Moving overseas was a challenge, not really easy to be honest, but it was good to help make me grow in so many aspects. While working for the small consulting firm I got concentrated in working and studying full time, I kept on going and did some more certs done:
  • MCSE/MCSA: Security 2k
  • MCSE/MCSA: Messaging 2k
  • MCDBA (I hated it and it took me just a couple of days to figure out I am not build do just do DB stuff, I learned useful things while working towards it but never put it to use)
  • CompTIA Security+

It was a very cool job, although a bit tiring, I did all the infrastructure stuff you can think of for all their SMB customers, some projects were very fun and kept me busy for a while. Things got really nasty point while I was working for that company, I don’t want to go into much detail but let’s just say that when you are under a workers H1B visa permit it’s not the best situation to be under. I literally ran away for another job to the capital city where they didn’t quite had a lot for me to do, they ended up sending me full time for a contract at this pharmaceutical company where they really had a need for somebody to fix all their stuff over, they had a huge mess everywhere (cabling, switching, routing, security, servers, etc) and that promised to keep me busy for a while. Shortly after they ended up offerring me a better job and payrate and got my H1B permit transferred to them with the promise of helping me out get my Green Card someday. Even though I had already invested in a full home lab to start my CCIE Security quest they kept me very busy with huge projects.

I remember after stabilizing some pathetic Netware servers that needed constant babysitting we started by getting a new Catalyst (mostly 4500s) based LAN at each of the 3 manufacturing facilities, where a large amount of lousy Nortel BayStack switches had been installed not a couple of years ago, I’m still wondering how is it that some consulting businesses can remain in the market even when they don’t implement a successfull design. So after migrating all their stuff over a Cisco based infrastructure we started to move all servers systems from Novell to MS, all the way, Groupwise to Exchange, ZENworks to SMS, Netware to Windows, BorderManager to ISA, heck, we even got MOM installed, all this was done at the same time new servers were deployed and I got to play with newly installed EMC Clariions and VMware ESX 2.5 and 3.0. But even after I got my own CCIE Security home lab with all possible boxes, I ended up not using the home lab at all and focusing on other certs while I worked on different projects and started to teach MS and CompTIA classes part time:

  • MCSE 2k3 Upgrade
  • MCSA 2k3 Upgrade
  • MCSA/MCSE: Messaging 2k3
  • MCDST (It wasn’t valuable really but teaching the class and not knowing about the exams didn’t make me feel very good)
  • CNA (to put myself in shape for the migration project)
  • CCA (had to do some citrix after the migration project)

While I was working so hard on so many projects I became tired of being alone, and married my beautiful girlfriend from back home, we kept the relationship going even at long distance, she came to visit every couple of months and on January 2005 we got the rings put in each other finger. She came over to stay with me and in the next couple of months she became pregnant, what a joy, Sarah, my second daughter was born November 4th, 2005, it was just a coincidence that my first duaghter who lives with her mother back in Dominican Republic, Ambar, was born November 6th 1998. With so many things going in my life I began to stop thinking of a commitment at the level of the CCIE certification, so I sold back all my equipment. I still though it would be a good the time to start with a Master’s degree, I chose the online avenue, which ended up being very challenging, and while I worked towards it I decided to get back into what I had on hold: Security Certifications. So in 2006 while I was working towards my Master’s degree in Management of Information Systems Security from CTU I also studied and passed the following certs:

  • CCSP (I got all I needed at the pharmaceutical to practice, PIX, routers, switches, IDS)
  • CEH (It was not as challenging as I though it would be, but there were many tools I didn’t know about that I got in touch by studying for it)
  • MCSA/MCSE: Security 2k3
  • HP Master ASE in HA and Clustering (yeah I know, it’s not a security cert but I just like HP stuff, had some at the pharmaceutical so I studied for these to get myself updated on their new tools and equipment)
  • CISSP (Very good experience, they were right about it, a mile long and an inch deep, but again, the experience was awesome)

So 4 months short from finishing my Master’s degree I am still at a good company that is having some financial issues and worst than anything else has not been able to commit to help me out with an item I couldn’t longer keep in hold: my green card. I started looking for a job and got a nice offer from a transportation company, and then I decided it was time to get back into the CCIE business again…