Cisco’s advocacy neighborhood, Cisco Insider, brings our prospects collectively and supplies a method for them to make highly effective connections, develop their skilled and private networks, and study from prime specialists of their area. One in every of our objectives with our advocacy neighborhood 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 just lately sat down with Mateusz Frąk to find out about his journey in community engineering and his ardour for sharing information via his weblog.
Welcome, Mateusz! It’s so nice to speak with you in the present day! Let’s kick issues off by studying a bit of 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 entails 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 consumers. 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 varied instruments that the operations group makes use of to troubleshoot networks, leading to sooner isolation of widespread community points.
Are you able to inform us about your journey into community engineering? What received you began?
My journey started after I was 18 and attending technical faculty. I used to be uncovered to numerous specializations like programming, databases, and networks, and I selected networks as a result of I used to be fascinated by the subject and interested by what actually occurs behind the scenes while 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 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 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 simply’ve had a formidable profession development. How did you become involved with the Cisco Insider Advocates neighborhood, and what has your expertise been like up to now?
I used to be seeking to grow to be extra related with a neighborhood of pros, so throughout Cisco Dwell 2024 in Amsterdam, I visited the Insider Advocates sales space. After talking with the neighborhood managers, I made a decision to hitch the neighborhood.
The best worth of the neighborhood, for my part, 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 abilities 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 tasks I’m concerned with at work. Moreover, it’s been a improbable option to meet new individuals from across the globe. I actually admire the facility of neighborhood—it’s what helps me take pleasure in demanding processes like getting ready for the DevNet Skilled certification and dealing on difficult tasks. The DevNet Skilled certification demonstrates experience designing and creating community automation options via your complete 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, similar to John Capobianco, who printed Automate Your Community. In his GitHub repository the place the e-book is offered, he said, “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 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 simple to grasp.
I dedicate hours day by day to finding out new matters and applied sciences. As I profit from the free assets shared by Cisco, John, Conor, and plenty of different technical writers, I really feel a powerful need 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 worthwhile 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 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 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 intensive analysis to create articles that not solely inform, but additionally encourage readers to consider issues from totally different angles. This, in flip, may make them 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 abilities I must 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 aim 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 assets accessible that mentioned these elements intimately. My first try was tough—not attributable to lack of understanding, however due to surprising components 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 via it.
Sooner or later, I’ll additionally share insights from my day by day work to offer a practical 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 excited about diving deeper into my journey, significantly my ongoing DevNet Skilled 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 getting ready for certification, or just seeking to develop your information in community automation, I hope my weblog could be a worthwhile 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 neighborhood!
Learn extra advocate interviews.
You may take pleasure in this interview with Rob Taylor.
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