Cisco’s advocacy neighborhood, Cisco Insider, brings our clients 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 among our targets with our advocacy neighborhood is to deepen {our relationships} with our clients. Our Q&A collection 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 by his weblog.
Welcome, Mateusz! It’s so nice to speak with you right this moment! Let’s kick issues off by studying a bit 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 position entails implementing, managing, troubleshooting, and enhancing our community automation options. These options are vital in a corporation that gives and manages supply-chain options for 1000’s 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 varied instruments that the operations crew 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 received 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 interested in 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 ultimately 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. Practically 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 formidable profession development. How did you get entangled with the Cisco Insider Advocates neighborhood, and what has your expertise been like thus far?
I used to be seeking to change into extra linked with a neighborhood of execs, 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 affix the neighborhood.
The best worth of the neighborhood, for my part, is the power 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 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 strategy to meet new individuals from across the globe. I actually respect the ability of neighborhood—it’s what helps me get pleasure from demanding processes like making ready for the DevNet Professional certification and dealing on difficult tasks. The DevNet Professional certification demonstrates experience designing and creating community automation options by the whole community lifecycle, from idea, growth, and deployment to operation and optimization.
Talking of your DevNet Professional 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, corresponding to John Capobianco, who printed Automate Your Community. In his GitHub repository the place the guide is accessible, 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 situations and explains them in a means that’s simple to know.
I dedicate hours on daily basis to learning new subjects 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 robust want 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 helpful useful resource for somebody who’s beginning their DevNet Professional journey. My purpose is to assist others really feel much less burdened 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 need 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 abilities, improve my English, and most significantly, deepen my technical information. Writing content material for a weblog takes time and infrequently requires in depth analysis to create articles that not solely inform, but additionally encourage readers to consider issues from totally different angles. This, in flip, would possibly make them options they hadn’t thought of earlier than.
I even have a dream of writing a technical guide 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 Professional journey remains to be ongoing, and I’m planning to doc my examination makes an attempt quickly, together with suggestions and techniques 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 points intimately. My first try was tough—not resulting from lack of understanding, however due to surprising 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 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 need 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 study extra out of your experiences?
If you happen to’re excited by diving deeper into my journey, notably my ongoing DevNet Professional certification course of, you may observe alongside on my weblog at mateuszfrak.com. I often share insights, suggestions, 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 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 neighborhood!
Learn extra advocate interviews.
You would possibly get pleasure from this interview with Rob Taylor.
Be a part of Cisco Insider Advocates!
For our clients who’ve already joined our Cisco Insider Advocates neighborhood, say hey to Mateusz in the event you haven’t met but. And in the event you’re a Cisco buyer however aren’t a neighborhood member, take into account becoming a member of. You’ll be capable of:
- Join with friends in a gamified, on-line neighborhood
- Have a possibility to satisfy with Cisco’s executives
- Share your suggestions, questions, and finest practices
- Get entry to ‘insider’ content material and assets
- Develop your skilled and private model
- Amplify your organization’s success story with Cisco know-how
Able to get began?
Head over to the Cisco Insider Advocates neighborhood and say hey!
(Requires registration / login)
Share: