Cisco’s advocacy group, Cisco Insider, brings our clients collectively and supplies a method for them to make highly effective connections, develop their skilled and private networks, and be taught from prime specialists of their discipline. Certainly one of our targets with our advocacy group is to deepen {our relationships} with our clients. 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 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 his weblog.
Welcome, Mateusz! It’s so nice to talk with you at present! Let’s kick issues off by studying slightly bit about who you might be.
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 important in a corporation that gives and manages supply-chain options for hundreds of shoppers. I additionally deal with 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 group makes use of to troubleshoot networks, leading to quicker isolation of widespread community points.
Are you able to inform us about your journey into community engineering? What acquired 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 inquisitive about what actually occurs behind the scenes if 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. Practically three years in the past, I made a decision to pivot into community automation, leveraging the abilities I had constructed through the years. 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 formidable profession development. How did you get entangled with the Cisco Insider Advocates group, and what has your expertise been like to date?
I used to be seeking to develop into extra related 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 affix the group.
The best worth of the group, in my view, 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 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 incredible solution to meet new individuals from across the globe. I actually admire the facility of group—it’s what helps me take pleasure in demanding processes like getting ready for the DevNet Skilled certification and dealing on difficult initiatives. The DevNet Skilled certification demonstrates experience designing and growing community automation options by 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 at all times been impressed by professionals who generously share their experiences with others, reminiscent of John Capobianco, who revealed Automate Your Community. In his GitHub repository the place the ebook is on the market, he said, “I believe in open-source software. I believe people should have universal access to Linux. I believe open-source tools like Ansible should remain open source.” This impressed me to go a step additional and say, “I believe people should have universal access to knowledge.”
I’ve additionally been impressed by Conor Murphy, a technical options architect at Cisco, who shares technical blogs. He tackles very difficult eventualities and explains them in a method that’s simple to know.
I dedicate hours on daily basis to learning new matters and applied sciences. As I profit from the free sources shared by Cisco, John, Conor, and plenty of different technical writers, I really feel a powerful want to present 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 worthwhile useful resource for somebody who’s beginning their DevNet Skilled journey. My purpose is to assist others really feel much less harassed 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 method 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 intensive 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 ebook sometime. I consider that the method of writing for my weblog will assist me develop the abilities I have to make that dream a actuality.
What can readers count on out of your upcoming weblog posts?
My DevNet Skilled 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 purpose is to assist others really feel much less overwhelmed when getting ready for such a demanding certification.
Once I began my journey, there weren’t many sources out there that mentioned these points intimately. My first try was tough—not because of lack of awareness, however due to sudden components that affected my efficiency. Being conscious of those small but vital particulars may also help 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 day by day work to present 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 observe alongside and be taught extra out of your experiences?
When you’re serious about diving deeper into my journey, notably my ongoing DevNet Skilled certification course of, you’ll be able to observe 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 getting ready for certification, or just seeking to develop your data in community automation, I hope my weblog is usually a worthwhile 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 take pleasure in this interview with Rob Taylor.
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