Ricky Martin’s Blog

So As some of you may be aware I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to work in several cool places around the world over the last few years as a result of that experience I have learned a few things that make it a little easier to be able to this, and will break these down here for you. As with anything there are many ways to do things, these are the ones I know of and have worked for me.

Key 1 – Citizenship

one of the biggest advantages or disadvantages is Citizenship depending on which one you have and what you might be entitled to. One of the advantages I have is being a Canadian Citizen, As a result we enjoy good relation and good will with most countries around the world, and this opens up a lot of opportunities.  Canadian citizens enjoy relatively easy access to work visa’s for the US and and the UK depending on your education and experience. There are some drawbacks as many are temporary visa’s but there may be a route to permanent residency if your looking for it, you just need to explore the options.

Another advantage is if you have dual Citizenship, which my wife shares, And this can eliminate the need for visa altogether, as in my wife’s case European citizenship gives you access to work anywhere within the EU.

Key 2 – Age

Many Countries that are looking to grow have what is called a work study option, which is usually age restricted to people between 18-30. This gives you an option to go visit, study and work in the country. you can usually do a search on the internet with the country you have in mind and should be able to find the information with regards to this option. Or another option is to call up the closest consulate for the country you are interested in and they should be able to point you in the right direction.

Key-3 – Skill Set/Experience/Education

Depending on the background or Diploma you have can make life a lot easier to getting a work visa in another country, especially with highly skilled people in demand all over the world. This opens up a lot of options. At the same time you may be able to transfer within a company to another division if you have been with the company for a certain time under different visa categories.  It is a lot easier for an Engineer with a university degree to get a visa than say for a chef that has no experience in the industry.

Key-4- Mobility

This is the key if you want to be able to have the opportunities to work in another city or country, I am thankful that my wife has been open to the opportunities that have presented themselves to us over the years. I don’t think I can stress this enough, if you want to be open to options that are presented you may need to be able to move quickly, even when they are planned out well in advance(trust me I am speaking from experience here…LOL). If you have to many things that tie you down to one place you may hesitate, which could eventually cause you to miss out on a life altering experience.

Key- 5- Desire

This is probably one of the biggest factors to be able to work around the world. YOU NEED TO WANT TO!

If you don’t there is no point in pursuing any of the other things you need to do in order to be able to seize these opportunities. I for one want to experience life and all it has to offer, and to experience different places and cultures, you can only read so much and see so many movies, but it is nothing like seeing it with your own eyes and touching it with your own fingers.

So with that said keep your mind and your options open, you never know when a great opportunity will present itself!

The summer vacation season is in full swing in the northern hemisphere, and here in Montreal it is no different. We are now starting the beginning of the “Construction Holidays” here in Quebec, which is usually a quiet time for most companies in the area usually shut down or scale back operations. all this talk about vacations and taking time off got me thinking about how vacation is given out all over the world.

I have had the great opportunity to work, in several places around the world, with that in mind here is a quick breakdown of the standard vacation allowance (not counting standard holidays Federal/Provincial/State) in each Country I have worked in:

Canada: standard is 10 days, usually goes up to 15 days after about 5 years of service, depends on industry and company.

United States of America: Standard is 10 days, usually as with Canada after a certain number of years of service and/or experience this goes up to 15 days.

United Kingdom: Standard is 20 days. and it can go up with experience and years of service.

So with all that time, does everyone get to use it, can you use it?

from my own experience, with my current employer they encourage people to use their time off, and actually can penalize you if you have too much time accumulated without taking it, which is a great incentive to use it.

Previously it was a struggle with some of the roles I had, as in one role I could not take a real “vacation” as there was no one with the skill set to cover for my role available, so I had to be available in case something happened that they needed my support. I guess it comes with the territory in specialized IT skills.

While in the UK it was actually nice to have so much Vacation time. The problem I had was figuring out how to use it all. which I never really did.

So what are you doing for Vacation?

Well as I had stated before, I have been working on getting certified. With several different ones in mind. But given my new position, I figured the Microsoft route would be most beneficial right now and would apply most to my current environment. That and the fact my exposure to network infrastructure in this position is minimal to non-existant the Cisco certs can be put on hold a little while longer. But with everything that has happened in the last 6 months that was kind of hard.

But I took a big step towards my goal about 2 weeks ago. I wrote the 70-290 Microsoft exam, and I passed! It was funny after reviewing the transcript online I realized it has been almost 10 years exactly since I wrote my first certification exam for Microsoft back in the days of NT 4.0.

So with that feat done I have my goal of writing 1 to 2 exams a month does not seem so hard I took about 3 weeks of prep for this exam by reading the ms press book and preparing with simulation exams. That seemed to be what worked best for me as I wrote the exam in about 1 hour.

Now on to the next exam which is the 70-291. I have already booked it for December and am working on prepping for it now.

Will keep you all posted on the progress and outcome.

Well The job hunt continues, so far a few good interviews and now waiting to hear back from the latest one I think went really well. But I still am waiting for news on some other leads and until I secure something I am still looking for interesting positions out there. I have been getting a lot of good luck wishes from my friends and Family on Facebook. I have also come to the conclusion with the help of my wife, that we have to broaden our search as much as we would like to stay in AZ, reality is the pool of companies is smaller than other markets especially in IT, so I have been looking at positions in CA and NV and even looking at the east coast again even though would prefer to stay here in the southwest.

Have also started to look into starting a company with a friend of mine, that is still in the beginning stages but is showing some promise as we explore it further.

Well with all the doom and gloom about the economy all around the world, are people who need jobs actually finding any?

I heard many stories over the past few months that there are millions of people loosing there jobs in many different sectors all over the world, with the financial crisis and bank collapses in the news is anyone safe?

Then on the other side of the coin you also hear the stories about companies that are hiring and other that are in a shortage of qualified staff. What can you believe?

I have several friends who had lost their jobs recently, and a few that left willingly to take care of personal matters, now the ones who lost their jobs had some idea that it was coming but it was still a blow to them none the less, at this time 1 of them has managed to find a new job, but he had to relocate almost across the country. I don’t think that everyone would be so willing to do that.

the other friend of mine was in a higher position when he was let go, at a certain level you could say where jobs like that don’t open up every day, now he managed to get a package on leaving from his employer that would hold him over for a while. but without knowing how long it might be before finding a job you really have to wonder. He is somewhat fortunate that his wife is still working and they have at least one steady income. Even with that though they can’t last forever on the one income, and with the job market as it is right now, things are not looking promising. he had asked for any help I could provide so I figured I could put something out here at the same time.

The one thing I would suggest as most good recruiters will tell you is make your resume/CV stand out, The other would be to reach out to all your contacts both personal and professional, you never know where there could be an opening that you might be a match for and your contact may just get something from you and think you would be a good fit or know someone that is looking and your name may come up. This has happened to me in the past, I have been lucky especially when looking for a job, it usually happens that you get a call or e-mail from a unlikely source especially if you put yourself out there and reach out to the people you know.

Also I would suggest you post your resume/CV on as many Job websites as you can, chances are you will get a hit on at least 1 of them maybe more, and especially in this economic climate you want to be seen, so even if a company is advertising on multiple job boards if they see your resume/CV pop up on all of them that may be a good sign that you are a fit or at least a qualified candidate.

One other suggestion I would use is to do some research into the companies you would be interested in working for a good website I found is Fortune Magazine, They have an excellent page on the best 100 companies to work for as well as a list of the companies that are hiring even in the current economic climate.

Hope this helps anyone that is looking if so please let me know?

OK, as I have been writing of late I am looking into getting my certifications up to date, as we are suppose to be doing it through work, I am a little weary of getting started on the MCSE, I have finished one of the books, and was getting ready to schedule the exam, but there is a possibility that I may be in the next round of training with work, so I decided to hold off on that for the moment.

I have decided then to go for the CCNA instead as in terms of value it probably makes more sense, and is in higher demand. The CCNA can be done in one or two exams depending on your preference. I am going for the one exam approach. I think it makes the most sense and is the most cost effective option. the exam itself is only about $150. That being said one exam and your certified as opposed to the MCSE which is about 7 exams to get your full certification.

I started reading the material on the 26th of January, and my plan is to take the exam by the 24th of February. So roughly a month time frame to get up to speed and prepared for the exam. From the resources I have found the exam itself is between 55-60 questions and there is a 110 minutes to complete the exam. You need to score an 85% or better to have passed.

Now I am not completely new to Cisco, I have worked with them in the past but it has been about 4 years since I have had to work on a router or switch. I did take the course through the Cisco academy about 6 years ago at McGill University in Montreal. I passed the course, but never got around to taking the exam. So in essence it is kind of a refresher, as I probably know most of the stuff just have remember how to do it again.

as part of tools I have gotten I am currently reading the “CCNA : Cisco Certified Network Associate Study Guide (Exam 640-802) , 6th Edition” by Todd Lammle. I am also using Dynamips Cisco Router simulator to practice as it simulates almost exactly the router environment as it uses actual Cisco IOS.
I will keep up my progress and list things I have found along this adventure, hopefully by the end of it I can say I am officially a CCNA? we’ll have to wait and see.

Ok, well I managed to finish off the study book, was a long 14 chapters, 18 if you count the appendices. I have managed to do a couple of practice tests from the CD that goes with the book, and am doing pretty well, about an 89% pass rate each time I do the test. I think I will try and schedule the actual exam around the time I get back from Denmark. I think if I force myself to do it I will be ready to go for it. It is like a lot of the self help and getting things done books and people say, if you give yourself a deadline it will take as long as you give yourself. So if you set a target too far ahead you will only get there when the deadline gets close, and if you never give yourself a deadline it will never get done.

Just finished reading through this book, bought it a couple months ago and started it and kind got side tracked. the Book is basically an extension of the website lifehacker.com. The book itself talks you through 88 Hacks you can do to speed up your computer, or make your life simpler using technology. Very interesting and useful information. I enjoyed it and wish I would have finished it sooner…

As previously mentioned in the post Very cool Free INC or LLC, they have actually extended the offer to the end of this year. So this give you a chance to get this before the end of the year and still save the fee from my Corporation.

Well have to say it has been a while since having a proper Work Christmas party. I guess it is a different thing when you are in more of a true office environment, I have to say it was an extremely good time. for those that are interested I have am adding a link to the pictures on Flickr.

Have to say it was a great night and an excellent venue, here is a link to the place, very nice. Wotton House.