I have had the pleasure of knowing Martin Voelk as part of my CCIE network for a while. He has an interesting offering in his CCIE Hotline and I wanted to get a chance to interview him for our readers. As you know many CCIEs are independent business owners and often their concepts are very original.
Martin has a great one.
Q: Martin you have been a CCIE for some time now and have seen a lot of changes in the industry. Why did you decide to pursue CCIE certification to begin with?
A: Good question! I am fascinated by Internet technology really. I started off with a CCNA and then did my CCNP a year later. It was tempted to become one of the 3% of Cisco Certified Professionals who actually become a CCIE. I wanted to obtain all the knowledge on Routing & Switching.
Q: When you started out did you have a professional mentor:
A: Oh yes, I had one. I was working for Cable & Wireless in Munich from 2001 and was working with Reinhold Fischer. He did his CCNP followed by the CCIE and he encouraged me and mentored me to do the same. I watched him preparing for the CCIE in the company lab and decided to do the same. By the way, I would like to mention that Reinhold is one of the few CCDE’s now!
Q: What training materials or providers did you use?
A: Initially, I just went through the blueprint and started building my own labs with any technology involved. I started using the former “Univercd” a lot and re-build any R&S scenario I could find. I did that final preparation in form of a Boot Camp with Heinz Ulm in Germany in 2003.
Q: Do you recommend any particular materials or companies for training or preparing future CCIEs for success?
A: Nothing beats experience really. I have been delivering CCIE R&S Boot Camps myself for a couple of years in the past for a Cisco CLSP. I am not certified on the current 360 though. Does it really always have to be a boot camp or training course? Often people are already up to speed on technology and just need a mentor.
Q: As the economy has headed south I suspect you have seen it impact your business. With your model I would think it would be pretty good. How do you feel the economy has impacted your business?
A: There is certainly an impact, especially in the UK. However the CCIE Hotline was born in the middle of the recession and won so many new customers in a couple of months only. Customers are in need of Cisco CCIE Consulting and like the idea of remote consulting (no travel costs, no full day charges). CCIE’s in all tracks, fair per hour billing, worldwide resources covering all time zones – I think that is what makes the CCIE Hotline a success.
Q: I came from an organization that did staff supplement work as an offering. That was more general IT type stuff though. You are doing staff supplement for network engineers namely CCIE types which I think must be a great offering. How broad is your network and what is your reach?
A: We have hundreds of CCIEs in our database. We work with 15 – 20 core people. For example a UK CCIE may finish the job at 6pm but still can work for the CCIE Hotline from 9pm-11pm and serve a US customer. The CCIE makes 2 hours worth of contract income. As for our reach, we are operating on a Global basis. We now have more than 150 customers and frequently new ones through CCIE Hotline. We now have customers from New Zealand to Singapore and the UK to Canada and the US. It is worldwide really.
Q: I am seeing a lot of work from Africa and South Africa are you seeing the same demand? What are your hot spots?
A: Yes, we do get quite a lot of requests from South Africa as well. Other than that I would say the UK, Germany and the US are our biggest markets.
Q: How about sharing a memorable accomplishment with us?
A: A UK government customer who came in via our website 2 months ago. He initially only wanted help from a CCIE Security to set a couple of ASA’s up. He was really satisfied with our Service and it resulted in a 3 weeks follow-up project at their premises and there is more in the pipeline :).
Q: Do you read the CCIE Flyer?
A: Yes, I read every edition
Q: What do you think of it?
A: I really like it. It is informative, has many good stories across different regions and is not technical really ;-) It is nice to read non-technical flyers as well.
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