Angle Free IT Preston Kilburn

Today on the Angle Free IT podcast, we meet with someone that I immediately thought “I have to get this guy on my show”. This person is none other than VMware Staff SE Prabhu Barathi. Prabhu was recently voted as SE of the year prior to our recording, and I would like to first and foremost congratulate him! Secondly, I would like to thank him for being so approachable on matters such as immigration, career paths, and mentorship.

03:00 Prabhu’s origin story and journey to SE of the year.

10:00 What does “Staff” before SE mean?

12:00 Mentorship and how to find it.

19:00 Prabhu talks about “Doing right by the customer” – one of the reasons I love this guy!

24:00 Blockchain all the things!

30:00 Why Prabhu and I love home labs and endorse them.

34:00 Himem 386 makes an appearance, and Prabhu getting into tech because of shiny toys.

42:00 Why leaders should communicate to their people WHY they want to do a project.

49:00 Building your brand, (and maybe puppies too).

I greatly appreciated having Prabhu sharing some time with me.  Look him up on LinkedIn (here).

Prabhu mentioned building your brand, and I would like to circle back to one of our christening episodes – Episode002 with Nic Cole.  It was essentially all about building your brand and is a great reference on the *HOW* of building your brand.

I appreciated Prabhu’s candor and willingness to be honest in this episode.  Unironically, we talked a lot about being truthful – something that some people find at odds with people in sales roles.  Usually for good reason.

Hello everyone!  This week, I’d like to introduce Sam Gavis-Hughson.  He’s here to help with technical interviews and developing the skills to work through the pressure of a large technical company and startup coding interviews.  He shared SO MUCH good stuff with us on this episode, I think you’ll appreciate how down to earth he is.  We talk about prepping for interview skills, as well as getting ready for the metal game of an in-person interview.

Take a listen and learn what Sam has to offer us all!

00:00 – Sam’s intro – including an origin story involving Lego Mindstorm programming (proving that the program actually DOES work to increase STEM grads!)

08:00 – Dynamic programming & you…

13:00 – Most undervalued aspect of interviews.

14:30 – Study on the fundamentals – via MOOC for free even!

20:00 – Using programming skills daily makes life better.

25:00 – What is Sam’s course – the big thing people struggle with – FAST solutions.

30:00 – Optimal subproblems and Overlapping subproblems.

32:00 – Everyone has a plan for the fight until they get punched in the face.

37:00 – Top developer interview failures.

If you’re looking for more information on dynamic Programming – check out Sam’s FREE ebook at www.byte-by-byte.com/dpbook

As we talked about – here are Sam’s favorite MOOC classes on fundamental programming and data structures – FOR FREE!

MIT: Click for MIT because you like it more than Princeton.

Princeton: Click for Princeton because you like it more than MIT.

One thing we do a LOT around Angle Free IT and online on forums is giving advice.  It’s kinda my ‘thing’ because I couldn’t find a non-anonymous way to get tech career advice online.  At the same time, people want and have asked for personalized coaching sessions to get them pointed in the right direction.  I wanted to let you listen in on one of the first mini-coaching sessions we did a few months ago with a longtime friend and listener Willie Moore.  It focuses on WGU degree options for technology folks.  I think you’ll enjoy it, especially if you’re on the fence about WGU, or what degree options you are looking into.

02:00 Intro.

05:00 ISA degree vs Networking degree.

12:00 Why WGU worked for me.

16:00 Willie discussing which ones worked.

20:00 Doing vs Telling and why they’re different things.

30:00 Programming skills and why they’re key in the future.

Yes, this interview is with THE Neil Moore – the guy who is tied with only one other human on the planet for having every Expert level cert from Cisco – All CCIE’s and the CCDE.  I first found out about Neil through a YouTube channel he had when he was at HP doing some interop stuff with their switches.  The funny thing is, THAT EXACT CONCEPT is how Neil Views his success.  Listen in on this amazing interview, there is so much wisdom in it!

00:00 Neil Moore – Who he is started with the computer lab at Panamerican University, and a Highschool job doing PC stuff.

07:00 Refinement of the CCIE study process – from the guy who has them all.

09:00 INE and IP expert (RIP IPX [the training company and the protocol!])

13:00 Combining technologies as a superpower.

17:00 It’s not about the money for Neil. It’s about something he’s passionate about AND something he likes to do.

21:00 Making sure your training process isn’t too old, and not boxing yourself in to learning methods.

24:00 Unbidden, it’s Pillar 6!

25:00 Certs are structured learning – and Neil’s take.

28:00 Software has become like sampling songs – learning everything that you think is cool tends to pop up again and again.

30:00 Choosing a technology based on what you LIKE – so that you keep interest

32:30 Code RGV and how Neil Gives back to the next wave of tech workers

34:30 Mentoring – You can’t get off the couch and run a marathon. You have to train yourself up – Neil times zero to hero in 18 months. Pillar 1 and Pillar 6 aplenty.

41:00 Social media and showcasing your work.

44:30 Neil on moving in front of automation and commonality.

48:00 What Neil’s doing now -> Technology hop vs job hopping.

52:00 The importance of knowing people inside your company or outside who can think about a problem with you.

54:30 Neil Moore’s dedicated learning time – 1 to 2 hours per day, 7 days a week.

59:00 Min/Maxing your study time and time boxing stuff that is frustrating.

Find Neil online at LinkedIn (HERE), and on Twitter (HERE).

More can be found about Neil’s methodology about CCIE study on the How To Network blog entry (HERE).

 

 

I never do quite know when I will stumble across someone who I think “I must have this person on my podcast”.  A Cisco Network Automation webinar was one such place, when I met Hank Preston, the NetDevOps Evangelist for Cisco Networks.  He had a HUGE amount of great knowledge to share with us on this episode.  Tackling Pillar 4, Explaining Automation, and talking about why people screw themselves up by not listening.

00:00 Intro for Hank Preston.

10:00 Network Programmability Basics Course (here)

15:00 What is CI/CD and Network Pipelining

17:30 Network Configuration Pipeline

24:00 MEETUP!

29:00 Deep Learning vs Wide Learning – Don’t look for unicorns.

31:00 Developer.cisco.com discussions.

36:00 Discussion on certs and their value.

41:00 SE Jobs and how listening and not snap judgment is the key.

50:00 Everyone’s favorite buzzword – IoT.

You can find Hank online at @hfpreston and @ciscodevnet. He also gives killer webinars about using programmability to automate your network.

Episode 12 on deck!  One of the coolest things I get to do is catch up with people I’ve fanboy’d over.  Jason Abbott probably had very little idea how much he inspired or helped me along in my career when we worked together, probably because I was fairly aloof and terrible at troubleshooting when he first met me.  Nevertheless, he took me under his wing, even when I wasn’t ‘his guy’ and taught me a lot of invaluable skills (which he had been taught from Strata Chalup – Episode 8). We talked about his willingness to just put himself out there and attempt stuff when no one else would, and how that’s propelled him along in his career.

Recently Jason Abbott moved into a Director of IT position – and I can’t commend his CIO highly enough for his selection.  He will do amazing there, I’m sure, and I’m very happy for my friend!

00:00 Intro – Chicago to Atlanta for 10-Base-2 ??

04:30 The moment that could’ve held Jason down.

08:00 WGU and mention of a secret episode I haven’t released as of this episode!

15:00 The Strata Chalup connection from LISA.

18:00 The origins of the ‘SNMP’ framework (at LISA, in fact).

24:00 Jason’s lateral move, and the Lippizaner Philosophy.

30:30 Honesty and frankness with a new role.

32:00 PILLAR 1 ABIDES.

34:00 A new OSI model mnemonic for you all!

37:00 Abandoning old for the new – maybe not ALWAYS the best solution.

41:30 EXPECT scripting and the Israeli bet agains Jason and Preston.

44:30 Why putting yourself out there is worth it.

48:00 Understanding how a crazy person thinks and getting a diversity of thought, and Pillar 6.

52:00 Unbidden – Jason brings up my favorite internet spot – meetup, and one I hadn’t thought about – Toastmasters.

55:30 Pillar 1 – AGAIN!

56:40 The Strata Chalup Episode – related to Jason.