Merry christmas – and some of my plans for 2014

I would like to wish everyone a happy christmas and a happy new year.

2014 is going to be a big year for me and I would like to describe some of
the things that I plan for 2014.

I have been studying for the CCDE written but I have decided to put that on hold
for now. It’s a tough cert and the Return On Investment (ROI) is not worth it right
now for me. That does not mean that design does not interest me or that I won’t write
about design here. I will still read some things on design but not actively pursue
the certification.

The first step is to recertify my CCIE RS, I will start studying for that after christmas.
When that is done I plan to take up some programming through Python. Knowing at least
some basic programming is always good and could be an important skill for the future
network engineer.

I don’t have much of a systems background so I might look into getting some basic skills
in Linux/sed/awk/grep and things like that. Although it’s nothing I use at my work currently
it wouldn’t hurt to know at least the basics. I might also start looking into virtualization.

I work as a consultant so sometimes I get involved in security through Cisco ASA firewalls
and equivalent. Sometimes I also need to get involved in wireless deployments. I will
probably deepen my skills in these areas and maybe pick up som certifications.

I was selected to be a Cisco champion. That means that I will do some blogging for Cisco.
Get to see some new products and what is happening inside of Cisco. I really enjoy this
and this will definitely take up some of my time for 2014. I hope to do more blogging
on upcoming products and features from Cisco as long as they don’t break NDA of course 🙂

As you all know, I like to get involved in the community. I plan to stay active in the
community and hopefully do a bit more regular blogging.

The goal is to round off my skills. I already have expert knowledge in routing and switching.
What I need now is to broaden my skillset and make sure that I stay on top of my future
career as well.

If everything goes well I hope I’ll be able to attend Cisco Live in San Francisco in May.
It would be a great opportunity to meet up with my friends from Twitter, online communities
and so on.

I wish you all a merry christmas and a happy new year.