I’m Brian – Instructor, Coach, and Researcher.
I’ve worked as an engineer, architect, and manager. These roles have been as a customer, consultant, vendor, and manufacturer throughout my career. My passion has always been learning about new technology and sharing what I learned with others.
I have earned and maintained the following certifications: Below are some of the certifications that I have earned and maintained today.
My formal education began in the late 1980s when I attended the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where I earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. In 2013, I obtained a Master of Science in Information Assurance with a concentration in Digital Forensics and Incident Response Management from Norwich University, all while working full-time at Cisco Systems.
Early in my career, I realized the importance of certifications. I began my journey in networking by working with Novell NetWare, where I earned several certifications: Certified NetWare Engineer (CNE), Enterprise CNE (ECNE), and Certified NetWare Instructor (CNI). Additionally, I spent a year as a full-time contract NetWare instructor.
I earned the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) certification in 1997 after 18 months of rigorous study and preparation. This certification opened up numerous employment opportunities for me. My employer challenged me to build a team of CCIEs, which tested my teaching and team-building skills. As a result, I successfully developed a team of five professionals, all of whom also achieved CCIE status.
After accepting a job at Cisco Systems in 1998, I found the company where I would spend most of my career. I started in Sales and then transitioned to various roles in Corporate, Engineering, and Product Management. I briefly left in 2014 to serve as a Senior Solution Architect at Lancope, but I returned to Cisco just 14 months later when the company was acquired.
In 2020, after 24 years of employment, I retired from my full-time position to focus on training and content development.