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Image this, if you’ll. It’s December 2016 and I’ve simply gone by safety on the airport. I’m explaining to the pleasant (however confused) group why I’ve a bunch of electronics—a small router, wires, Lego, and a ball of yarn—in my carry-on. This dialog wasn’t a shock to me. I totally anticipated to be pulled apart when my bag went by the X-ray machine. I’d ready my rationalization.
You see, I used to be heading to California for the final SEVT of the 12 months the place one among my displays was geared toward explaining to a room stuffed with Cisco engineers and resolution architects how and why programmability was not solely related to us, however the way it may also be enjoyable to be taught and work with. I’d spent the final a number of weeks engaged on an indication I referred to as “Large Ball of String Meets Cisco IoT” that concerned utilizing a Cisco IoT router to observe curiosity and foot site visitors at some of the fashionable roadside points of interest within the US, the World’s Largest Ball of Twine.
My premise was that such a treasured attraction was ripe for some upgrades. Websites like these are unfold throughout the USA and are favourite stops for households participating within the nice pastime of street tripping. Households pull over for lavatory and meals breaks, stretch their legs, take some pictures after which proceed alongside. Wouldn’t or not it’s nice for the communities working these areas to have information on how many individuals go to annually? What days of the week and instances of day are hottest? And for individuals who come at night time, when to activate lights to welcome them and guarantee security. In fact, it will be nice. However these areas are sometimes within the proverbial center of nowhere. My demo centered on utilizing the flexibility of Cisco IoT routers to assist mobile information connectivity to speak with “the cloud,” in addition to serial interfaces to hook up with the {hardware} and sensors, permitting communities to regulate lights and establish exercise on the web site.
And by no means being content material with simply describing one thing in slides, I really constructed it. For anybody eager to stroll down reminiscence lane with me, the code is accessible on GitHub. However sufficient about that, again to the scene with the safety guard. In my bag are all of the elements to this demo. A demo that I had only in the near past completed totally making work. A demo I used to be very a lot crossing my fingers would go off easily once I arrived in San Jose to ship it to a room stuffed with a few of the hardest demo critics within the trade – system engineers, or Cisco SEs. (Spoiler: the demo went fantastically). Perhaps it was a little bit of vacation spirit within the air, however I used to be fortunate. With a shake of the pinnacle and an odd smile, I used to be despatched alongside to my flight.
I share this story as it’s simply one of many many “roadside points of interest” alone Journey to DevNet Skilled. And whereas my journey is much from over, with the launch of the DevNet Skilled Lab Examination on Might 2, 2022, I needed to share a little bit of my very own journey with you all.
The Journey Begins
I joined Cisco as a techniques engineer in 2010. I selected Cisco for a lot of causes, however a giant one was my want to deal with community engineering after being much more of a “jack of all trades” in IT as much as that time. Whereas I’d executed my justifiable share of networking, I’d additionally executed loads of work on desktop assist, Microsoft server administration, e-mail administration and setup, Citrix work, database growth, and malware elimination. (Oh, a lot malware elimination work within the early 2000s. That could possibly be its personal “reflections put up.”) My creativeness was stuffed with days spent configuring routers and switches, engaged on routing protocols and WAN design, VPN configurations, and oh a lot racking, stacking, and cabling of drugs. It was going to be GLORIOUS. And whereas there was loads of that sort of labor, there have been a variety of different points to being a Cisco SE as properly. I typically loved the job and did properly.
However far before I had anticipated, speak about cloud, software program, and programmability began to creep up round us. Within the early years of the 2010s, these discussions have been remoted on the edges of most work we did. Solely in pockets round Cisco and with our typical clients did they arrive up. Among the SE management began to take discover and needed to be ready when ideas like “software program outlined networking” and “cloud” got here up in discussions of basic structure or main tasks. I used to be one among a handful of techniques engineers supplied the prospect to take some coaching on matters like cloud-native (it may not have been referred to as that but) utility growth, cloud computing, infrastructure as code, Python, and so on.
And the place my journey took me, you is perhaps shocked by this subsequent truth: If I’m sincere, I wasn’t all that within the provide. I imply I had pretty just lately joined Cisco to “do networking.” I had experimented and explored software program growth earlier than. I’ve a grasp’s in data techniques and after studying Java I NEVER needed to be a “programmer.” Nonetheless, I used to be nonetheless new at Cisco and was wanting to be taught and be priceless to my group and management (thanks Eric!). So, I stated sure and I’m so glad I did. It was a kind of forks within the street that dramatically modified my path.
A number of weeks after saying sure, I used to be off for 2 weeks of very centered and intense coaching to kickstart my data on these matters. Together with possibly a dozen different techniques engineers from round Cisco, I used to be put right into a bootcamp of kinds. As we speak, there are many lessons on matters like cloud, scripting, APIs, and so on which are designed and geared toward community or infrastructure engineers. However at the moment there weren’t. We went by coaching that was sometimes given to software program builders inside Cisco. I realized about ideas like message buses and queues, REST APIs, infrastructure as code, load balancers, and proxy servers (from the attitude of utility builders), and a few early particulars on containers. It was a future coaching journey with this system the place I used to be first launched to Python in some of the precisely named lessons I’ve ever taken, “Intensive Introduction to Python” taught by Raymond Hettinger.
It didn’t take lengthy for my reluctance to go away. I fell in love with Python, and the way in which the event matters have been taught reawakened a variety of the love I had once I was going by faculty. A lot of what I realized in these early lessons and work result in one other one among my favourite displays and Cisco Dwell Periods. “Micro-Service Purposes for Infrastructure Engineers” got here out of my early journeys and coaching on this space. It tells the story of one other one among my over-the-top demos at an SE coaching session—the MyHero utility. Whereas the content material is unquestionably just a little dated as we speak, there’s a lot in there that’s nonetheless fairly priceless and related to engineers. For those who haven’t seen it, take a watch. I earned at the least 5 Distinguished Speaker awards for that session, so it have to be fairly good.
Discovering a New Residence in DevNet
I finally made a reputation for myself throughout the SE neighborhood at Cisco as one of many “cloud and programmability guys.” However across the time of the thrilling journey by airport safety that began this put up, I made one other of these fateful choices. I left the Cisco SE group and joined Cisco DevNet. The impetus for this choice was fairly merely a want to deal with what I had seen constructing for fairly a while within the community engineering neighborhood. After I’d go and speak with engineers about automation and programmability, as a rule I’d discover these engineers confused and a bit scared. Throughout them the message was “community engineering is useless.” That software program or cloud builders have been going to only take over their work. That their expertise weren’t wanted anymore. Discussions usually centered merely on how they might determine the way to hold their networks working as cheaply and easily as attainable. They didn’t wish to be “seen.”
This rhetoric broke my coronary heart. I understood the worry and confusion, however I knew that there was a whole a part of the story that wasn’t being informed or heard. There was huge potential for these similar matters to launch community engineers right into a brilliant new future stuffed with alternatives. What was wanted was somebody to inform the story of those alternatives, somebody who might present this angle. Somebody to speak about community automation and programmability from the attitude of those community engineers, and put the main points right into a context that resonated with the viewers. Presumably inform a narrative and provides a demo or two. I assumed, what the heck – I could be that somebody.
Whereas at Cisco Dwell Europe in Berlin in 2015, I chatted with the then-leaders of DevNet about my concept and ideas. On the time, DevNet had been round for a number of years, and whereas community automation was an lively matter, they agreed there was a chance to dig deeper into it. It took just a little doing, however in December of 2016, I formally joined DevNet as a Community Automation Evangelist and have become laser-focused on making community automation one thing community engineers would see as comprehensible, priceless, and even a little bit of enjoyable.
It turned out the timing was good, and I discovered an viewers for this message. It actually sunk in to me that we have been on to one thing and making a distinction at Cisco Dwell in Vegas in 2017 once I had the primary session within the DevNet Zone for the day. The session was titled “Learn how to be a Community Engineer in a Programmable Age” and at 2 minutes to go there was nobody within the viewers. However that was as a result of the doorways to the World of Options weren’t open but. When the doorways opened, I watched as a tidal wave of attendees poured into the World of Options and DevNet. That was to be anticipated. However what I didn’t anticipate was {that a} respectable chunk of that wave was headed straight for me.
Looking on the viewers left me momentarily speechless. The concept all these community engineers had gotten up early in Vegas to return hearken to me inform my story gave me pause. But it surely was a superb pause. It confirmed me that there really was a starvation and want in community engineers to seek out their place on this new space of community automation and programmability. That they have been uninterested in being confused and afraid. And whereas I wasn’t positive I used to be precisely the proper particular person to information them, I might accomplish that to the very best of my capacity.
Community Automation Will get “Official” with DevNet Certifications from Cisco
Even after becoming a member of DevNet and specializing in community automation and programmability full time, the matters have been nonetheless in some ways remoted to the perimeters of the bigger community engineering area. Certain, it was a well-liked matter and enjoyable to play with, however it was seen as an “further matter” that community engineers wanted to be taught. Kinda like multicast or MPLS, community engineers understood what it was and the place it suits into the architectures they constructed, however it was a small portion of engineers who actually centered on the subject. And from a certification perspective, automation matters have been only one or two blueprint gadgets on the CCNA, CCNP, and CCIE certification examination matter lists. The overwhelming majority of the abilities an authorized engineer wanted had nothing to do with automation.
However the instances, they have been a-changing.
Because the week was ending at Cisco Dwell in Barcelona in January 2019, I used to be given a bit of reports. Talks had begun about launching automation- and programmability-focused certifications by Studying and Certifications at Cisco. It was nonetheless within the early levels, and the main points weren’t totally identified but, however it was going to occur. The general public announcement was going to occur later that 12 months at Cisco Dwell in San Diego. I used to be excited. This was large. Community automation was shifting from being an fascinating peripheral matter to one thing mature sufficient to start constructing certifications. Engineers have been beginning to focus their careers on automation and organizations have been keen to seek out and rent them.
The time between January and June was very busy. Loads of particulars on the certification adjustments have been labored out, and at San Diego, I bought to share within the pleasure of the automation neighborhood because it was introduced at Cisco Dwell by Chuck Robbins.
However check out that image above. See that little yellowish-orange star on the backside proper of the slide subsequent to the badge for “DevNet Skilled?” It says, “Future Providing.” The announcement in June 2019 in regards to the DevNet Certifications set February 2020 because the date of launch for the DevNet Affiliate, Skilled, and Specialist certifications. Nonetheless, from pretty early on within the planning of the brand new certifications, it was acknowledged that launching the Cisco DevNet Skilled-level certification on the similar time wasn’t going to be attainable. And whereas many people have been wanting to see the DevNet Skilled change into actual, we knew taking an agile and iterative method was finest. So, we got here again from Cisco Dwell after the announcement and continued the work that had been happening for months, specializing in constructing the certifications that will launch in February 2020.
Boy was it a variety of work. It took an enormous quantity of teamwork between lots of of individuals from Studying and Certifications, DevNet, and exterior subject material specialists to construct blueprints, programs, exams, coaching supplies, and so on. But it surely all got here collectively. And beginning in February 2020, the primary DevNet Licensed people joined the world. I keep in mind the delight I felt sitting and taking my very own exams to earn my DevNet Affiliate, DevNet Skilled, and Information Heart Automation Specialist certifications.
Bringing the DevNet Skilled Certification to Life
Many people anticipated to right away start work on DevNet Skilled as soon as the February 2020 launch was handed. Nonetheless, much more vital issues took focus because the world moved into 2020. Constructing a brand new certification was the very last thing on my thoughts. Finally, because the world tailored to the brand new regular as finest we might and work started to renew, discussions on the DevNet Skilled certification began up.
Creating any Cisco certification is a serious endeavor, and constructing an expert-level certification provides much more to the expectations and necessities. Usually, a group of certification and schooling specialists from Cisco Studying and Certifications would enlist the assistance of subject material specialists from inside Cisco, our clients, companions, and so on. to offer enter into “what it means” to be a Cisco Licensed DevNet Skilled. This can be a lengthy course of that includes many interviews, the creation of detailed descriptions and design paperwork, and finally, the total blueprint of the examination matters for an examination. This step is usually achieved by in-person workshops and heated discussions. These in-person workshops simply weren’t going to be attainable for the DevNet Skilled, so we tailored and our superb group of certification specialists efficiently introduced the subject material specialists collectively just about. Collectively we achieved the vital preparation work of defining the DevNet Skilled certification as one thing that match the real-world expertise of these engineers who have been already performing as senior automation engineers out on the planet.
After many heated discussions about what expertise belonged on the blueprint, how we’d occasion take a look at these expertise, and the precise wording we needed to make use of, we had a blueprint able to launch and share with everybody eagerly awaiting it. In October 2021, Joe Clarke, one among my private position fashions and a fellow SME on the DevNet Skilled certification undertaking, printed his weblog [Re-]Introducing the Cisco Licensed DevNet Skilled. This weblog each reintroduced the DevNet Skilled certification to the world and set the examination availability date of Might 2, 2022. Now, we’d been engaged on the lab examination for the DevNet Skilled for a while earlier than October 2021, however there was a variety of work but to do, and there may be nothing fairly like a deadline to encourage work. And it positively motivated us.
By “us,” I’m referring to the superb group of engineers I had the pleasure of working with on constructing out the DevNet Skilled Lab Examination. And since all of them deserve direct recognition, I wish to name all of them out by title. Kurt Claes, Joe Clarke, Ramses Smeyers, Dmitry Figol, and Stuart Clark: Thanks for sharing this journey with me. It was a terrific one. And I’d additionally like to say two different engineers who helped within the growth of the examination as we have been getting began. Josh Bronikowski and Julio Gomez: Because of you each as properly to your assist in shaping the examination and certification.
By the start of April 2022, we had the examination prepared for a take a look at drive—a beta-test drive, that’s. On April 4, I took my first work journey in virtually two and a half years and headed to the CCIE examination heart in Richardson, Texas the place we had a bunch of 5 candidates who had agreed to be the primary to check out the examination and provides us some suggestions. Alongside different candidates taking CCIE exams, these DevNet Skilled candidates took the examination whereas Joe and I proctored, watched, and took notes on all the things that appeared problematic or complicated. Issues that have been supposed to be difficult have been saved, after all, however we left Richardson with fewer than 4 weeks to make the ultimate tweaks and updates to the examination earlier than its launch on Might 2, and the primary candidates to attempt their hand at incomes the newest Cisco Skilled-level certification arrive.
Closing Ideas
That brings us to as we speak. It’s been about 4 weeks since launch, and we’ve already had many candidates take the examination. Like each expert-level sensible examination from Cisco, the Cisco Licensed DevNet Skilled lab examination is difficult. It requires deep technical data and expertise within the area of community automation, in addition to the psychological self-discipline and resilience to focus for eight hours straight to finish the examination. Nonetheless, I’ve had the prospect to talk immediately with a number of of the candidates who’ve taken the examination, and everybody has described the examination as honest, related to the true world, and one thing they plan to proceed making ready for. As I anticipated all these years in the past, community engineers have an interest, keen, and greater than succesful to make community automation a core a part of what it means to be a community engineer.
In case you are making ready your self for the DevNet Skilled certification, or are eager about studying extra about it, listed below are a number of glorious sources I like to recommend.
And should you’ll be at Cisco Dwell this June in Vegas, there are lots of periods that relate to the DevNet Skilled Certification. I’m 🙂
Thanks for becoming a member of me on this look again at my private journey towards the DevNet Skilled. And to shut the loop on the fantastic roadside attraction of the World Largest Ball of Twine, my son and I lastly made it there. It was one among a couple of hundred roadside points of interest we visited on an epic street journey 🙂
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