Cisco’s advocacy group, Cisco Insider, brings our prospects collectively and gives a means for them to make highly effective connections, develop their skilled and private networks, and study from high specialists of their area. One in all our objectives 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 study extra about their tales and backgrounds.
We not too long ago sat down with Mateusz Frąk to find out about his journey in community engineering and his ardour for sharing data by way of his weblog.
Welcome, Mateusz! It’s so nice to talk with you right now! Let’s kick issues off by studying somewhat 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 essential in a company that gives and manages supply-chain options for hundreds of shoppers. I additionally concentrate on figuring out enterprise points, permitting us to develop options that assist community engineers keep away from repetitive duties. We offer varied instruments that the operations group makes use of to troubleshoot networks, leading to sooner isolation of frequent community points.
Are you able to inform us about your journey into community engineering? What bought you began?
My journey started after I was 18 and attending technical college. 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.
Through the years, 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 knowledge middle and campus environments, utilizing Cisco merchandise. Practically 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 just’ve had a powerful profession development. How did you get entangled with the Cisco Insider Advocates group, and what has your expertise been like to this point?
I used to be trying to grow to be extra related with a group of execs, so throughout Cisco Dwell 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 flexibility to ask questions on to subject material specialists (SMEs) throughout unique Q&A classes. The responses I’ve acquired from these classes have been extremely insightful, permitting me to enhance my expertise and sort out challenges in my job extra successfully. I’ve additionally related with quite a few SMEs, tapping into their experience and making use of it to the initiatives I’m concerned with at work. Moreover, it’s been a implausible technique to meet new individuals from across the globe. I actually recognize the facility of group—it’s what helps me get pleasure from demanding processes like making ready for the DevNet Skilled certification and dealing on difficult initiatives. The DevNet Skilled certification demonstrates experience designing and creating community automation options by way of your entire community lifecycle, from idea, improvement, and deployment to operation and optimization.
Talking of your DevNet Skilled journey, you’ve been documenting your experiences in your weblog at mateuszfrak.com. What motivated you to begin sharing your journey publicly?
I’ve all the time been impressed by professionals who generously share their experiences with others, resembling John Capobianco, who printed Automate Your Community. In his GitHub repository the place the e-book is on the market, he acknowledged, “I consider in open-source software program. I consider individuals ought to have common entry to Linux. I consider open-source instruments like Ansible ought to stay open supply.” This impressed me to go a step additional and say, “I consider individuals ought to have common entry to data.”
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 means that’s simple to grasp.
I dedicate hours each day to finding out new matters and applied sciences. As I profit from the free assets shared by Cisco, John, Conor, and lots of different technical writers, I really feel a powerful need to provide again by sharing the data 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 useful useful resource for somebody who’s beginning their DevNet Skilled journey. My aim is to assist others really feel much less careworn throughout their preparation and the examination itself. I understand how difficult it may be to take care of 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 be a means to enhance my technical writing expertise, improve my English, and most significantly, deepen my technical data. Writing content material for a weblog takes time and sometimes 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-about earlier than.
I even have a dream of writing a technical e-book sometime. I consider 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 count on out of your upcoming weblog posts?
My DevNet Skilled journey continues to be ongoing, and I’m planning to doc my examination makes an attempt quickly, together with ideas and techniques for tackling a CCIE-level examination. My aim 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 assets out there that mentioned these points intimately. My first try was troublesome—not on account of lack of information, however due to sudden elements that affected my efficiency. Being conscious of those small but important particulars may help candidates handle their stress ranges higher, particularly in the event that they’ve learn concerning the expertise of somebody who has been by way of it.
Sooner or later, I’ll additionally share insights from my every day work to provide a sensible view of life in IT. Whereas there are numerous 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 study extra out of your experiences?
For those who’re fascinated by diving deeper into my journey, significantly my ongoing DevNet Skilled certification course of, you’ll be able to 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 develop your data in community automation, I hope my weblog generally is a useful useful resource for you.
It’s been a pleasure to talk 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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