Cisco’s advocacy group, Cisco Insider, brings our prospects collectively and gives a manner for them to make highly effective connections, broaden their skilled and private networks, and be taught from prime specialists of their area. Certainly one of our targets with our advocacy group is to deepen {our relationships} with our prospects. Our Q&A sequence permits us to shine a highlight on a few of our most passionate advocates as we be taught extra about their tales and backgrounds.
We lately sat down with Mateusz Frąk to study his journey in community engineering and his ardour for sharing information by his weblog.
Welcome, Mateusz! It’s so nice to speak with you at present! Let’s kick issues off by studying just a little bit about who you’re.
Thanks for having me right here! I’m Mateusz, and I work at DSV as a senior community automation engineer. DSV is a worldwide transport and logistics firm. My function includes implementing, managing, troubleshooting, and enhancing our community automation options. These options are crucial in a corporation that gives and manages supply-chain options for hundreds of shoppers. I additionally give attention to figuring out enterprise points, permitting us to develop options that assist community engineers keep away from repetitive duties. We offer numerous instruments that the operations crew makes use of to troubleshoot networks, leading to quicker isolation of frequent community points.
Are you able to inform us about your journey into community engineering? What bought you began?
My journey started once I was 18 and attending technical faculty. I used to be uncovered to varied specializations like programming, databases, and networks, and I selected networks as a result of I used to be fascinated by the subject and interested in what actually occurs behind the scenes once you load a webpage like Google.
Over time, I progressed from a junior community administrator to a community engineer, and finally a community architect. As a community architect, I centered on modernizing an organization’s community by adopting software-defined networks (SDN) for each information heart and campus environments, utilizing Cisco merchandise. Almost three years in the past, I made a decision to pivot into community automation, leveraging the talents I had constructed over time. This transition allowed me to mix my deep understanding of community engineering with automation, enabling the creation of extra environment friendly and efficient options.
It’s clear that you simply’ve had a powerful profession development. How did you become involved with the Cisco Insider Advocates group, and what has your expertise been like up to now?
I used to be trying to grow to be extra linked with a group of execs, so throughout Cisco Reside 2024 in Amsterdam, I visited the Insider Advocates sales space. After talking with the group managers, I made a decision to hitch the group.
The best worth of the group, for my part, is the power to ask questions on to subject material specialists (SMEs) throughout unique Q&A periods. The responses I’ve acquired from these periods have been extremely insightful, permitting me to enhance my expertise and deal with challenges in my job extra successfully. I’ve additionally linked with quite a few SMEs, tapping into their experience and making use of it to the tasks I’m concerned with at work. Moreover, it’s been a unbelievable option to meet new folks from across the globe. I actually admire the facility of group—it’s what helps me get pleasure from demanding processes like making ready for the DevNet Knowledgeable certification and dealing on difficult tasks. The DevNet Knowledgeable certification demonstrates experience designing and creating community automation options by all the community lifecycle, from idea, improvement, and deployment to operation and optimization.
Talking of your DevNet Knowledgeable journey, you’ve been documenting your experiences in your weblog at mateuszfrak.com. What motivated you to start out sharing your journey publicly?
I’ve at all times been impressed by professionals who generously share their experiences with others, akin to John Capobianco, who printed Automate Your Community. In his GitHub repository the place the guide is out there, he said, “I imagine in open-source software program. I imagine folks ought to have common entry to Linux. I imagine open-source instruments like Ansible ought to stay open supply.” This impressed me to go a step additional and say, “I imagine folks ought to have common entry to information.”
I’ve additionally been impressed by Conor Murphy, a technical options architect at Cisco, who shares technical blogs. He tackles very difficult situations and explains them in a manner that’s straightforward to grasp.
I dedicate hours day-after-day to learning new matters and applied sciences. As I profit from the free sources shared by Cisco, John, Conor, and lots of different technical writers, I really feel a robust want to offer again by sharing the information and expertise I collect every day.
What retains you motivated to proceed writing and sharing your journey?
I hope that my weblog will function a priceless useful resource for somebody who’s beginning their DevNet Knowledgeable journey. My objective is to assist others really feel much less careworn throughout their preparation and the examination itself. I understand how difficult it may be to keep up composure in such high-pressure conditions. I additionally wish to present that this certification is achievable by anybody who’s constant and devoted.
My weblog can also be a manner to enhance my technical writing expertise, improve my English, and most significantly, deepen my technical information. Writing content material for a weblog takes time and infrequently requires in depth analysis to create articles that not solely inform, but additionally encourage readers to consider issues from completely different angles. This, in flip, would possibly cause them to options they hadn’t thought of earlier than.
I even have a dream of writing a technical guide sometime. I imagine that the method of writing for my weblog will assist me develop the talents I have to make that dream a actuality.
What can readers anticipate out of your upcoming weblog posts?
My DevNet Knowledgeable journey remains to be ongoing, and I’m planning to doc my examination makes an attempt quickly, together with ideas and methods for tackling a CCIE-level examination. My objective is to assist others really feel much less overwhelmed when making ready for such a demanding certification.
Once I began my journey, there weren’t many sources obtainable that mentioned these features intimately. My first try was troublesome—not resulting from lack of information, however due to sudden elements that affected my efficiency. Being conscious of those small but vital particulars can assist candidates handle their stress ranges higher, particularly in the event that they’ve learn concerning the expertise of somebody who has been by it.
Sooner or later, I’ll additionally share insights from my every day work to offer a practical view of life in IT. Whereas there are lots of blogs that assist IT professionals get began with particular instruments, I wish to take it a step additional, discussing the challenges professionals face and providing options that transcend the fundamentals.
Lastly, Mateusz, for these impressed by your journey, the place can they comply with alongside and be taught extra out of your experiences?
For those who’re excited by diving deeper into my journey, significantly my ongoing DevNet Knowledgeable certification course of, you may comply with alongside on my weblog at mateuszfrak.com. I commonly share insights, ideas, and detailed posts concerning the challenges and options I encounter. Whether or not you’re making ready for certification, or just trying to broaden your information in community automation, I hope my weblog is usually a priceless useful resource for you.
It’s been a pleasure to speak with you, Mateusz. Thanks once more for becoming a member of us and for being a part of our group!
Learn extra advocate interviews.
You would possibly get pleasure from this interview with Rob Taylor.
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