{"id":1599,"date":"2024-03-17T17:08:56","date_gmt":"2024-03-17T21:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenetworksdown.com\/?page_id=1599"},"modified":"2025-11-26T10:26:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T15:26:56","slug":"about-me","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thenetworksdown.com\/?page_id=1599","title":{"rendered":"About Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I am a life-long learner, with a passion for Networking and a desire to understand both how<\/em> and why<\/em> things work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve been “involved<\/em>” in the IT industry for most of my life, as Pops used to work at IBM as an Engineer, you know, when that was “the thing to do<\/em>“. I owe pretty much my entire fundamental understanding of computers that I have built upon to him, so thanks Pops! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After tinkering with, and then consequentially breaking, everything that he brought home during my adolescence… I started helping him with his computer consulting business after school. I then continued learning more about technology in general by researching it both during and after school. While attending college, I received multiple NSF Scholarship awards and ended up on the Deans List. I achieved my Bachelors Degree is in Computer Information Systems. Side note:<\/em> I actually “found<\/em>” Networking as a profession, due to me wanting to graduate from College early. Seriously, I did. Check out my blog post on that story by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been working with both Networks and Infrastructures in a professional setting since 2004 and have been refining and improving both my knowledge and understanding incrementally ever since. I’ve worked in various sized businesses ranging between sole proprietor shops, up to staffs in the hundreds-of-thousands at Enterprises that span just about the entire globe. I’ve also worked within multiple verticals during my tenure in the industry; including, Academic Institutions, Value Added Resellers (VARs), Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Business Process Outsources (BPOs), and Financial Institutions, just to name a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting in 2005, I began studying and pursuing professional certifications (check out my blog post title: <\/em>“The Vault<\/a>” as well as my “Credly Badges<\/a>“)<\/em> within the Networking industry to help fortify both my knowledge and understanding. The highest level of certification I have obtained is Expert-Level, known as the CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert). I currently hold the CCIE certification in two different tracks of Networking. One of which, I received in 2015, in the Routing & Switching (aka the Enterprise Infrastructure)<\/em> track, and the second CCIE I obtained was in 2019, within the Security track. As an aside… l have also passed the Expert-Level written qualification exams for both Network Architecture and Design (CCDE) as well as DataCenter Networking (CCIE DataCenter). I have experience across multiple disciplines\/tracks within networking: Architecture and Design, Routing & Switching, Wireless, Security, DataCenter and Unified Communications environments. Along with learning and labbing new technologies, I also mentor other Network Administrators and Engineers throughout their journey within the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside of my normal “day-job<\/em>“, I enjoy: watching European & South American Soccer matches, traveling, spending time with my family and dog, continually improving my fluency in Spanish, learning about other cultures, listening to music (I’m kind of an audio snob<\/em>), working on home improvement projects, landscaping, watching movies, as well as riding or working on my motorcycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for stopping by! – CCIE# 51406<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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