A very long time ago in terms of years and CCIEs, the first certifications were earned by some ground breaking individuals. When Cisco began the CCIE certification program only a few understood what the value of the certification was and how it would affect the careers of so many. We have all read about how the first certification was awarded to the lab in San Jose where the qualifying first began and still today CCIE # 1024 awarded to this room is mounted on the wall serving as both an inspiration and a reminder to those future CCIEs of this successful program. I have read Terry Slattery’s blog and some re-posts of his writings on the internet. He is considered an authority by many on various subjects like training, testing, routing and switching, and as an entrepreneur he is regarded as a pretty sharp individual. When Terry Slattery contacted me while I was on vacation a couple of weeks ago, I was happy to learn he wanted to help in the planning of a CCIE Mixer in the Washington, DC area. We exchanged emails a few times in the past and this new opportunity to collaborate with him added to my enthusiasm for organizing the next Mixer. Previous mixers have featured Cisco representatives who are part of the Cisco Talent team and discussions were generally focused on CCIE careers, experience and Cisco’s efforts in regard to several aspects of the talent challenge. I have learned that in these previous gatherings it is important to establish some discussion points which interest CCIEs. Terry has an interest in helping establish some of these discussion points with me and I am delighted to have his support.

I jumped on the Amtrak out of Wilmington and met him for lunch; here is what I discovered about CCIE # 1026.

First of all he does not have a glowing aura or wear saintly robes, but don’t let his mere mortal appearance fool you he is a really sharp CCIE. He picked me up at the Amtrak station and we ducked into a local eatery where we spent a couple of hours getting to know each other and talking about o lot of different subjects. I was delighted to learn he thought what I was doing was good work on behalf of CCIEs. I learned that he is the founder of Chesapeake Computer Consultants and Netcordia, a company that has been successful in the Network Health space. It was a real education to learn about their NetMRIproduct. Wow. In the old days my gang ofCCIEs would use a sniffer and then have to go through mounds of data to manually analyze the findings. I know that often times the collating of the information was so daunting that a parallel effort would sometimes spring up from another engineer who would be shot-gunning the same problem in hopes of resolving it sooner. He also spoke with me about his years of taking the recertification exam and how that process for him has changed over the years. I asked him to put together an article for the CCIE Flyer due out in September and he agreed. This was good and bad since now I have to let him tell you about some of what we discussed this day. I will feature this and other interesting content on learning a couple of weeks.

Terry has been interfacing with Cisco for a while as one of their touch points when asking about various concerns of CCIEs. He enjoys a solid network of CCIEs internationally and has earned their respect through his efforts and achievements. We discussed the CCIE Mixers and he wanted to know why the first was in London. I explained that the company I work for is Bridge Resourcing Solutions and they are headquartered there. I guess I am surprised that a lot of folks don’t realize I have a boss in London. We have now settled on a tentative date for the next CCIE Mixer and I will be sharing the details as soon as we hash them out. I may even have to go back on my rule to refrain from training since a presentation may be in the offing which would occupy the first half hour or so greasing the skids for further chat over drinks.

So it looks like Terry and I are working on an agenda for the next Mixer in Washington DC. If you are interested in discussing this effort as it develops whichis targeted for late October please send me an email or call me. We are considering various formats even the use of guests who will lead discussions about concerns focused upon CCIEs in R/S, Security, Voice, S/P and Storage over drinks. We are also working with Cisco reps as usual who will help kick off the evening’s festivities. As we build the interest in this next CCIE Mixer all suggestions will be considered.

eman@bridgeresourcing.com or 302-438-1681

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