Cisco’s advocacy group, Cisco Insider, brings our clients collectively and gives a manner for them to make highly effective connections, develop their skilled and private networks, and study from high specialists of their subject. One in all our objectives 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 study 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 way of his weblog.
Welcome, Mateusz! It’s so nice to speak with you in the present day! Let’s kick issues off by studying slightly 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 important 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 numerous instruments that the operations staff 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 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 inquisitive about what actually occurs behind the scenes whenever you load a webpage like Google.
Through the years, I progressed from a junior community administrator to a community engineer, and ultimately a community architect. As a community architect, I targeted on modernizing an organization’s community by adopting software-defined networks (SDN) for each knowledge middle 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 get entangled with the Cisco Insider Advocates group, and what has your expertise been like thus far?
I used to be seeking to grow to be extra related with a group of pros, 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, in my view, is the power to ask questions on to 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 improbable strategy to meet new individuals from across the globe. I actually recognize the facility of group—it’s what helps me take pleasure in demanding processes like getting ready for the DevNet Knowledgeable certification and dealing on difficult initiatives. The DevNet Knowledgeable certification demonstrates experience designing and creating community automation options by way of all the community lifecycle, from idea, growth, 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 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 revealed Automate Your Community. In his GitHub repository the place the e-book is out there, he acknowledged, “I imagine in open-source software program. I imagine individuals 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 individuals 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 manner that’s simple to grasp.
I dedicate hours on daily basis to learning 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 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 helpful useful resource for somebody who’s beginning their DevNet Knowledgeable journey. My objective is to assist others really feel much less pressured 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 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 sometimes requires intensive analysis to create articles that not solely inform, but in addition encourage readers to consider issues from totally 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 e-book sometime. I imagine that the method of writing for my weblog will assist me develop the talents I must make that dream a actuality.
What can readers anticipate out of your upcoming weblog posts?
My DevNet Knowledgeable 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 objective is to assist others really feel much less overwhelmed when getting ready for such a demanding certification.
After I began my journey, there weren’t many assets accessible that mentioned these facets intimately. My first try was tough—not attributable to lack of expertise, however due to surprising components that affected my efficiency. Being conscious of those small but important particulars will help candidates handle their stress ranges higher, particularly in the event that they’ve learn in regards to 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 offer a practical view of life in IT. Whereas there are various 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?
When you’re excited about 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 in regards to the challenges and options I encounter. Whether or not you’re getting ready for certification, or just seeking to develop your information in community automation, I hope my weblog could be a helpful 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.
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