Serena Ramovecchiby Eman |
When I travel I enjoy the opportunity to speak with the Network Academy students in various places around the world. I have not been to Italy yet but I have my fingers crossed! In my work I have reached out to countless CCIEs and I have had many contact me directly. Back in August, “Inspire Awe, the Women of the CCIE Flyer” issue had some great response. One of the CCIEs who responded was Serena CCIE #24052 from Rome. Serena has an interesting story to share so I thought I would start out with this information from the Network Academy Advantage website.
Serena Ramovecchi(http://www.netacadadvantage.com/afterNetAcad_serena.htm)
From Teaching UNIX To Working With Networks, Via Networking Academy
Serena Ramovecchi is now a Network Security Engineer at BT-Italy Global Services in Rome, but still finds time to teach at the networking academy that made her current career possible.
A Professor Who Wanted To Learn More
When Serena first became interested in Cisco training in the Networking Academy program, she was certainly no ICT novice, and she had even been a professor at Rome's Tor Vergata university."I was teaching a UNIX course,"she explains,"when I met a Networking Academy manager that described the academy, Cisco certifications and the possibility to take a course to become Cisco instructor."But why the interest in training as a Networking Academy instructor when she already taught IT?"I was becoming increasingly interested in networks. Networking is something so interesting to me, because of the variety of technologies, protocols and vendors involved, so you never stop learning. It's a world that's changing every day, and Cisco is the world leader,"she explains.
Switching To Networks
Serena enrolled at the ELIS Cisco Networking Academy Training Centre in her native city of Rome in 2003, got down to work and didn't look back. Amongst some of the several courses she successfully completed were the Cisco Certified Network Associate Routing & Switching (CCNA), Securing Cisco Network Devices (SND) and Cisco Express Foundation Sales Specialist. With a background in both teaching and IT, Serena was acutely awareness of the value of the courses she was taking."The program is useful because it provides all the instruments that you need to learn and practise what you study in theory, and is a good start before field experience."That field experience was to come two years later when Serena took full advantage of her Cisco certifications to become a Network Security Engineer at the large service provider, BT-Italy Global Services in October 2005.
Woman-To-Woman Advice
Despite her busy career, Serena still finds time to both teach and study at the ELIS NetAcad, and is hoping to take her CCIE Security and CCIE R&S exams in 2009. Her advice to women seeking to join the world of ICT is"don't underestimate yourself". She adds:"Although I was always one of the few women at university, on my courses and in my job, I have never been discriminated against."
(Reposted from http://www.netacadadvantage.com/afterNetAcad_serena.htm)
Serena’s story is an inspiration not just to other women but to Network Academy students in general.
Q: Serena I am happy you reached out to me with your positive feedback on the CCIE Flyer. I was especially pleased to read about your story. Can you tell us what made you select Information Technology as a focus for your early career?
A: Information Technology is something you can’t do without in 2000’s and I was so interested of new Technologies that when I had to choose University career I decided to study and work in this field
Q: You began teaching UNIX courses so you must be a strong CLI advocate. Do you like PC or MAC?
A: yes, you’re right I love CLI like every ‘technic-inside’ and I’m bored for GUIs so you can answer by yourself :D
Q: The population of women in IT is small compared to men in the United States and in many countries. is it the same for Italy?
A: Yes, in Italy this difference is much more evident than other countries. At university I was the only women with 2 or 3 other girls in many courses vs 30 boys; when I became a Cisco teacher in my classes I found no women or one per course and during the first lesson with a new class the students were surprised to see a woman teaching such networking arguments; at work I was the only women in the 5 people team. When I worked in software as programmer and analyst there were much more women than in networking. But in the last two year I've seen women number increasing and I think it'll increase in future.
Q: In a male dominated industry have you had to prove yourself as a technical expert more aggressively than a man would?
A: I think that the strenght of a woman is not aggressivity so I never tried to affirm myself 'fighting ' with men
Q: What do you think about your lab experience in relation to the new trend towards more Open Ended Questions and their impact on a candidate passing or failing?
A: I think that this new trend will a little discriminate Italian candidates because of the language. Now there isn’t an official translation for Italian people so often there are some misunderstandings in questions interpretation, maybe that candidates that are very smart in technical arguments are not so with English, this kind of Italian candidates will have a disadvantage.
Q: There are many training options on the market. What preparation tools and training did you take to be ready for the Lab? Did you pass the first time?
A: I used Internetwork Expert to rent online pods for Lab exercitation and the workbooks because I found they have the best study material for CCIE in the market. Yes, I passed the first time! I’m lucky
Q: In my travels I meet many young women looking for an opportunity to advance their careers through Cisco certifications. In some cultures they are fighting against cultural bonds to advance their goals. What do you say to other women about their decision to pursue Cisco certifications as a professional goal?
A: If your country culture has such bonds..fight and not surrender! and if you think that certification can help ..do it! But is not certification what makes you professional, you have to demonstrate your skill also without certification working seriously day by day with your collegues. About CCIE exam I wanna say that was for me a great satisfaction to reach the goal, studying for this exam gave new stimuli to me.
Q: You are out there in the daily grind of working in your chosen profession. Looking back would you add or subtract any of the experience?
A: I’m not the person that thinks about changing her past! In my future I hope I’ll succeed adding new certifications and new professional challenges, maybe in Voice or other technologies.
Q: The economic recovery is slow in most parts of the world. How has it affected you and do you feel better about your decision to be a CCIE because of it?
A: You guess right! When the crisis became evident I decided to use my holidays and evening to increase my certification level to be ready in the evenience of work loose or such situation. Unfortunately, in Italy networking career is much slow than other countries so having this title doesn’t guarantee that you can increase your career but makes you determined not to remain jobless!
Q: Are you considering a second CCIE certification?
A: Not by now but maybe when I’ll have to recertify the one I have!
Q: I would like to give you a chance to open your thoughts up to our readers now. Do you have message for them?
A: Do what you do because you are interested on it, not only because you think that the market will request it to you…Networking changes and in the next few years we’ll have to learn other technologies, in this field we are always ‘late’ ..if you don’t really like this career..you risk to nauseate yourself and begin dreaming of becoming a cook or a farmer Choose this career if you’re conscious of it’s continuous transformation.
Q: Do you read the CCIE Flyer?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you like it?
A: Yes, is interesting reading about other worldwide CCIE experiences
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