Cisco’s advocacy group, Cisco Insider, brings our clients collectively and offers a method for them to make highly effective connections, develop their skilled and private networks, and be taught from prime consultants of their discipline. One in every 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 lately sat down with Mateusz Frąk to find out about his journey in community engineering and his ardour for sharing information by his weblog.
Welcome, Mateusz! It’s so nice to talk with you in the present day! Let’s kick issues off by studying a little bit 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 world transport and logistics firm. My position entails implementing, managing, troubleshooting, and enhancing our community automation options. These options are important in a company 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 workforce 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 once 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 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 targeted on modernizing an organization’s community by adopting software-defined networks (SDN) for each information middle and campus environments, utilizing Cisco merchandise. Almost three years in the past, I made a decision to pivot into community automation, leveraging the abilities 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 to this point?
I used to be seeking to turn into extra linked with a group of execs, so throughout Cisco Stay 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, for my part, is the power to ask questions on to subject material consultants (SMEs) throughout unique Q&A classes. The responses I’ve acquired from these classes have been extremely insightful, permitting me to enhance my abilities 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 recognize the ability of group—it’s what helps me take pleasure in demanding processes like making ready for the DevNet Knowledgeable certification and dealing on difficult tasks. The DevNet Knowledgeable 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 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 ebook is obtainable, he acknowledged, “I consider in open-source software program. I consider folks 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 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 eventualities and explains them in a method that’s straightforward to know.
I dedicate hours day by day to finding out new subjects 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 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 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 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 method to enhance my technical writing abilities, improve my English, and most significantly, deepen my technical information. Writing content material for a weblog takes time and sometimes requires in depth analysis to create articles that not solely inform, but in addition encourage readers to consider issues from completely different angles. This, in flip, may 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 must make that dream a actuality.
What can readers count on 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 purpose is to assist others really feel much less overwhelmed when making ready for such a demanding certification.
After I began my journey, there weren’t many assets out there that mentioned these facets 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 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 provide a practical view of life in IT. Whereas there are a lot 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?
Should you’re interested by diving deeper into my journey, notably my ongoing DevNet Knowledgeable certification course of, you may comply with alongside on my weblog at mateuszfrak.com. I repeatedly share insights, ideas, and detailed posts concerning the challenges and options I encounter. Whether or not you’re making ready for certification, or just seeking to develop your information in community automation, I hope my weblog generally is a priceless 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 may take pleasure in this interview with Rob Taylor.
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