Ivan Peplnjak referenced a piece by Robert Graham called “Why cybersecurity certifications suck,” which I found amusing considering that I am doing some question writing right now. I’ve certainly been a member of the chorus of complainers in the past, in various venues, but I have to say that my experience on the writing end […]
TAC Tales #9: Left Hanging
When I was still a new engineer, a fellow customer support engineer (CSE) asked a favor of me. I’ll call him Andy. “I’m going on PTO, could you cover a case for me? I’ve filed a bug and while I’m gone there will be a conference call. Just jump on it and tell them that the […]
TAC Tales #8: The problem with data
My job as a customer support engineer (CSE) at TAC was the most quantified I’ve ever had. Every aspect of our job performance was tracked and measured. We live in the era of big data, and while numbers can be helpful, they can also mislead. In TAC, there were many examples of that. Take, for example, […]
Cisco DCNM 10 Overlay Provisioning
Introduction I’ve been side-tracked for a while doing personal articles, so I thought it would be a good time to get back to some technical explanations. Seeing that I work for Cisco now, I thought it would be a good time to cover some Cisco technology. My focus here has been on programmability and automation. Some of […]
TAC Tales #7: “Just slam it in!”
When I first started at TAC, I wasn’t allowed to take cases by myself. If I grabbed a case, I had to get an experienced engineer to help me out. One day I grabbed a case on a Catalyst 6k power supply, and asked Veena (not her real name) to help me on the case. […]
Cheaters
Note: This article was originally posted in 2016. Since that time, the CCIE program has changed the process for earning a CCIE, and the separate written exam is no longer used. This means that the problem of people claiming to be a “CCIE” when they have only passed the written exam is no longer the […]
Recertification Pain
Note: This article was written in 2016 and has not been modified. A number of changes have been made to the CCIE program which have dramatically improved the re-certification process. Continuing education is now an option, as I suggest in this article. The re-certification frequency has been reduced. I may modify this article in the […]
TAC Tales #6: The best organization tool ever
I’ve come back to Cisco recently, and I think I can say that I haven’t worked this hard since the last time I was at Cisco. I remember my first manager at TAC telling me in an interview that “Cisco loves workaholics.” In an attempt to get more organized, I’ve been taking a second crack […]
Multiple CCIE’s, multiple attempts
In this article in my “Ten Years a CCIE” series, I look at passing the Security exam in 2008. I get to experience the agony of failure for the first time, and have to re-tool my strategy. Goodbye to Cisco I worked two long years at Cisco. Two very long years. I learned so much […]
A CCIE Goes Home to Cisco
In this article in my “Ten Years a CCIE” series, I describe my experience going to work at Cisco as a CCIE. Unlike many Cisco-employed CCIE’s, I earned my certification outside of Cisco. A CCIE leads to a job at Cisco I returned to my old job at the Chronicle and had my business cards […]