HBPW - Municipal Service Provider
Chad
Experience Information
Employer: Holland Board of Public Works
Job Title: Network Co-op
Major: Computer Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
The Holland BPW is a municipal service provider to the city of Holland for water, wastewater, electricity, and now broadband internet services. Years ago, a fiber optic network was run throughout the city of Holland as an upgrade for the monitoring of their service utilities. Today, that fiber optic network has evolved to serve many locals businesses and residents. This network is what I help design and maintain.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
This semester I have been working on both the internal network for servers, employees, VoIP, etc. and the external network for customers. I have worked with partner ISPs to troubleshoot network issues and with customers as well. On the internal network, I have continued on a previous project for a redundant network server farm and I have start new projects with internet edge routing.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
I have learned a lot about border gateway protocol (BGP) and multiplane label switching (MPLS). These are two highly used industry standards. I have also worked with layer 2 multiple spanning tree protocol to reinforce redundancy with multiple layer 2 paths. Recently, I have been learning about firewalling and network security.
Favorite Part of the Experience
My favorite part has been getting hands-on experience with industry standard practices. I have a very unique position here that allows me to see a broad area of network engineering from security to data center design to service provider networks.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
I know for sure now that I want to pursue a career in network engineering/administration. After researching relevant job postings and duties, it has put me in a position to start honing in my skill set.