What can I say?
2008 has been the year that heralded so many changes and challenges for us all. I have heard horror stories from some CCIEs and many good stories from others. In my case the world opened up like a blossom in spring and I enjoyed the many growing friendships I have developed with CCIEs and future CCIEs. From Kamar in Lebanon, to Ethan in New Hampshire, Toyin in California, Caue in the Amazon jungle, Bojan in Bosnia, Marko in Iceland, Nickelby in Malaysia, Felix in Ghana, Diego in Argentina, Cunshen in China, Bhavesh in Botswana, Winston in the Bronx, Alexander in the Czech Republic, Rosie in British Columbia, Ahmed in Egypt, Neil in France, Joao in Puerto Rico, Humaym in Bangladesh, Jean-Louis in Cameroon, Jode in the Dominican Republic, Francisco in Ireland, Olusegun in the UK, Mesake in Fiji, Lei in Macau, Erik in Germany, Patani in Ghana, Adeel in Australia, Shiran in Israel, Osman in Turkey, Daniele in Italy, Pedrito in Jamaica, Rudi in Indonesia, Mohammed in Jordan, Hammad in Pakistan, Yuri in the Ukraine, Mahesh in Kenya, and John in Pennsylvania I have new friends I would not have known in any year gone by. 2008 was the year I began to explore the internet as a real tool for networking.
The CCIE Flyer was a concept I developed with my big brother Dan. When we were kids in Dallas we shared and fought over toys as many brothers do. Now we get together and play as we did then, but our new toy is the CCIE Flyer. My blog was a revelation for me as I realized how I could support my networking by providing information and pictures about the growth of my work as the CCIE Agent™. The growth of the CCIE Flyer has been a hugely rewarding experience and the roots are from my work with my blog. I am still writing for IT World so don’t forget to look for me there as well.
The CCIE Flyer has been blessed by interesting content provided by some notable figures in the industry. I almost feel I am in the presence of what Karam called “The CCIE Justice League” like a bunch of super heroes. I am very happy to have content from these great folks in the past and continuing into 2009;
Terry Slatery CCIE #1026
Oleg Berzin CCIE #3955
Scott Morris #4713
Jerry Anderson CCIE #5000
Mark McClure CCIE #10814
Faisal Kahn CCIE #10980
Narbik Kocharians CCIE #12410
Vik Mahli CCIE #13890
Zhengtao Huan CCIE #15557
Nivon Silva CCIE #19842
Ethan Banks CCIE #20655
Nickelby Thane (CCIE # TBA Soon)
Caue Wailemann (CCIE # TBA Soon)
In support of what they would like to share, Dan and I are adding Tech Talk for these great people to share opinions, best practices, technical experience, and more. Sort of a CCIE Forum for folks with some great experience to share. I have invited a few more and will be surprising you with their articles in 2009 as well.
This month we have a great piece from Oleg who is sharing some details about TelePresence to kick off the CCIE Forum for the CCIE Flyer. We have always enjoyed including my Career Diva Eve each month and she continues to entertain and surprise us with her great writing. We have begun providing content from some CCIEs with English as a second language and love providing copy in their mother tongue and English as you will see this month from Bogdan a CCIE in Romania, remember think globally. Nickelby Thane is working his way to CCIE nirvana and has seen a lot of content on the web about DUMPS, which he is sharing with us this month. Terry Slattery is back again in the CCIE Flyer and he has passed us a note about his 2008 experience. Good bye 2008 from Mark McClure is in this issue with him sharing his thought about studying for the next CCIE for those who already have one. My friend from New England, Ethan Banks has been working too hard and his piece of fiction hits close to home for a lot of us.
My team Sean, Ryan, Jack, and the magnificent Miss M are all here and you will learn about what we are doing and where we are doing it as we support the Cisco Channel Partners and the SRS Program around the globe.
There is more to read in the CCIE Flyer this month with farewells to 2008 from some notable Talent Champions and my team in London. Read and enjoy and if you like the CCIE Flyer, pass it on. If you would like to contribute send me an email. I would enjoy your opinion, contribution or rant!
Have a Happy New Year!