on specific technologies ie Routing, Switching, Wireless, Collaboration, Data Centre (Switching, Virtualisation, servers)
Hi Garett, i have an interest in accountancy and i was just wondering what course did you do in college and did you find it easy to find a job after it?and also did you keep on accountanCy in secondary school because my school dos not offer an accountancy class?
Aine-Tipperary
Garrett here again. Aine: Thanks for your question. My Job title can easily cause some confusion. An Account Manager is a glorified name for a sales Person… :)
A question for both of you if it’s not too personal!
How did you go about getting jobs in Cisco?
Hi it’s Adam back again. Hi TK, I’m happy to answer your question. I came from a company called Avaya. I’ve been in the workforce quite a while and have worked in lots of different companies. Just in case you think that Cisco only recruit experienced people we don’t! Here is a link to where you can get some information about what goes on in Cisco and what opportunities there are: https://communities.cisco.com/community/general/universityconnection/life_at_cisco
Is it good to join a big company at the start of your career, or is it better to be in a smaller one so you might get noticed?
Hi Caoimhe, Garrett Here. Great question BTW. I don’t think there is a definitive answer to your question however I will do my best. There are typically 2 routes into Multi-National Organisations. Route 1. You get first hand sector experience working for small/medium sized organisation in that sector and then apply for roles within large multinationals or if you are very lucky be identified and head hunted by these Organisations. Route 2. Almost all Large Multinationals have comprehensive Graduate Recruitment programs where they take graduates straight out of 3rd Level and provide you with the development and training needed to deliver in these roles. Both paths tend to deliver great quality people.
I’m in fifth year in school. What are the good things to work on now if I am going to have a career in technology? One of my teachers said that the technology changes so quickly it is better just to focus on maths for now. What do you think?
Hi Nick, this is Adam. Maths is definitely a help but it is not mandatory in a lot of opportunities in ICT. As an engineer it is very important to be able to think on your feet and solve problems. It’s also really important to be able to work in a team. Business skills are good as well. I’d advise you to focus on what you’re most interested in and what you feel you are good at….
I’m wondering what the social life is like in Cisco, and the culture?
Working for a Multi National Multi Cultured Organisation is always very exciting if not a huge challenge for our canteen who always try and have a meal related to national or cultural festivals of those working within the operation. With people working for Cisco from over 40 countries in Ireland alone you can understand how difficult that can be. Additionally though we have a strong culture of giving back. Every year we select a particular charity and have many fundraising campaigns throughout the year. This has included initiatives as diverse of recording and releasing a song to canoe races in the sea near our Dublin office.
We’re coming to the end of our last session folks. Coming to our last question now. Thanks.
Would Cisco have a preference for a specific qualification? you don’t have to pick one university over the other, I would just like to know whether, for example, Cisco would prefer a degree that is more practical or would a more maths-focused degree be rated higher. Also, are there specific aspects of an educational qualification that you would prefer over others (e.g. networking more than java programming, or cloud computing over electronics, or whatever)? And do you take students for work experience?
Hi Eoin, The qualifications we look for can vary. Generally people in the sales and engineering area come from a wide variety of backgrounds and have a wide variety of skills and qualifications. Over in Galway where we have a Research and Development team they are more specific about what they look for: Students in the areas of Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Telecommunications, Software Development, Computer Networking, Electronics or other equivalent disciplines with an emphasis on Software Design practices.
This link might also help: https://communities.cisco.com/community/general/universityconnection
Thanks, Adam
Many thanks to Cisco’s Garrett and Adam for their great input tonight. A big thank you to all of the companies that have taken part all week. We hope you have found it useful. We’ll do our best to address questions we couldn’t get to tonight, so do come back to these chats again later on in the week.
As promised, here are some of your questions that we couldn’t get around to in the live session…
everyone’s talking about cloud computing – i know this might be a big question but what do you think cloud computing will mean in say 3 years time for jobs in Ireland?
In answer to Fiona’s question it would be hard to put a figure on it. There are many companies in Ireland now working in the area of cloud computing. Large companies like Amazon, EMC, Microsoft and IBM as well as smaller companies like Sharptext and Ergo all have an offering. Service providers like eircom, BT and O2 are also getting in on the act. Here in Cisco we both manufacture equipment that enables the cloud and also have cloud offerings of our own. So although I’d be reluctant to put a number on the amount of jobs I’m certain that the move to cloud computing is only beginning and is very definitely here to stay.
Regards,
Adam
What did you yourselves study at college and did you specialise as you went along??
From Garrett:
To answer Question 1: I did a degree in Business Management in the Institute of Technology Tallaght. This course didn’t include specializing in any area but covered all areas you would expect in a Business management course: Economics, Accounting, IT, Management, Communications, Statistics, Law, Marketing. Working for 8 years in the ICT industry has led to continued learning on Technology, Public speaking & Communications, and many other areas.