Cisco Live - Day Four

Certified!

Today started off great! I took my CCENT exam in the morning and passed it! So I now have my very first Cisco certification! I had a huge smile on my face all morning as I went around and told everybody the good news. It was just great to get it done and out of the way. After returning to the NOC, and delivering the good news, we all headed out to hear today's keynote speech. Just as we got there Landon (a local intern) and I got diverted back to help break down the registration area. We basically spent a few hours packing up very expensive touch screen monitors and gear. When that was complete, we helped out more at the wireless support desk and then headed off to get some food. 

Adam Burke, CCIE

When lunch was over we got a really great opportunity to talk with some of the CCIE's in the Network Operations Center. They were absolutely great. They would go over what their role was at the conference and talk to us about how they go about their jobs and teach a few tools of the trade. We got a wonderful session with +Adam Burke (@atburke85) It was awesome to see his enthusiasm towards showing us what he does. We of course just soaked it all in. Getting to really converse and ask questions with others who have positions you hoped to be in one day is really inspiring. 

Universal Studios

After we met with the Engineers it was already time for dinner and then we had to rush off to Universal Orlando to head out to the Customer Appreciation Event. It was incredible. Cisco basically rented out Universal Studios just for its Customers to enjoy; Roller coasters and all! We rode as many coasters as we could and rode on a few 3D simulator rides. It's amazing how real those feel now! Closing out the show Journey performed. To put things into perspective the only people at Universal were Cisco people and it was still packed! 

Today was pretty easy going. We did our usual work, learned some things from some great engineers, and got to get away and have fun. Overall, not a bad day at all. In the end though what I'm most proud of is that certification. It's not easy finding time to study right now so it's good to see I still got it upstairs.