CCIE #24347 Joe Astorino
by Eman
I was home one evening almost a year ago when I got a call from a guitar aficionado who had found my picture on my blog with my old Gibson J-45. Seems he was searching the web for Bob Dylan information. I had posted a photo of me with my latest acquisition for my guitar collection an old 1960s Gibson J-45. The caption mentioned the guitar was similar to the model played by Dylan in the 60s when he was playing Greenwich Village in New York. So Joe Astorino a newbie CCIE was looking for Dylan info and found the CCIE Agent. Go figure! I got a call from Joe Astorino because he was looking for a new job. We talked about guitars and then about how funny that a CCIE looking for Dylan found me instead.
Then fast forward to August and I have Darby Weaver’s contribution to the CCIE Flyer about his experience in Joe’s CCIE Boot camp class. Joe seems to have found his place at IPExpert and made a good impression. So I reached out to him to get an interview of this member of the next generation of Boot Camp instructors.
Q: Joe I hope you are still jamming! What kind of guitars are you playing these days?
A: I love to play guitar when I can get the time! Right now I still have my original “starter” Epiphone acoustic. Nothing special, but gets the job done. Additionally, I have an acoustic electric Ovation and a squire Stratocaster looking electric guitar as well as my trusty harmonica rack (yes, I play and sing at the same time : ) ) I am fascinated by and hope to obtain some “Beatle” guitars like the Gretsch DUO Country Gentleman, Gibson J-160E Sunburst, Rickenbacker 325, and Epiphone Casino – All of which were played by George Harrison and/or John Lennon.
Q: I was talking to you back when you were looking for a new job and was happy to see you landed at IPExpert. What caused you to leave Cisco?
A: Well, I was working for probably the biggest client they have and that client happened to be a major player in the global automotive industry, which as I’m sure you know isn’t doing so well. I was more less studying as much as I could for the CCIE lab and the pressure of the job from the client was INSANELY demanding as well. That mixed with being freshly married made for a bit too much to bite off. Suffice it to say things didn’t work out at that particular client.
Q: These are tough times but one constant is that folks are looking for their CCIE certifications still. Demand has been brisk for CCIEs in many places including the USA. When you got your CCIE was it to get a new job or to improve your old one?
A: Actually, working for Cisco for this particular client required a CCIE (in theory.) I had passed my written, and did well enough on the interview with other CCIEs that I was given the chance. My pursuit of the CCIE was mainly for the knowledge, challenge, and status of being the best in my chosen profession. Improving my job, income and job security was nice too :)
Q: Taking a step back why don’t you tell us who influenced you to become a network engineer in the first place?
A: Hmmmmm....great question! I don’t think it was any one particular person, but more like a string of people and events. Prior to junior high school, I was your average athletic type guy. I was not into computers at all because my dad sure never was. He was more of a big sports guy, which was also a lot of fun. Anyways, sometime around 7th grade I met this kid named Ryan Elisei and we become best friends. Ryan was obsessed with computers, and still is. In fact, he is probably reading this right now from his desk at Microsoft where he works now as a programmer. Anyways, Ryan got me into computers and started teaching me stuff. From there I really really started to get into computers in general. Ryan got a job working at CompUSA after school in high school so I followed suit and did some sales. When I worked there, I met a lot of computer guys, vendor reps, and learned a ton but I was still only 16 and was more into general computing than any special field, but it always intrigued me! Working there, I met my good friend Brad Tarratt, who was and probably still is the smartest guy I had ever come across when it came to computers. Brad was this mysterious all knowing UNIX guru hacker type that I desperately wanted to learn from in high school. He would talk about cool things that I had never even heard of at the time like BSD and Solaris and do things like write his own packet sniffers in plain C using the VI editor just for fun. We became amazing buddies, and he taught me all about UNIX, networking, programming, and countless other things. To this day, I say I learned more from Brad than I did in college getting my B.S. in computer science.
I took a job for a huge fortune 500 company when I was about 19 doing tech support stuff, and was able to polish a lot of skills. I had always been fascinated by communications in general, and just always wanted to know more, and more, and more! I decided if I wanted to get serious I should probably get my CCNA because after all, people with Cisco certs seemed to actually really know what they were doing! I got my CCNA and immediately took a job as an entry level network analyst and it exploded from there. I went on to get my CCNP, CCDA, and CCDP before setting my eyes on the prize of the CCIE learning more and more as I went along from job to job. Somewhere along the way I was fortunate enough to work for Ford, The US Department of Defense, Federal-Mogul, and Cisco in senior level positions where I learned a LOT. All of these places offered incredible learning environments and HUGE networks to do it on.
Q: Where did you train and what tools did you use to prepare for the Lab?
A: I know this sounds bad working for IPexpert now, but honestly I am and always have been basically the IPexpert poster boy haha! The honest truth is that when I started out, I didn’t have a lot of money for training products. I could only hope to afford MAYBE one vendors product. At the time, I lucked into a great opportunity to get IPexperts blended learning solution, and I went with that. I went through all the videos, all the workbooks, and ended up taking the bootcamp that I now teach about 2 weeks before my lab. I never looked back, and was fortunate enough to pass on my first go!
Q: What do you recommend a student do to prepare for one of your classes?
A: We always tell students that they will get more out of the course if they are well prepared. A well prepared student is definitely going to get more out of the class. Our philosophy is that students already know CCNA/CCNP stuff, and we are not teaching basics from the ground up. The class is structured to cover every topic on the blueprint, while not building from the ground up at the same time. We assume our students have touched routers and switches, and hopefully that they have gone through our volume 1 workbooks prior to attending
Q: Which are your favorite topics?
A: I think my favorite topics are the “meat and potato” topics of the CCIE lab: Routing and Switching! I know that is broad and rather basic sounding, but any of my students can attest that I still get a kick out of seeing my BGP adjacencies come up and stuff...I just LOVE it!
Q: I visited your offices back in 2008 and was impressed by the place. I spoke with Vic and Mike and I learned about IPExpert from them. What is the culture like working for a company that size?
A: IPexpert is a great place for me to work. It feels kind of like a startup when you walk in, but we are already a very well established company. I also have a lot of freedom with my scheduling as far as when I choose to work and when I choose to sleep which is really important for me.
Q: Do you have any interesting anecdotes from your classes so far?
A: Honestly, every class brings something new and exciting to the table, and that is one reason why I love doing what I’m doing so much! Every class I get to meet new people. Each and every one of those people has a story, has a family, has goals, has strong points and weak points – And I get to learn all about those!
Q: What do you expect the impact of the new testing will have on the preparations for the lab?
A: I think that the CCIE R&S lab just got a whole lot more interesting, and I am excited about the changes. Cisco has done some very good things, and people are now being tested on more things that are actually being deployed out there. I don’t think it should really effect how people are preparing though. We still have technologies to configure in a certain amount of time. We might have new things, but in this industry, we always have that to deal with! It is just more stuff to learn and be masters at. I think the troubleshooting section is a great addition, and I think that if people are getting into the CCIE at the level they need to be in order to truly be experts, they should be alright there.
Q: Do you read the CCIE Flyer?
A: Absolutely! I’ve been reading the CCIE Flyer since I found it when I first started out.
Q: Do you like it?
A: I always look forward to the new issue of the CCIE Flyer actually. Ironically, I really like reading the interviews : )
Joe Astorino is CCIE #24347, and a Senior Technical Instructor with IPexpert. Joe has over 8 years experience working on large scale enterprise networks, and a degree in computer science from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Joe was born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan and lives there now with his wife Beth. When he is not teaching, writing material, and learning about technology, Joe enjoys playing guitar, classic rock (particularly the work of Bob Dylan and The Beatles), and going down to the Joe Louis Arena to watch The Detroit Redwings.
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