No Worries Jamaica Mon
by Eman
Well the rose sniffers were at it again. Trying to keep me from working my contented life away and forcing me to go to Jamaica and take a break. Why? I mean it’s not really a stressful job being the CCIE Agent™. But I caved in and took eight days off to play golf and sit around doing almost nothing in beautiful Lime Acres located in Whitehouse, Jamaica. Off of the beaten path trod by most tourists my family and in-laws swept me away for a break.
Yup, the land of “No Worries Mon”
It is a habit of mine to look at CCIE populations wherever I travel so while my wife bugged me about packing my skivvies I snuck away to check my database for any CCIEs I might try to rendezvous with in Jamaica. After checking and finding two in my network I contacted my best friend at Cisco (Monica Cojocneanu ) to see if my count was right. Nope, I had one more listed than she did so my records were wrong. (No I did not get names just a count from her so don’t go thinking I have a secret source for confidential information. I got what we all get just population numbers)
So I sent an email to both of the CCIEs in my files and only one responded. Not only did I discover that there was a CCIE in Jamaica but my records indicated that she was a woman CCIE!
What a great find.
I do enjoy looking at the statistics of CCIEs in my network and I collect CCIEs like others collect stamps or coins. When I find CCIEs who are women I get all worked up because the most beautiful girls in the world are CCIEs! Yeah, yeah I know the whole Bouncy thing will come back to haunt me now, but Bouncy can’t hold a candle to a woman CCIE for beauty. Because where it counts a woman CCIE has it all! I mean everything Brains and certification and a high profile and all my attention too…
(Bouncy if you are reading this, I am sorry to break the news to you this way. Can we still be friends?)
Not only does a woman CCIE have brains but she has broken through the glass ceiling. There does not appear to be a salary limit for women who choose the CCIE path, they often receive the highest wages. So any time I meet a CCIE who happens to be a woman I treat her with special respect. Like her male counterparts a woman CCIE has had to sacrifice and work hard to prepare for the lab and a future as a CCIE and the population of them is very small. So I got all gushy about interviewing her and reached out to say howdy to Paula Pannuzzo CCIE #11,311.
Q: Paula you are an anomaly in the Cisco Networking world. You live in paradise, you work in paradise and you are the only CCIE in paradise. There are few outside of that country that would debate Jamaica is paradise. My wife is Jamaican so many of my meals here in Delaware are some of the ones typical Jamaicans eat regularly. Rice and Peas, Stew Peas, curry goat and fried plantains are regular items on the Conde table. Are you from Jamaica originally?
A: No I’m not originally from JamRock, as I like to call Jamaica (not invented by me, no, but love using the term). I was born in Venezuela. My dad is Portuguese, my mom although born in Venezuela as well, has Italian roots. My dad moved to Venezuela when he was only 12 years-old, at 22 met and married my mom. They had 3 kids, I was in the middle of two boys and I lived there until I was 15 years-old. Dad decided to give us a better life and more opportunities in life so we all moved to Portugal in 92. Then another boy was born! This is just to tell you that I’m the only girl at home (beside my mom, of course). I’ve live in Portugal until I moved to Jamaica, 2 years and 3 months ago. A friend of mine who I know since my university times was working here and had asked me to send my CV to apply to Digicel. So here I am!
Q: Many CCIEs were influenced by professional associates or mentors they looked up to. While you were making decisions about your future did you have a women role model in IT?
A: For me, women in IT are always a role model and an inspiration. In my path, everything started at high school when I met one of my friends studying the same technical course I was, but a year ahead of me. When she finished and moved to one of the best universities in Portugal for Computer Science and Software Engineering course, I followed her. Then, at university, although I was following a career for Software Engineer, we had the choice between different paths where one of them was Networking. I thought: there are so many software developers, but not so many network engineers – specially not so many girls… I should go this way then. I was on my 3rd year of university (this is a 5 years course in Portugal). At that point there was a teacher, a woman, giving us the subject “Computer Communications” – very literal translation from Portuguese – who was really inspiring and knew so much about networking. I was already imagining myself giving classes at the university just like her. On my 4th year, in a special event organized by the course committee Cisco Systems Portugal came and gave a presentation. One of their presentations was given by a woman, a Cisco Systems Engineer. And I remember saying: This is the company I’m going to work for! – At the end of my 5th year of university I was starting to work at Cisco Systems Portugal, and I was part of the Graduate Training Program. On the GTP I met so many more girls, and most of them are CCIE today as well, in different parts of the world!
Q: Families are important for our success in many ways. We typically find our strongest support network there. Were you receiving moral supported from your family while on your journey to become a CCIE?
A: My dad. He always encourage me to do what I’m most afraid of, the hardest things and put in my mind that I’m just capable of doing everything I can, I just need to dedicate sometime to do it. Sometimes it is hard when you believe you are able to do anything, because I just want to do everything :) - I just don’t have enough time!
I remember he said to me when I told him I was going to do the CCIE certification and that if I passed I was going to be the only CCIE girl in Portugal, I explain him all about the CCIE and the passing percentage… he just said, “well, you always want to do the hardest things and what scare you more.”
This also encouraged me to do the Free Fall training course, jumping out of a plane with a parachute! Wohooo!
Q: I see that you have worked for several good size companies. You were with Cisco, IBM and Siemens. Did the big company environments influence you to make a move to the environment you now work in?
A: I did very different things at each of the companies. At Cisco I was a Graduate Engineer. Pre-sales work, not really big hands-on the customer network, just in the lab. Then due to the whole crises in 2001 all graduates in EMEA were allocated to the partners. At IBM I was more hands-on, lots of different customers, different networks, and different technologies… lots! I wanted to move to the Cisco TAC or to the IBM TAC. But got an opportunity at Siemens as a technical product support for the Cisco GGSN. I was in charge for the Lab and customers worldwide would use Remedy to open tickets. My team would reproduce the issues in the lab and provide a solution. Identify bugs, security vulnerabilities and generate Release Notes for the customer upgrades. Tickets could be escalated to Cisco TAC or not if we were able to solve it on time. Loved the challenge, but it was not going to be forever. I still wanted to take care of “my” network.” I wanted to be on a corporate side so I could look at “my” network and that’s when Digicel came. I started as part of the IP team but more focused on the Wimax Core. All Cisco based. My objective was, and still is, to transfer all my knowledge and experience to my colleagues in Jamaica so they could become more specialized and grow their technical career. I like sharing what I know with my team mates.
Q: Working in Jamaica must be different than anywhere else in the world. What is it like for you?
A: While I was working in Europe, every year holidays would be in the Caribbean beach. When I started to work in Jamaica, the whole week would be just work, work and work, but at the weekend we would go and spend time in the Caribbean beach. So, every Monday I had the feeling I just came back from holidays! That is still the feeling! I like interacting with the Jamaican culture, and also like the mix we have in Jamaica with all the foreign people you can find in Digicel. People from Russia, Portugal, Brazil, Dom Rep, England, South Africa, Lebanon… just to name a few!
That is still the feeling! I like interacting with the Jamaican culture, and also like the mix we have in Jamaica with all the foreign people you can find in Digicel. People from Russia, Portugal, Brazil, Dom Rep, England, South Africa, Lebanon… just to name a few, besides the huge Irish community of course!
Q: What training material did you use to prepare for the Lab? Did you pass the first time?
A: No I didn’t pass the first time… It was a dream for me, but I didn’t. I wasn’t fast enough for the exam. Even though I read the whole exam and I was very comfortable with all the questions, by the end of the day, I had done almost everything, but the time had ended and I didn’t have the chance to touch an entire section. Looking at the report of that exam I realized everything was good, but needed to be faster! I did try to do it again right after it, the next month, but I got an unpleasant surprise and failed again. That’s when I decided to put it away for a year. The year after I did a CCIE bootcamp in the uk, where I could see all that I was missing. After two intense weeks of training, I came back to Portugal and asked Cisco to lend me a CCIE rack. I was accessing the equipment remotely and manage to practice for another 2 weeks non stop. And then I did the exam and passed.
Q: What training materials do you recommend?
A: I do recommend the bootcamps. Because it allows you to understand what areas you need improvement. I love the Cisco web site and all the Cisco press publications. Hands on is a must!
Q: As you may be aware I was involved in the creation and launch of the Cisco Network Academy at Padua an all girls High School in Delaware. What advice would you give to young women making a decision about their IT careers?
A: Allow yourself to be inspired by other women in IT but go for it if it is something you like and you love. We can still be girly and behave like a beautiful women even if we are in IT. Being professional
Q: What do you think about multiple CCIE certifications? Are you planning on another?
A: If it is aligned with your career, I like the idea of having multiple CCIE certifications. Right now I’m very keen to pursue the Service Provider track due to the environment I’m working with. But I haven’t focus on the second certification seriously yet. It is just a thought.
Q: Do you read the CCIE Flyer?
A: To be honest I only knew about it when I got your email. Then I look for it on the internet and read it. Loved it and will continue to follow it up!
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