John you have been a friend of mine for a long time now. It’s been a while since we first met at BANI (Bell Atlantic Network Integration) where I was your boss. I am happy we have remained friends and golf buddies ever since. When we had lunch with Oleg last month we realized that you have a story to tell and I was interested in helping you tell it. So thanks a whole bunch bro for letting me help you get it out.
Q: It seems like we are a part of a culture of workaholics who hide behind the fact that we love what we do until we are dead. We work our asses off and in the end we look back and lament what we did not do while we did what we did. Thankfully the next generation seems to have learned from our mistake in that regard. Do you agree?
A: As you know, everyone is different and I have worked with many people from many different backgrounds and cultures. The one common theme among them all is the desire to succeed in this field, and the methods that they choose to do this and how far they choose to go towards say, multiple certifications, is as diverse as the people themselves. As far as the workaholic culture, I still believe for the most part that the job is still based on hard work and long hours just because the job dictates it to be so. With different technologies, different customer environments, and the ever changing technologies the job doesn’t end at the close of business, it still requires a lot of personal time to stay relevant.
Q: It is unfortunate that we make what we do look easy. Others who look up to us, see that we are having fun, but the fact is we are laughing to keep from shouting or crying. Had you told others around you to slow down before 2008? How about now?
A: I have long believed in the ideology of working hard and playing hard, in some cases maybe too much so, whether it be whitewater rafting, track time on the motorcycle, horseback riding or playing guitar, there are a lot of good things out there to do where you can completely immerse yourself in the moment and forget about all the stress and issues that we sometimes keep bottled up.
There is enough stress in the work environment, which everyone deals with in their own way, and I have tried to always maintain an atmosphere where people can laugh and joke in an effort to try to keep the stress level down as much as possible.
I have always felt that it makes for a fun work environment and helps the members of your work team feel a little more like family, if you will, and more willing to work together. Sometimes I have been successful and sometimes not, as some days so many things are going on that it is hard to even break away for a second to get something to eat or go to the bathroom, and it is easy during these periods to become seriously stressed out and not even realize it.
I have always tried to advise people to have their own out, or hobby where they enjoy doing something other than sitting behind a computer or a technical paper or book. These things are obviously important to become better at what we do for a living, but it is also important to take the time to get away and blow off some steam. After all, we do work hard and strive for the successes we achieve in order to afford ourselves the opportunity to enjoy our lives and we need to take the time to do just that once in a while.
Q: When you were diagnosed with cancer it must have come as a real shock. Is this what it took for you to slowdown and reevaluate your life?
A: Unfortunately, you are probably right in that it takes something of this magnitude to realize that it can all go away tomorrow. I had lost my mother to cancer the week before I got the diagnosis that I had cancer so this was news I needed like a hole in the head and was truly a gut shot I did not need at the time. The night I got the phone call from the doctor, my wife asked who was on the phone. I told her it was the doctor and she asked “ Well, what did he say?” I told her it was time to take off my cape and tights as I am not Superman anymore.
Once the initial shock wore off, I proceeded to research the best option for me to take care of this problem, and opted for surgery in the hopes that we caught it early and get rid of it right out of the gate. Fortunately that was the case and am deemed cancer free at this time.
The one thing that stood out from the whole episode of surgery and recovery, was that during the early days of recovery, that time seemed to pass much like it did when I was very young. It seemed as if the days lasted forever and even though I was in great pain during that time, I really relished this sense of time slowing down, as it always seems that time is the one thing that I never have enough of. As far as slowing down altogether, am not certain that will ever truly happen as the days now go flying back as fast as ever and I seem to be as busy as ever, but during that period I vowed to myself that I would never let the stress of the job affect me the way I let it at times in the past and continue to do the job as best I can and control the things that I can control.
Q: What was the first thing you decided to change? Why?
A: To not let the Layers 8 and 9 of the work force bother me as much as I did before and hope to become a little more tolerant of unreasonable requests and deadlines, and to not let the stress of the job affect me, particularly self induced stress. Life is short, you might get hit by a bus tomorrow, the only thing you really need to remember is to wear clean drawers.
Q: You have a love for motorcycles this is part of the John we all know. What are you plans for riding this next season? Going anywhere special?
A: Missed the annual trip this year because of the surgery and budget constraints, but hope to take a couple short trips thru the summer and definitely hope to be flying through the Blue Ridge mountains this fall.
Q: I wrote once about how I wanted the “Rose Sniffers” to leave me alone while I worked my very contented life away. (http://www.itworld.com/career/54146/confessions-iphone-junkie) My personal approach to my professional life has changed since I last ate lunch with you and Oleg. You are someone who has been a CCIE since the very early days and I have personally witnessed you mentoring, knowledge sharing, spending time with folks on the phone (who seemed to have no clue), using the lab at work to help others understand and grasp concepts which were new, and I received feedback on how much so many people appreciated you. In the TAC there were a couple of you CCIEs who instilled in me the critical need for Mentors in the CCIE arena. My new theme called “Inspire Awe” is a direct result of what you taught me. (http://www.itworld.com/networking/59611/inspire-awe) What do you want to share with others about sharing knowledge and mentoring?
A: I have always tried to help others as much as possible and have strived to make it as easy as I possibly could to help others understand some of the complex topics we encounter, either by doing brown bag sessions or writing white papers, making presentations, or taking the time to go over with an engineer I just helped with exactly what I saw and why I did the things that I did. It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to see the light bulb go on when I see someone grasps what I am talking about or is able to tackle an issue that they didn’t have a clue about just a day or two prior. I was lucky in the early days to be in such an environment where it was recognized that for the organization and members of the organization to be successful, that lots of training, mentoring and time was necessary to develop the talent.
Q: This won’t be easy but I would like to hear about your shock and pain. Sorry but a lot of the pain we feel when we don’t go to work for any reason at all is self inflicted. In your case the process required you to come to terms with your mortality, make a decision on treatment, surgery and recovery. One thing I was very happy to learn is that you did this without Chemotherapy, often the worst part of Cancer. Can you share with us some of your personal experience?
A: As far as the shock, could not believe that I was diagnosed with cancer as I have always felt from an early age that I was invincible most times. I have gone through life, doing crazy things for the most part that put me in harms way, as I feel that that is when you are the most alive and escaping for the most part relatively unscathed. I am seldom sick or requiring a doctor.
There really was not much to tell about the pain other than this was my first surgery, I hurt like hell and I handled it about as well as the wuss that I am. It was probably the most painful episode of my life and want to thank my wife for putting up with my whining, but thankfully the recovery period was quick, relatively speaking.
Q: How hard was it to get your CCIE the 1st time? Has recertification every two years been tough?
A: The first time passing the written test I wasn’t overly shocked, and I was pleasantly surprised that I had passed, I felt ready and had studied like a fiend to ready myself and happened to get by on the skin of my teeth. The hard part was prepping for the lab, at the time, CCO was pretty new and not much information out there, there were no CCIE Press books, there was one good white paper on OSPF and anything you learned was on your own by playing in the lab. Fortunately I was dumb enough to screw up my environments badly enough that anything they threw at me on the lab I had already done to myself or worse. At the time they told you at the end of the lab whether you had passed or not and I WAS shocked that I had passed on the first attempt as that was and is still a rare occurrence.
I understand the need for recertification and grudgingly accept that I have to do it. It is a pain in the ass as my job requires me to be involved in so many areas that I feel sometimes I am becoming a generalist and not able to become really good in one area. In order to pass, I need to go into what I call “test taking mode” a month or two ahead of time. I find that I need to get in the right frame of mind for taking a test, in other words, taking the time to pay attention to the questions being asked vs. taking for granted this is what they are looking for. I also need to take the time brush up on the new concepts and technologies that are covered as well as to brush up on the things I may not have touched for some time. I usually grab some of my trusty CCIE Press books and print a boatload of whitepapers and head to the library and become a hermit for that time period.
Q: Do you read the CCIE Flyer? Do you like it?
A. I do read the Flyer and find it enjoyable, keep up the good work.
Thanks John for being my friend and remember the next round of golf is on me!