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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) staff 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 clarification.
You see, I used to be heading to California for the final SEVT of the yr the place one in all my shows was aimed toward explaining to a room filled with Cisco engineers and answer architects how and why programmability was not solely related to us, however the way it will also be enjoyable to study and work with. I’d spent the final a number of weeks engaged on an illustration I referred to as “Big Ball of String Meets Cisco IoT” that concerned utilizing a Cisco IoT router to observe curiosity and foot site visitors at probably the most widespread roadside sights 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 partaking within the nice pastime of highway tripping. Households pull over for lavatory and meals breaks, stretch their legs, take some pictures after which proceed alongside. Wouldn’t it’s nice for the communities working these areas to have information on how many individuals go to every year? What days of the week and occasions of day are hottest? And for individuals who come at night time, when to activate lights to welcome them and guarantee security. After all, it might be nice. However these areas are sometimes within the proverbial center of nowhere. My demo targeted on utilizing the power 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 website.
The Big Ball of String Demo Setup
And by no means being content material with simply describing one thing in slides, I truly constructed it. For anybody desirous to stroll down reminiscence lane with me, the code is out there 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 filled with a number of the hardest demo critics within the business – system engineers, or Cisco SEs. (Spoiler: the demo went fantastically). Possibly 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.
My Big Ball of String demo setup on stage on the SEVT.
I share this story as it’s simply one of many many “roadside sights” alone Journey to DevNet Skilled. And whereas my journey is way from over, with the launch of the DevNet Skilled Lab Examination on Could 2, 2022, I wished to share a little bit of my very own journey with you all.
The Journey Begins
I joined Cisco as a programs engineer in 2010. I selected Cisco for a lot of causes, however a giant one was my want to give attention to community engineering after being way more of a “jack of all trades” in IT as much as that time. Whereas I’d finished my justifiable share of networking, I’d additionally finished 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 may very well be its personal “reflections publish.”) My creativeness was filled 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 number of different facets to being a Cisco SE as properly. I typically loved the job and did properly.
However far prior to 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 had been remoted on the edges of most work we did. Solely in pockets round Cisco and with our typical clients did they arrive up. A number of the SE management began to take discover and wished to be ready when ideas like “software program outlined networking” and “cloud” got here up in discussions of common structure or main tasks. I used to be one in all a handful of programs engineers supplied the prospect to take some coaching on subjects like cloud-native (it won’t have been referred to as that but) utility growth, cloud computing, infrastructure as code, Python, and so forth.
And the place my journey took me, you is perhaps stunned by this subsequent reality: 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 info programs and after studying Java I NEVER wished to be a “programmer.” Nonetheless, I used to be nonetheless new at Cisco and was desirous to study and be worthwhile to my staff and management (thanks Eric!). So, I stated sure and I’m so glad I did. It was a type of forks within the highway that dramatically modified my path.
Just a few weeks after saying sure, I used to be off for 2 weeks of very targeted and intense coaching to kickstart my data on these subjects. Together with perhaps a dozen different programs engineers from round Cisco, I used to be put right into a bootcamp of types. Right now, there are many courses on subjects like cloud, scripting, APIs, and so forth which are designed and aimed 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 discovered about ideas like message buses and queues, REST APIs, infrastructure as code, load balancers, and proxy servers (from the angle 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 probably the most precisely named courses 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 best way the event subjects had been taught reawakened a number of the love I had once I was going by college. A lot of what I discovered in these early courses and work result in one other one in all my favourite shows and Cisco Dwell Periods. “Micro-Service Functions for Infrastructure Engineers” got here out of my early journeys and coaching on this space. It tells the story of one other one in all my over-the-top demos at an SE coaching session—the MyHero utility. Whereas the content material is unquestionably a bit of dated at this time, there’s a lot in there that’s nonetheless fairly worthwhile and related to engineers. Should you haven’t seen it, take a watch. I earned at the least 5 Distinguished Speaker awards for that session, so it should be fairly good.
Discovering a New Dwelling in DevNet
I finally made a reputation for myself inside 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 publish, I made one other of these fateful choices. I left the Cisco SE group and joined Cisco DevNet. The impetus for this resolution was fairly merely a want to sort out what I had seen constructing for fairly a while within the community engineering neighborhood. Once I’d go and discuss 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 lifeless.” That software program or cloud builders had been going to simply take over their work. That their expertise weren’t wanted anymore. Discussions usually targeted merely on how they may determine find out how to maintain their networks working as cheaply and easily as attainable. They didn’t need to be “observed.”
This rhetoric broke my coronary heart. I understood the concern 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 identical subjects to launch community engineers right into a brilliant new future filled 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 angle 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 may be that somebody.
Whereas at Cisco Dwell Europe in Berlin in 2015, I chatted with the then-leaders of DevNet about my thought and ideas. On the time, DevNet had been round for just a few years, and whereas community automation was an lively matter, they agreed there was a chance to dig deeper into it. It took a bit of 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, worthwhile, 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 had 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 “Easy methods 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 count on was {that a} respectable chunk of that wave was headed straight for me.
View from the viewers of “Easy methods to be a Community Engineer in a Programmable Age” from Cisco Dwell Vegas in 2017
Looking on the viewers left me momentarily speechless. The concept all these community engineers had gotten up early in Vegas to come back hearken to me inform my story gave me pause. But it surely was 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 had been uninterested in being confused and afraid. And whereas I wasn’t certain I used to be precisely the fitting individual to information them, I’d accomplish that to the most effective of my potential.
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 subjects had been nonetheless in some ways remoted to the sides of the bigger community engineering area. Certain, it was a preferred matter and enjoyable to play with, nevertheless it was seen as an “extra matter” that community engineers wanted to study. Kinda like multicast or MPLS, community engineers understood what it was and the place it suits into the architectures they constructed, nevertheless it was a small portion of engineers who actually targeted on the subject. And from a certification perspective, automation subjects had 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 occasions, they had been a-changing.
Because the week was ending at Cisco Dwell in Barcelona in January 2019, I used to be given a bit of stories. 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, nevertheless it was going to occur. The general public announcement was going to occur later that yr at Cisco Dwell in San Diego. I used to be excited. This was huge. Community automation was shifting from being an fascinating peripheral matter to one thing mature sufficient to start constructing certifications. Engineers had been beginning to focus their careers on automation and organizations had been keen to seek out and rent them.
The time between January and June was very busy. A whole lot of particulars on the certification modifications had been labored out, and at San Diego, I received 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 concerning 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 identical time wasn’t going to be attainable. And whereas many people had been desirous to see the DevNet Skilled turn into actual, we knew taking an agile and iterative strategy was finest. So, we got here again from Cisco Dwell after the announcement and continued the work that had been occurring for months, specializing in constructing the certifications that might launch in February 2020.
Boy was it a number of work. It took a large quantity of teamwork between a whole lot of individuals from Studying and Certifications, DevNet, and exterior material specialists to construct blueprints, programs, exams, coaching supplies, and so forth. 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 satisfaction I felt sitting and taking my very own exams to earn my DevNet Affiliate, DevNet Skilled, and Knowledge Heart Automation Specialist certifications.
Becoming a member of the neighborhood in posting my DEVASC rating report.
Bringing the DevNet Skilled Certification to Life
Many people anticipated to instantly start work on DevNet Skilled as soon as the February 2020 launch was handed. Nonetheless, way more necessary 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 staff of certification and schooling specialists from Cisco Studying and Certifications would enlist the assistance of material specialists from inside Cisco, our clients, companions, and so forth. to supply 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 ultimately, the complete blueprint of the examination subjects for an examination. This step is commonly completed 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 wonderful staff of certification specialists efficiently introduced the subject material specialists collectively just about. Collectively we completed the necessary preparation work of defining the DevNet Skilled certification as one thing that match the real-world expertise of these engineers who had been already appearing 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 wished to make use of, we had a blueprint able to launch and share with everybody eagerly awaiting it. In October 2021, Joe Clarke, one in all my private position fashions and a fellow SME on the DevNet Skilled certification challenge, 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 Could 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 number of work but to do, and there may be nothing fairly like a deadline to inspire work. And it positively motivated us.
By “us,” I’m referring to the wonderful staff 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 need to name all of them out by identify. Kurt Claes, Joe Clarke, Ramses Smeyers, Dmitry Figol, and Stuart Clark: Thanks for sharing this journey with me. It was an amazing one. And I’d additionally like to say two different engineers who helped within the growth of the examination as we had been getting began. Josh Bronikowski and Julio Gomez: Due to 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 nearly two and a half years and headed to the CCIE examination middle 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 had been supposed to be difficult had been stored, in fact, however we left Richardson with fewer than 4 weeks to make the ultimate tweaks and updates to the examination earlier than its launch on Could 2, and the primary candidates to attempt their hand at incomes the newest Cisco Skilled-level certification arrive.
Last Ideas
That brings us to at this time. 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 instantly with a number of of the candidates who’ve taken the examination, and everybody has described the examination as honest, related to the actual 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 serious about studying extra about it, listed below are a number of glorious sources I like to recommend.
And when you’ll be at Cisco Dwell this June in Vegas, there are a lot of classes that relate to the DevNet Skilled Certification. I’m delivering a number of of them 🙂
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 great roadside attraction of the World Largest Ball of Twine, my son and I lastly made it there. It was one in all a couple of hundred roadside sights we visited on an epic highway journey 🙂
One cease on an epic highway journey – The World’s Largest Ball of Twine in Cawker Metropolis Kansas
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