106: Why 2026 Is the BEST Year to Become A Network Engineer

Meter: Visit https://meter.com/itcareer to book a demoIf you want to become a network engineer in 2026, this video offers a reality check, emphasizing that nobody's telling you about the full scope of responsibilities.It highlights the importance of both technical knowledge and business acumen for a successful career in networking.This content provides essential job skills and career development insights for those looking to advance in information technology, especially in network admin roles.🔗 Don’t wait—click here to start your tech career journey: https://thebeardeditdad.com/itcareeraccelerator/Exclusive Career Resources✅ Weekly Insider Tips: https://thebeardeditdad.ck.page/55f710292b🎧Listen to The I.T. Career Podcast HERE: ➡︎YT: https://itdad.info/ytpodcast➡︎Apple: https://apple.co/4aw0uVM➡︎Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3yBcrfuDisclaimer: Some of these links are affiliate links where I'll earn a small commission if you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.#networking #networkengineer #ad

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
If you want to become a network engineer in 2026, here's the
part that nobody's telling you about.
We still have an obligation to the business and and more more
times than not, depending on your role, you're either going
to be a strictly, strictly technical person or you're going
to act as a liaison per SE. Today's episode is going to be a
complete reality check in the best way possible.

(00:21):
Everybody wants to jump 5678 steps with people don't and it's
the status, you know, look, I'm not trying to insulting, but
like the network a wordy. How do you think everything
connects right like those AI servers and all those specific,
you know, AI or genetic databaselike how do you think that all
connects? I'm joined by Gerard Cavalinus,
someone who's lived every side of the industry.

(00:43):
Help desk, cabling, system admin, networking,
cybersecurity, all of it, and the road map he lays out in this
episode. Honestly, this is the blueprint
I wish I had when I first started.
We get into the hard truth aboutwhy beginners are struggling,
what software and networking skills actually matter in 2026,

(01:04):
and why soft skills might be still the thing that separates
the pros from everyone else trying to get a job.
And also we tackle how AI is changing the field without
replacing all the people in it. That's a secret.
I don't have some magic trick orI don't have a magic pill to
just take it and all my problemsare solved.
No, it's just, it's just, we have to.

(01:26):
If you're feeling overwhelmed, confused, or just trying to
figure out where to even start in this industry, this
conversation with Gerard is exactly what you need.
Let's dive into it. Thank you for taking the time to
hop on and join us today. Do you mind taking a few minutes
and kind of telling everyone whoyou are and what you do for a
living? The pleasure is all mine.
We haven't done this since Ciscolive and we gotta we gotta do

(01:48):
this way more often that. Wasn't even last year's.
That wasn't even last year's Cisco Live.
That was two years ago. That's what I'm saying and, and,
and I feel like that episode I, I still to this day, and I
appreciate you giving me the same opportunity then as you've
given me now. It, it reached so many people.
I got so many emails and people following up like, Hey, your
episode really like introduced me.
I just had somebody connect withme on LinkedIn last Friday was

(02:11):
like, hey, I watched your episode of the you know, the
bearded IT dad of and you guys were discussing everything and
it was awesome. So like, seriously, thank you
for the opportunity. But we got to do this more
often. Life, life just keeps lifing and
getting in the way brother. I hear ya.
But for those that know me, those that don't know me, I am
Gerard Cavalinis. I'm the founder of Tech House
57-O We make. I'm one of many IT content

(02:33):
creators in this spectacular andfabulous community.
I'm also a full time network andsecurity engineer for Aqueduct
Technologies. We're an MSP.
We manage a ton of clients so I have many years of experience
starting from help desk, IT administrator, system admin,
network and systems engineer, you name it, I've done it.
Jack of all trades master and none can be found wherever books

(02:54):
are sold, so super happy to be here.
Awesome and thank you again. If you guys really if you want
to check out the interview we did at Cisco live, you know,
going more into your story and how you got broke into, you
know, the industry. I'll make sure and link it down
in the description below. It was an amazing episode and I
wanted to dive right into the meat and potatoes of why we're
here today. You know you you've been in

(03:14):
networking for some time now. What is?
What is one thing that you wish you learned early on and you
know that you wish someone wouldtold you from day one?
Well, I could tell you as someone who's still trying to so
I think about a little bit for COVID hit right.
And and to be fair, between everything going on, I haven't
I've I've been a bad kid, I've been a bad guy.

(03:35):
I've been neglected a little bit.
But one, one thing, you know, inmy years of experience and still
growing that I'm still getting stronger with this network
automation, that's number one. Network automation has been
something I've been dabbling in,you know, to add to my arsenal
the last few years on and off. But it's something that if
again, if I had knew that automation and AI more so was
going to take off the way it was, I definitely think that
would be one more area I would have focused on a little bit

(03:56):
heavier. But obviously, like I tell
everybody numero Uno, before youstart using all the cool words
and AI and agentic AI and automation and cybersecurity,
and I want to do this, you have to learn the fundamentals,
right? It doesn't, I'm not saying
enough to take a help desk job or take a wiring.
You have to have a ground foundation, a solid baseline

(04:19):
foundation of technology and IT as a whole.
So you could build upon that andtell a story, right?
And I'll give you an example hashas, you know, Dakota said,
watch that initial episode. It's great.
But the short of the long story is that I started doing help
desk and the reason I did that is in the beginning, I just love
fixing computers, growing my skills, so on and so forth.
What I didn't realize was years later, how that would be so

(04:40):
pivotal and so important to me to help guide me to all these
other roles, right? Like being a System
Administrator, learning the server side, learning the backup
side there each layer. So then from that, the end user
who turns on that machine or connects that device to the
network, to the network layer there and troubleshooting there
and everything in between, you have a more thorough
understanding and it makes you become a way stronger IT

(05:01):
professional, in my opinion, or engineer or whatever role you,
you know, you may want to do today.
It's very common. We're seeing people just jump
those, you know, 5-6 steps. I think they don't, you know,
want to maybe necessarily learn the skills, but maybe they might
have access to the resources, but you can't take shortcuts.
The shortcuts are only going to lead you right down in the
sewer. So it's just, it's absolutely

(05:22):
that's it. You just got to, you got to stay
with it, stay, learn the foundation pieces and then grow
from there. The second thing that I would
say and part of my part of my French, but if I could go back
and learn is cloud networking because even today I am fucking
weak in cloud networking. Like I, like I know of it, you
know, AWS, Azure, but like my strengths in it or like, you

(05:42):
know, that's just one of those things where I will, you'll
never hear me say I'm an expert at cloud networking.
And it was really cool because I'm sure as most of the
community knows, Megaport had a really awesome event just about
a week or so ago. Lexus was hosting on cloud,
cloud networking and it was justspectacular, right?
Like obviously I did the beginner track, but there is,
you know, an intermediate and a more advanced level.
But it, it's awesome to really dive in and there are resources

(06:05):
out there that are going to helpyou with learning cloud
networking. But those would be my 2 areas.
If you're just getting into IT, you want to be an engineer
systems network. Those are two areas to
definitely focus on because they're going to take you down a
multitude of great paths and andreally help you grow your
skills. That there is such a powerful
answer and let's just keep on going.
You know, you got to learn how to walk before you run.

(06:28):
You have to have a strong foundation, those foundational
skills. You know you have to understand
how everything else works so youcan understand how they
communicate over the network foryou.
How did you learn those initial skills?
What did you do to prepare for your first job in the industry?
Yeah, I mean, so fixing imputerswas one of those.

(06:51):
I mean, so let's go back a bit, right?
I've told this story, I've recounted it so many times, but
it's it's it's the truth. My ass got in trouble because
it's pretty just like my kids. I wasn't listening.
And when I wasn't listening, I, you know, I had to go down.
I had to clean that basement out.
When I cleaned the basement out,I found 2 old like Pentium
machines and I started making this like Franken computer and
it was also like a Dell Inspiron, I don't remember, it

(07:13):
was like a 5100. And I just started tinkering
right? Like that's how I really got my
first taste of like oh wow, likethis is really cool.
And you could build stuff and learning like what the hardware
is, the software. Like I'd get on the computer,
learn about all the components and things of that nature.
And then once I built that computer, I remember my mouse
saying you know, you could do this for a living and I said I
could. So I found out, you know, a year
later I could go to a vocationalschool, apply the skills I

(07:35):
learned, at least I thought I knew.
And then, you know, have an instructor teach me.
And I just grew my career out from there, right?
You know, I, I finished vo tech,finished high school, went to
college and I kept taking roles as preferably in retail because
retail is a little more flexible, a lot easier.
Plus fun note, I use those jobs as like my paid internships.
So I was actually nice getting paid.

(07:56):
And then, you know, work for Geek Squad and Circuit City and
all those places. And then in those roles, it's
just you have to stay hungry, right?
Like I've always told people, you got to stay hungry.
You can never be complacent in any industry, but especially in
IT. It's changing.
You got to be, you know, with it.
And one thing I did was I had toredo the network drops at one of
my, you know, jobs I was at and I remember doing that.

(08:16):
And then that way I was really learning how to make Ethernet
cables, how to get better at it,how to get faster, what a switch
was, what a hub was, what a router was like.
That's where that's a really piqued my interest in the
networking. And I also fun fact, I tried
programming while I was in college for my associates
sucked. I was terrible at it.
Kudos to coders, programmers, and this was prefer like by
coding and all of that. Like this was just full on like

(08:39):
JavaScript, C++. Like I couldn't, I just didn't.
I needed to physically be touching the, the hardware
troubleshooting. So that's where really my love
of networking just grew. And then each role, as I, as I
said, you know, earlier, previously, it just gave me that
opportunity, right? Like we're from help desk did
the, you know, it administrator role, which was like a Jack of
all trades. And then I got into being a

(09:00):
network technician running cables like, like, and that was
still we were doing, you know, we had the punch downs and, you
know, the lacrosse connects and having to trace everything out.
Like each one of those roles gave me another layer and a
foundation to the point where I'm at now has a network and
security engineer. You know, I'm fortunate that I
know I get to bring all those years of experience to the
table, but also in a leadership role, right, Because I've been

(09:20):
on more than just a technical stuff.
I've been, you know, the guy who's green behind the ears and
who kind of, you know, messes a cable run up.
But you get your your slap in the head and someone's like, OK,
here, here we go. Let's let's try this again,
right. But it not in a not in a
derogatory negative way, but in a way where you can grow, you
know, because I think that was also one of the things too that

(09:40):
no, not a lot of people talk about.
Some of us know like we're old school brother, but a lot of
people don't know, you know, there was a lot of safeguarding
that used to happen in IT because like older SIS admins,
no offense to anybody, but that's what it was.
They did not want to share thoseskills.
They didn't want to because they're like, well, you're not
going to be better than me and take my job and.
It used to be. Yeah, it used to be.

(10:01):
Super gatekeepy, you know, And it was rough back in the day,
especially like the early days. You know, you couldn't just go
on to a forum and ask questions,you know, You get, you know,
people telling you to go read the manual in a lot.
Not a lot less. Nicer of a way too.
That's that's for no lack of better term.
And again, there wasn't an therewas the community like we have

(10:23):
to like there wasn't Google, like there was a Myspace, there
wasn't all that stuff. So, you know, I always promised
like, and that's a muscle big part of why I started to content
years ago and so on and so forthis that I always said that if I,
you know, if I'm fortunate, bless, I'm going to get that
level. I'm not going to do that.
And I don't, you know, that's why when I get opportunities to
sit with my friends and I'm alsoseasoned pros like you, brother,

(10:44):
like we're here to share this, you know, like this knowledge
that's, that's in there, you know, it's it, what are we going
to do with it? You know, we're going to retire
one day. Like I'd rather the next
generation of network engineers and IT professionals or people
trying to get into IT, or even just those who want better, you
know, study habits, skill habits, life habits.
Like I want to help them and just pour out that knowledge to

(11:04):
them because like I said, we can't take it with us.
So that's that's, that's really important.
You know, I was just at a seminar this week and that was
one topic and, you know, we brought up in one group
discussion is that, you know, wehave all this tribal knowledge,
all this, this knowledge that isleaving the workforce.
You know, people are retiring. They're, you know, either going

(11:26):
after different jobs, you know, things change, but I feel like
networking really hasn't had that strong push in a long time.
You know, everyone wants to be into cybersecurity, everyone
wants to get into AI, but I feellike the days of the cool, sexy
network engineer are gone. And we're going to, I've, I

(11:51):
really feel that we're going to come up to a big dilemma because
let's be honest, how do all those AI servers connect over a
network? The, the need for network
engineers, I feel is going to grow exponentially over the next
couple of years. And I feel like we probably
don't necessarily have the workforce to fill those vacant

(12:12):
jobs. Well, brother, that's, that's,
that's why we, we got to do the thing because we'll always make
it cool and sexy, you know? But no, but, but all the jokes
aside, like, yeah. And that's a big thing.
And it goes back to what we weresaying, you know, before we, we
were getting into this. Is that everybody wants to jump
5678 steps. What people don't and it's to
say this, you know, look, I'm not trying to insulting but like

(12:34):
the network, where do you how doyou think everything connects
right? Like those AI servers and all
those specific, you know, AI or genetic database like how do you
think that all connects through the network everything runs
through the network in one capacity or another and
everything in between. That's never going to change.
I think I think the biggest thing and having such strong
people like myself, you, you know, Kevin Alexis and our

(12:56):
network engineering, like all these different contract
creators and also more importantly, seasoned IT
professionals in their own respective right in regard.
They share those knowledge and insight in different ways.
But the end, the end goal is still the same, right?
Because network engineering is awesome and there may not be as
many network engineers, but people still need to have those
foundational skills. You know, early in my career I
used to measure my value by how quickly I could put out fires.

(13:19):
You know, be the hero, restore the Wi-Fi, chase the ISPs, you
name it. But over time I really started
to realize that careers move faster when you spend less time
troubleshooting and hurting vendors and on the phone with
support and more time building systems, automations,

(13:40):
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(14:03):
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(14:26):
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(14:47):
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Now let's dive back into this weeks episode.

(15:07):
Right. You need to know where the
cabling is. You need to know if it's a layer
one, layer 2 issue. You need to you need to
understand you could just be a cybersecurity analysts driving a
Maserati like it doesn't work like that.
And I know, you know, for I knowabout show my age here, but
those who remember hackers, you know, everybody wanted to hack
the planet. But again, I, I look, I was one
of them. I wanted to be 0 Cool, OK, I

(15:28):
was, you know, I wanted to hack,but the reality was is like
everything they were doing was over the network.
I didn't learn that until years later, like once I really
started getting into this. So I think again, just like
everything else, like getting those soft skills, getting the
experiences all well and good and you can achieve those roles,
but you need to understand firsthow it all processes and it goes
through the network, so. Absolutely.

(15:50):
And, you know, and while the thenetworking field and what a
network engineer is, does is constantly evolving and you
know, again, you know, there there's always, you know, not to
kind of beat on my own drum or, you know, beat a dead horse,
whatever phrase you want to say.But you know, AI is changing

(16:11):
things every single day. And while it's not, I don't feel
like it's going to be taking jobs, it's going to change the
jobs we have. The network engineer of today
looks totally different than five years ago.
You know, the technology is constantly evolving and you have
to continue to learn and evolve with it as the industry evolves.

(16:33):
And I want to ask you, what is one thing you feel people get
wrong about what network engineers actually do today
versus, you know, what the the thought of what we do?
So I think one of the things that's really, and it's funny
because you see a lot of like memes and stuff about it.
It's like what my mom thinks I do, what my sister thinks I do,

(16:54):
and then what I actually do. I think most people today think
being a network engineer is likelocking down the world from
Skynet in a, in a, in a roundabout, like joking way,
right? Like, you know, we have such a
high level, but the truth of thematter is, is why we still work
at that high level. We also still have to deal with
a lot of the monotonous day-to-day stuff that everyone
else does, right? Some technical, some not.

(17:16):
We still have to schedule those conference calls, draft change
management and reason for changetickets.
We have to make sure all the stars are aligned.
We have to make sure proper precautions are taken care of.
But I think more so from a technical perspective, I think
that, yeah, it's generally changed, right?
Like a lot of people still think, you know, you have to go
in and, you know, console into each, switch your router and

(17:38):
firewall and configure everything.
And it's not. That goes back to the automation
piece. And I think it's incredible with
Ansible, Python, you know, the, the, the insane amount of
scaling that you can do. And I think it's really cool,
especially with like SD Wan architecture and things of that
nature. It's what we're capable to do is
to be able to scale like that. We'll be able to scale in an
instance and kind of change how many routers or if we need, you

(18:00):
know, an additional like two or three layer 3 switches in there
to kind of, or, or just even, you know, reconfiguring how, how
we set up redundancy. Like there's just a multitude of
ways with the technology we haveon how we could scale businesses
and and really large or medium sized organizations.
But a few years ago you could still scale, but it took a lot
more, you know, elbow grease andit took a lot more foot power

(18:20):
and manpower to do that. So it's really cool to see how
that's changed. But I think overall the general
feel is that network engineeringis is is less manpower, more
automated. And as long as we leverage those
tools, that's also a big consensus out consensus outside
of automation is like, well, yeah, it's going to take our
jobs. It's not it's here to leverage
what we're already doing and to make that technology better.

(18:42):
It's to try to make things even more 0 air proof, if that makes
sense. No one 100% and you know, I but
I want to dive into like the actual skills that you feel
that's going to start moving thekneel for people that are
looking to break in. And in your opinion, like if you
were to look at your career growth just over the last few
years, what skills, you know, technical or maybe not

(19:04):
technical, have made the biggestdifference in where you are
today? Well, I could say #1
technically, as I said, network automation is one of the many
things I'm still adding to my arsenal of tools, right?
Like I'm pretty, I'm OK at it, but I'm not as strong as I want
to be. So definitely going into 2026,
that's at the top of my list. Cloud networking has, I said I
have a OK, I'm out of experience, like pretty, you

(19:26):
know, bare bones, but I don't not enough to even remotely
begin to say I'm an expert. So that's one area that we're
seeing constant growth. Another thing that I would tell
people outside of the technical arena is that, you know, having
soft skills and more show and more.
So developing strong leadership qualities is important, right?
You may not be a team lead, you may not be, you know, you may
not have that title, but you still need to be a pivotal point

(19:49):
because at the end of the day, too, most people don't realize
outside of the whatever your IT,you know, job and role and
responsibility is, we still havean obligation to the business.
And, and more, more times than not, depending on your rule,
you're either going to be a strictly, strictly technical
person or you're going to act asa liaison per SE, right?
So you're going to be that, thatliaison between the tech side of
the business side. And you need to be able to kind

(20:10):
of take those technical problemsand or issues that, you know,
we're going to face that on. But you need to be able to kind
of reword those and restructure that for the business side of
the house so they understand howurgent the needs are and more So
what those needs are. So I would say.
Automation, cloud networking 100% must and non-technical, I
would definitely say having strong soft skills and

(20:30):
leadership qualities because those are just things you're not
seeing. Again, I don't think it's it's,
it's a direct, you know, reflection of everybody.
I know some some look some people at the end of the day, we
have introverts, extroverts, everybody has different
personality type. But I think in those roles, when
you face those technical challenges head on, they're
going to, they're going to life's going to, you know,
really challenge you. It's going to kick you in the

(20:51):
ass and you're going to you're going to rise, you're going to
fall. If you can rise above it, that's
that's what you want to strive for, because not only that, you
take something away from that and you have something to
contribute for it, not just to yourself, but more so your team.
So those would be the four things I would say just in
general for any IT professional,especially network engineers
going into you know the next year and if four were to really
focus on. You know, that is great.

(21:13):
And you know, one thing that gets brought up time and time
again when people are looking tobreak into the industry is
certifications. And certifications definitely
play a big role in networking. You know, talking from
experience. You know, back in high school I
actually took the Cisco CCNA certification.
And yeah. Yeah.

(21:34):
And then later on, you know, I've, I've taken numerous other
certifications in my career, butI also feel like there's people
put too much weight sometimes oncertifications and not so much
on the other skills evolved. And you know, one thing you
mentioned is soft skills. Soft skills play a huge role.

(21:55):
But before we really dive into like what certifications you
should consider, I want to stilldive a little bit more into like
certifications just make up the small piece of the pie, you
know, a small piece of the puzzle.
Let's, let's, let's fill in the gaps.
What else do you need other thancertifications before you start
applying for jobs? So one thing that I would say is

(22:21):
before we start and I, and I'm going to borrow a line that a
great friend of mine, he's stilla colleague of mine, told me
he's like, right. Listen, at the end of the day,
you know, I have my CCIE and don't get me wrong, it is a huge
milestone as a huge accomplishment and achievement
in in my life. But you know, it's not the end
all be all in the sense that when I die, you know, it's could
get put on my gravestone. You know what?

(22:42):
There's some hardcore CCI. ES out there don't.
Get me right? Don't, don't, don't get me
wrong, you know, it is an astronaut, but it's just shit,
shit. When he said that to me, I was
like, well, when I get one, I'llprobably go.
I put it on everything. That's just me though.
But you know what? Like shoot, being serious, like
I think that's the biggest thing.
I've look, I've been in roles where certifications are here's

(23:05):
here's how I can, I'm thinking how to wear this certifications,
while they 200,000% are are, youknow, astronomically important
in your career and you're more so professional growth.
They're not the end all be all. They're not going to decide how
great of a network or or systemsor whatever engineer you are,
right, Like you can put stock into those certifications and it
is very vital and important. Like it's a it's a test like

(23:26):
anything else. But there have been times and
I'm not going to, but I've had rules.
I've had, you know, places in, in now where I'm at now.
Now I've, I'm so fortunate because I'm such a great
organization, but I've had otherplaces in my career where it's
like, well, if you can't pass that, you know, like you're
pretty much like, yeah, you know, and if that's not true,
and I know there are some placesout there like that, but one
thing, one thing that's really important is that we need to

(23:47):
make sure that we don't devalue what an engineer does in the
skill set or their knowledge. Look, you could be a solid,
phenomenal technical asset to any organization and be a really
crappy test taker that that's OK.
I'm a horrible test taker, but I'm a great engineer.
So you have to take that and look, you get get knocked off
the horse, you got to get back on.
And that's how that persistency is what's going to help you
pass. But that's just one thing I want

(24:10):
to because there are a lot of places where people like, man, I
didn't pass it. So that makes me a shit engineer
or shit. That's not true at all.
It's not it just it's just some people are stronger in those
areas than others. You are still a phenomenal
engineers. Don't forget that.
But those, those are, those are some of the things that at least
in that area, I would focus on. So again, I've said this
multiple times, outside of just soft skills, some of the areas

(24:33):
you need to focus on are learn it.
Listen, I, I, I live and die by lab, lab, lab, lab every day
has, you know, that our great friend Duan Duan once said,
lady, I lab every day. Duan, you know, he started that
movement as the truth. I live and I live and breathe
that that's it. You know, some people may not
have access to gear if they're getting rid of.
And I tell people this all the time, no matter what role you're

(24:53):
in #1 be hungry. So if you know, if you're, you
know, a junior analyst or help desk in a help desk role, an
individual you know, and you know the network system
engineers are going to have someafter hours work, ask if you
could shadow. You may not get paid for it, but
you are getting paid in knowledge and experience and
that's just invaluable. So #1 take that number two.
More often than not, sometimes if you're lucky, you know, eBay,

(25:15):
you can get some really solid steals on, you know, servers,
gear, router, switches, firewall.
So more often than not, sometimes after those cutovers,
they're getting rid of those right or they've got end of
life. So those are perfect
opportunities to be like, Hey, I'll take those that we can get
some physical hand on, hands on experience, you know, actually
configuring the hardware, setting it up and having maybe
your own mini lab CML, great resource.

(25:37):
Also just want to note, I'm not plugging this stuff.
It's just these are the tools that I currently use.
Love CMLCML is so powerful and gives you such incredible
resources without having the factual, the the power
consumption that you have to worry about, right?
So sometimes maybe a physical lab isn't the best way to go,
but you can go with CML and lab out.
A lot of these topologies lab out especially it's great for

(25:57):
or, you know, existing engineers.
If you're doing build outs within your customers
environment, you want to have like a, a mini proof of concept,
if you will, and then you kind of test everything out, fail
stuff over. You could see how it all works
before you actually deploy it inreal time.
The second thing though, I, I would definitely say is when
you're building your resume and,and there's a way you could wear
this, you know, obviously you'renot going to put, I have a home

(26:18):
lab on my, on my resume. I don't, I don't think it would
cut it. But if you put like, you know,
if you word it a little more professionally, like I, I
designed, you know, a small homenetwork and I had this project,
you know, if you frame it in a different way, that's also
additional experience. You could, you know, add to your
toolbox when you're trying to goand apply for these roles or if
you're in an existing entry level role, that's the kind of

(26:40):
stuff that's going to help you get to the next level.
But outside of labbing and and and staying hungry, I tell
everybody you got to be focused.You got to bring it, you got to
go ahead and you have to have that that will in that drive and
desire to want to move to the next level or you're going to be
stuck where you're at. Let's circle back around to the
certification side of the equation because, you know, I, I
just think it is, it is so useful and can you don't need

(27:02):
certifications to break into this industry whatsoever, but
they do help open drawers. And one thing before we start
talking about certifications, I want to clear up some
misconceptions a lot of people have on them.
A lot of people think if they get a certification, that's all
they need to land a job. And what we've already talked
about is no, that is not, that is not the end all be all.
That does not get you the job. What certifications help do is

(27:26):
prove that you actually know theknowledge that you're saying you
know on your resume. And they help open up the door
to potential interviews. That is what certifications I
think really do for people is they open up the door to get
your get you into that interview.
Once you're in that interview, it is up to you to prove it to

(27:47):
that hiring manager or that panel interview, all those
people that you actually know what you think, what you're
saying, you know, that you actually have the drive to learn
things because it's not always about the hard skills.
Let's be honest, you know, you, you've mentioned soft fields.
We've already touched on that several times.
I I can tell you that most of the jobs I've applied for and

(28:09):
gotten, I was never the most qualified candidate.
You know, I was actually probably sometimes the least
qualified candidate. But let me ask you, let me ask
you real quick on that. I mean, what, what do you feel
years later going into specific roles and things and those
interviews you went to the interview, gave 200% and he
walked away, got the job or whatever may happen.
What do you think? If I could turn the tables, what

(28:31):
do you think it was that made was a differentiator in you
getting that role outside of your peers?
I can tell you because I straight up asked the hiring
manager. I asked my manager, why did you
pick me? I know I wasn't the most
qualified person and in my current role, I'm a director of
network operations for an ISP and I got hired on as a Noctech

(28:52):
and I asked them why did you pick me and he's told me you
weren't the most qualified candidate.
We had people with college educations with bachelors
degrees. We had one person that was upset
that they didn't get the job because they didn't think there
is anyone more qualified for theposition than them.
The reason I chose you is because I could see you had that

(29:13):
drive, that determination. I could see you had those people
skills and that you would be a good fit with the team.
I can teach you all the skills, everything you need to learn.
I can't teach you how to be a good team player, how to work
well with others. You know, and especially when
you're going for a small organization, you really have to

(29:37):
think about those things. You know, a larger organization,
they, I might focus more on the technical skills than the soft
skills because you tend to be, Idon't want to say more
replaceable, but you're, you're,you're a smaller piece of the
puzzle. When you go for jobs at those
smaller organizations where you're more than likely going to
be wearing more than one hat, having to work with more than

(29:59):
one team, do multiple things, that makes a pretty big
difference. And both of the jobs they, they
called that out. And then, you know, again, I, I,
I showed my drive, I showed my passion, I talked about my home
labs and I even have a story about an interview I went to, we

(30:20):
can dive into really quick. Where I went for my very first
job in the tech industry was an IT support specialist.
In my first interview, I asked at the my, you know, you know,
how they wrap it up. They're like, is there any, you
know, any questions you have forus?
And I said yes. Is there anything I can do
between now and potentially the next step or the next time we

(30:42):
meet that would make me a more eligible candidate?
Yeah, I hope. Everybody's listening.
These are some serious tips because like, you just hit the
nail right on the head. That's awesome.
And the hiring manager said, actually, yes.
So we use a lot of Cisco Meraki gear and Syscam Rocky has a deal
right now. They don't do this anymore, but

(31:03):
they used to where if you attendone of their webinars and sign
up, they will actually send you a free piece of equipment with a
license and everything to use it.
So I didn't even leave the parking lot and I went and
signed up for as many pieces of equipment as I could.
I got a firewall, I got a switch, I got an AP and I
attended those webinars, learnedwhat I need to learn.

(31:26):
They sent me the hardware and you know, it all arrives and a
few weeks after that I actually got a call for another
interview. So I go for the interview and
the first thing, as soon as we sit down, I say, hey, I just
wanted to let you know, I actually went out and got all
that CISCOM Rocky gear and I have my whole home network
running through it. I've actually learned how it all

(31:46):
works. I've configured it.
I've integrated into my home laband like I could tell like right
then and there, like no one elsethat he talked to had gone and
done this and like that was like.
Cuz you're hungry, right? Yeah, you're hungry.
So showing that, you know, you don't wanna come off cocky, you

(32:08):
don't wanna come off overconfident, but showing that
willingness to learn, that hunger, it goes a long way.
And I'm going to hop off my soapbox and give you a chance to
talk. Here, No, no, listen, I but
that's what it is. Humility goes a long way.
And everything you just talked to me is just, it was just, it
was just a neat little bowl around everything that I've been
saying, right, like, because at the end of the day, you could be

(32:29):
and look, and it's not, I will not knocking on anybody with
there's the reason there's introverts, extroverts,
everybody has a different personality type, right?
It's OK, But that's why certain roles are better.
Like if you want to challenge yourself and you want to push
yourself, if you're not a strongtalker, I'm not saying you can
go in front of, you know, fifty 100,000 people, but it, it, it
doesn't matter how technically astute you are.

(32:50):
If you can't have a basic level conversation.
It's hard for some people. I get that.
And there's, there's ways to do that.
There's like, you know, talking techniques and videos and it's
just you have to be willing to step in more so jump outside of
your comfort zone and just you got to dive right in.
And once you do that, then eventually over time, you know,
it's like a sink or swim, but mentally, you know, and I feel
like a majority, if not all the people that work in this

(33:11):
industry have a strong will strong.
You know, good head on their shoulders.
That's what it is. You have to take that first
jump. But once you take it, don't look
back, You know, you go forward, take a deep breath.
Once you have that first conversation, that'll lead to
the next one and the next one and the next one, and then
eventually just starts becoming second nature.
Because I think a lot of things too, as it goes to confidence in
our mental health, which that's a whole other thing.

(33:31):
But mental health is important. You got to, you know, don't beat
up on yourself. It goes back for the
certification thing. Listen, at the end of the day,
shit happens. We're going to fail, but it's
it's what do you do after the failure?
That's what really helps us like, determine like what we're
going to do next. And you know, I want to get back
to the certification talk because I kept on saying that
we're going to dive into it. And I just want to ask you.
So for someone starting out, let's say they have very basic

(33:55):
next to no skills and they want a certification to start
studying. What is the certification you
are telling them to go get? See, So what it you, what it
used to be for me is a few yearsback, if you were to ask me that
same question, I would have saidno, mind you, mind you, I'm
stepping back. I am someone I have like the
legacy A+, right? Like I remember 1 and it goes
back to that initial point, and I'm not going to go too much

(34:17):
into it was when I started fixing computers and getting in.
I started going to VO tech and they're like, well, one of the
big things, among other is outside of just the technical
stuff, right? You need to be able to
differentiate yourself. What makes you stand out from
your other competitors or your peers interviewing.
So having that certification, itdidn't matter.
That was the A plus. That mentality reigns supreme
even today, right? Whether it's a CCNACCMP, like if

(34:38):
you have 20 network engineers and 10 of them have the CCMP,
it's pretty clear who's going tostand out.
That will always be the one thing that can kind of pry that
wedge and, and get your foot in the door first, right?
So that mentality stayed with mewhen I got the A+.
Then obviously gradually as I went on getting more certs and
learning and growing and things of that nature, that helps too,
because experience was was was was king.

(34:58):
But back then, if you know, if you're someone and you're
looking to, let's say, get into network engineering, the first
thing I would say was the net plus was always the way to go.
And then followed with the CCNA because CCNA gives you a more
deeper, broader scope of topics where now today, you know, I'm
not going to lie, I would tell you right out of the gate, you
know, go for the CCNN. Because the CCNN will not only

(35:18):
cover what the net plus covers, but it also gives you such a
broader and deeper richer scope of not just not only those
topics, but again, now that the version was updated, I think it
was just a couple months ago, you know, you're still talking
about AI automation tools, everything that we've been
talking, you know, and touch a base on, right?
So you're going to learn, you'renot going to get a full deep
dive and overview. You're going to get, okay,

(35:39):
what's a little bit of automation automation, right?
With Jason and Puppet and Ansible and Chef and all these
different tools, you get like a taste of it.
I guess someone, I don't know who said it, it was not one of
the CCNA snack snack bites. I think it was that Cisco has
when someone said it best. The CCNA is like the Chu Chu re
board of of of networking. You know, you get a little a

(36:00):
sample of everything and then from there you really get a, a
better basic understanding of what really, you know, for some
people like what are your stronger areas?
What is something you maybe wantto become a specialist then?
So I would definitely say 100% CCNA is the way to go.
My opinion? You know, and my, my opinion is
very similar to that, but I havetwo different tracks for people.
I always recommend there's two separate tracks.

(36:21):
There's people who want to dive straight into networking.
They don't want to do help desk,they don't want to do anything
else. And there's people who just want
to get a job in tech tomorrow. Like there's two paths.
So I'm going to go with the pathfirst that for the people who
want to get into tech as soon aspossible, like they're at that
miserable dead end job. They're they're end of the rope
and they need to make a career change fast.

(36:43):
You can jump straight into networking, but that's going to
take you a little bit of work. So for the people who want to
make a change fast, you're goingto have to start at the help
desk. You know, you're going to have
to start at those very entry level jobs.
And for that, the best certification I still think out
there is the A+. Like you said, you know, if you
get the A+, that's going to helpyou fast track your career and

(37:04):
jump into that help desk job andthen understand it's only a
stepping stone. You're only going to be in the
help desk job for a year to two years while you get your CCNA.
While you're in the help desk job, start studying for your
CCNA and get ready to pivot intothat networking role.
But, and that's and that's the path.
So A+, CCNA and then maybe CCNP as you start to advance your

(37:27):
networking career. Yeah.
Now for the people who want to jump straight into networking
that maybe they'll have more time, they want to go for that
big dollar jump quicker, Definitely dive straight into
the CCNA because in all I see the CCNA is so broad nowadays
and it covers, you know, as the certification has evolved, it

(37:47):
covers everything you need to know and then some.
In all honesty, for that entry level job, you know, the CCNA is
a great entry point. And so I would definitely
recommend dive into the CCNA. Start labbing, you know, lab
every day. That is such a powerful movement
that you know, practicing building a home lab if you can't

(38:08):
afford to get your own equipment.
I mean I have a whole video talking about how you can build
ACCNA home lab for under 100 bucks.
Packet Tracer still the way to go.
I mean, I know CML like obviously there's paid, you
know, there's a free version of CML, but that has a node limit,
right? And then you would obviously
have to pay for that. But even right out of the gate,
I, I know a ton of people prior to even me using CML like packet
Tracer is ready to go Packetracer so free.

(38:29):
I love packetracer now the obviously, as I said it, it
serves its purpose, will help you learn a lot of its
apologies, right, like BGPOSPFEIGRP and such.
But I mean, there's also things you can't mimic.
And that's where from a learningperspective, I want to kick it
up. I want to take it to that next
level. I want to learn what if there's
a power outage? What if there's a cabling issue?
Like that's where I want to break stuff more.
But packet tracer for, well, I can't talk packet tracer.

(38:52):
For what it's what it's worth, Ilove packet tracer.
It's it's still an amazing tool.And then for the people who are
in that entry level job and wantto advance CCNP, it is the way
to go. I feel like nowadays the CCNP is
what the CCNA used to be, not necessarily in knowledge, but in
industry credibility. You know, back in the day, like

(39:15):
when I took the CCNA, if you hadACCNA, there was a like a 90%
plus higher rate straight out ofthe CCNA program.
Like you had people knocking on your door wanting to hire you.
And that's quite not the case because it's got a little bit
more over saturated. But now the CCNP, when you start
getting into the CCNP level, youdefinitely start seeing that.

(39:38):
But I'm gonna preface all of that again with you don't need
any of these to get started. No, start applying for jobs
right away. Don't wait to have your
certifications before you start looking for jobs.
These certifications, again, they're gonna help you land
those interviews, but they're not necessarily required.
And most employers, if they do require it, they're willing to

(39:59):
give you 689 months to get that certification after you've been
hired. And more than likely, they're
going to pay for you to get that.
That's what I was just about to say.
If you're fortunate, you're blessed with us and you get the
right employer organization. They have training budgets,
right? They may have a CVT Nugget
subscription or they may have, no pun intended, but they may
have a subscription to you, to me, CVT Nuggets.

(40:20):
They may be even willing to go as far as depending if they see
the hunger and drive that we've been talking about this whole
time, they may be like, OK, you know what, we'll pay for that.
You know, a plus exam for you. We'll pay for your CCNA.
They because I feel like, and those are some of the best
companies hands down that give 200% Reinvite.
Yeah. They reinvest in their employees
because they know long term, youknow, OK, well, they want to
grow and they want to be an asset to our organization or

(40:42):
whatever the case may be. But the ones that have the
training budgets, invest in the resources, the time and more so
into you into taking those exams, that's game changing.
Like that's not everybody does it.
But if you're if you're lucky tobe with an organization that
does like ride with it because it's it's, it's key.
It's key to your growth and there's.
Absolutely. And let's kind of shift things

(41:03):
up a little bit. You know, we've talked about
breaking into networking, but let's talk about career growth
in the networking field because there's tons of different
opportunities that can lead to that.
Networking can lead to. You can pivot so many different
ways. There's so many different things
in networking, but before that, what is one thing that you think
has kept you in the networking field so long?

(41:25):
What do you still enjoy about itthe most?
The challenge, right? And even now with what I do,
whenever those tickets come in, outside of project work, when
tickets come in, listen, at the end of the day, I'm somebody
I've always been, says Courtney.This sounds like one of my
favorite books or one of my favorite novels and series of
Sherlock Holmes, right? I love Sherlock Holmes.

(41:45):
I've always been a Sherlock Holmes for those that I don't
think I've ever told anybody that, but I love Sherlock Holmes
was not just the character and the stories, but it was the
challenges, the puzzle, right? Like I need to keep my mind
active and sharp and that constant thirst that needs to be
quenched to learn and grow more in any role I take, especially
the one I'm in now. But anytime that ticket comes in
and he gets that refresh, like that's an opportunity to figure

(42:08):
out, OK, well, what's going on? And when I can just sit down
zone in, right? That's what I called the zone.
I just lock in laser focused andI'm on it right, like I will
troubleshoot that until the end of time.
I'll troubleshoot that right to hell, but we'll get it fixed.
Like I'll figure out or, you know, packet loss or we can't
figure out. I'm going to figure out how
packet yay needs to go from thisswitch to packet B on the other

(42:30):
side, like we're going to figureout how to route it and and get
it to that destination. Like I need the challenge.
And I think that's again goes back to a testament of my career
and other people's, you know, successes is got to be hungry.
So I'm always that's what keeps me in networking.
Is it what's evolving? And there's always a challenge
out there. And when you think you're done,
Challenge is still out there, you just got to find it.
You know, and I don't want to sound like a broken record, but

(42:52):
this industry is evolving so fast.
You have to constantly be learning.
If you don't, I mean, to be 100%honest here, if you don't enjoy
constantly learning, learning new skills, evolving your
skills, this might not be the best field for you.
I, I, I hate to say it because it changes so fast and so
rapidly, you know, if you just stay, you know, if you stop and

(43:13):
become stagnant, you're going toget left behind.
And that's how people end up, you know, losing jobs.
And they say, oh, you know, AI is taking jobs.
AI is not taking the jobs of people who are willing to learn
and utilize it as a tool. AI is taking the jobs of people
who are resisting change and don't want to evolve with the
industry because this industry has not stopped evolving since

(43:34):
day one. No, and I think, you know,
obviously there's a lot of stuff.
I'm, I was just fortunate actually, I'm like, I can't
speak to it, but there was a lotof cool stuff I saw recently
like the Champs we had like, youknow, some of those sessions.
And it's just all I got to say is it goes back to my initial
point circle back to .1 is not here to hurt us.
AI is here to be able to take all the experience, all the

(43:56):
tools that we currently use. How can we make it better?
Because there's still room for improvement, right?
There is still such a thing as amargin for human error.
It still happens even when doinga network automation script,
which is the irony, right? Because network automation was
to help with eliminating the human error.
Like, oh, I forgot to, you know,put the slow, put this line of

(44:16):
code or put this line in the configuration before I hit
right, ma'am. Like human error still exists.
It even exists in automation, but it's getting better and
better and better every day. So I think the proof isn't,
look, I've said this too about automation, but now I'm saying
the same thing about AI. It's just like copy and paste.
It's that there is such a what Ihad, it was a stigma behind

(44:39):
because people, though people are afraid of something that
they don't understand. I get it.
AI to me when I hear AII was thinking about like the 80s and
90s shows, you know, like, oh, AI flying cars in 2035.
But the reality is, is now we'reseeing what AI could do.
Some of it's really cool, some of it's scary, some of it's
obnoxious and just shouldn't be and and shouldn't be done right.
You have all that stuff in between.

(44:59):
But again, how we leverage AI and also look our attack vectors
and and again, this is the security engineering me like the
way AI, it's just like everything else.
There's the good side of it and then there's the not so good
side of it. The way we're leveraging AI for
attacks, like AI based attacks are actually are, are just it's
on an all time high. And some of the stuff it's
doing, it is we haven't even scratched the surface of it is

(45:21):
terrifying, but the capabilitiesare there.
It's just a matter of like everything else, how are we
going to leverage that tool? So I feel if we leverage it the
right way and in the most appropriate manner, then like as
I said, it's not going to take our jobs.
It's just there to help us, not hinder us.
Absolutely. And you know, looking forward to
the future, what do you think the networking world's going to
look like over like the next five years?

(45:43):
You know, like 5 years from now,what do you think you know a
network engineer is going to be doing?
I don't know, maybe working on ayacht because maybe we'll be
able to all retire, but I don't know.
But you know, I think that, you know, eventually more and more,
especially with like, as I said,cloud networking, I feel like I

(46:03):
hopefully not because I'm just somebody who I love my I love
being able to physically touch the hardware.
And I think it'll always be there because there's always
going to be some type of like hardware backbone in the
infrastructure that's needed. But I feel like we're going to
see more, a lot more cloud baseddeployments.
I feel like, you know, having off premises deployments and
you're going to see less, you know, physical network
infrastructure in the data centers.

(46:25):
Hopefully. I'm not saying it's all gone
because again, I love a good, you know, picture of
infrastructure. I love troubleshooting.
I love look at the cables. I'm just, I need that, right?
But I think eventually more and more you're going to see less
firewalls, less switches, the number of APS are going to go
down, like a lot more cloudless software based deployments are
going to be. And I mean, we're, we're seeing
it now, but there's still some type of hardware footprint,

(46:45):
right? But I feel eventually more and
more as we gradually progress along, I mean, I think the
hardware footprints not going toever fully go away, but it will
be drastically pulled back from what it has been today and what
it used to be 1520 years ago. Interesting that's that.
That is an interesting take. That's that's my, that's my take
on. And now was that going to
happen? Who knows?
You know, I hope not because I love again, I feel like the

(47:07):
hardware's always going to be there, but I feel you're
definitely going to see a drastic up tick in more just as
I said, software based deployments and cloud based
deployments. Because a lot of companies too,
depending on the size, again, whether they were small or even
teetering on a medium sized business, they they, they want
to have less of a hardware footprint, you know, and that's
just going to go into a whole other thing.
And I could talk your ear off, but it, it goes into, you know,

(47:28):
they want to have as less physical of a footprint as
possible and more of a digital one where it's kind of like
hands off, seamless. Everything's running through the
cloud. Azure backups are running like
everything, the whole 9 yards, you know, So we're seeing it
now, but I think there's going to be an uptick in the next few
years or so even further. You know, you, you've given us
so much wonderful information inthis episode.

(47:49):
And again, thank you for coming on the channel and sharing all
this. You know, we talked about.
Pleasure's all mine. I have fun every time.
We get to kick it, man. But we got to do this.
Listen, I think we got to do it.Maybe this year at Cisco Live,
we got to do some a little. Well, we'll do this again.
Absolutely. You know, we, we've talked about
building home labs, we've talkedabout, you know, certifications,
you know, getting your CCNA, We've talked about a whole bunch

(48:11):
of things. But you know, I'm curious, you
know, that's a lot of stuff to take in for someone who's
wanting to make the break into the field.
What would you tell someone who feels a little overwhelmed about
how much there is to learn in networking?
The same thing that I tell my children and the same thing I
tell my wife when they get overwhelmed.
I said if an elephant was food, right?

(48:33):
And this is gonna sound, but that's old saying if, if you
have an elephant right, you're not gonna eat the whole elephant
in one sitting. You have to take things in
chunks. I'm probably messing this up, by
the way, y'all, And that's OK. That's OK.
But it's still, it's the mentality that the the elephant
is, is the metaphorical there's,there's a lot of stuff, right?
You just have to take things in stride and you have to take

(48:54):
things in chunks one by one. You're not you're not gonna get
through it all right away. Don't overwhelm because it's
easy to get overwhelmed. Not just an IT, but in life.
Take it one thing at a time. Map out a plan.
That's what I tell anybody to do, right?
Whether you I have like a digital Trello board like a
Cambian board or some people have a physical one.
Just you don't even need all that.
Just get a notebook. I want to get an IT.

(49:14):
OK, map out like a 306090 day plan.
Like how do you want to achieve this?
OK, I want to be doing this. I want to be in this role to get
to that, I might need to study this exam and pass the
certification. Then get the job, right?
Like that's step one and two, let's just say you start there
and then from there, once you dothat, add two more steps.
OK, well, now I got the job. Now I failed this exam, I'm

(49:36):
going to reschedule it. And then more out, more out.
More likely than not, you're going to take it.
You're going to pass it. All right, I got that.
Now I'm in the role, I've got the certification.
Let's plan out steps 3-4 and if we were lucky, maybe even 5.
You know, if you take things in stride and you take them in bits
and achieve them and accomplish them one thing at a time and
then check them off, you won't get overwhelmed.
If you're trying to do 50 thingsat once, it's not going to

(49:57):
happen. It's just not, you know, the
best way I could put it as a colleague of mine had just told
me, you know, being counterproductive is
productivity's worst enemy. I think there's something a lot
of those lines, but I mean, pretty much it goes that if
you're running in circles, you're not, you're not going to
get anything accomplished is what it really boils down to.
You're not going to achieve anything that you want to and
you're going to be worried about15 other things when you should

(50:19):
only be worried about trying to get step one done.
So take it in stride chunks, break up your goals and then
just again, start with one or two goals at a time.
Once you achieve them, then workon another two, Achieve those
that we're going to let you. And if you get into a rhythm
routine, we could take on a little bit more than do that.
But don't, don't overwhelm yourself because at the end of
the day too, I could be here forever talking about it.

(50:40):
Listen, I tell everybody, I'm very blessed and unfortunate.
I have a big family. I'm studying for certifications
actively. I make content, I work full
time. It's a lot, but I do it in
balance because at the end of the day, that's a secret.
I don't have some magic trick orI don't have a magic pill to
just take and all my problems are solved.
No, it's just, it's just we haveto take it in stride.
You know, when you have to also take care of your mental health.

(51:02):
You can't spend 24/7 staring at why Wi-Fi 7 isn't, you know, a
struck. You have to take a break, go
play with, you know, go spend time with your kids, spend time
with your loved ones, you know, read a book, watch a movie, like
engage in life and engage with others.
So you have to take everything in stride and with balance.
That's what I would leave and tell everybody.
Those are such great words of wisdom.

(51:22):
You know it, it's difficult. You know, it's, it is definitely
overwhelming and it's, it's a lot.
You have to make sacrifices whenever you do something big
like this with in life in general, whether you're making a
career change, you're making life changes.
It takes a lot to do it. And I'm a big proponent of
trying to build some healthy habits.
You know, one thing I did is when I decided I want to make

(51:45):
the career change is I set up a study schedule and I, I put on a
calendar where everyone could see it.
So people know, OK, on these nights when dad comes home, he's
going to say hi to everyone and then he's going to go study for
an hour. And that's what exactly I do is,
you know, I come home, say hi toeveryone, pet the dog, pet the
kids, kiss the wife, whatever. And then I would go off into a

(52:08):
room and study for at least an hour.
I try to just shoot for an hour.And I'm, I'm big on, you know,
back in the day, I used the Pomodoro method, but I, I
focused and studied. And because otherwise it's too
easy just to sit down and turn on the TV and, you know, do
other things and push it off, push it off.

(52:28):
And you'll never get anywhere with that.
And find out what works for you.Schedule it.
Set aside that time to study, build those healthy habits, but
also set aside time to do other things.
Don't let it take over everything in your life because
that will lead to burnout. And like, we could have a whole
episode of dealing with burnout in the tech industry because it

(52:50):
can, it is a real thing. You know we need to talk.
About that's a whole other thing.
I could be here all day talking to her.
Yeah, you know, because you you you come close to facing it.
I mean, thanks for having but like it's eaters on it, right?
And you need to have that work life balance.
You know it's in for some, you know, it's easier said than
done, but believe me, it you gotto be mindful.
You got to watch. I know sometimes it doesn't

(53:11):
always work out that way, but you have to be mindful of it for
you, not just yourself, but for your own mental health.
You know, as we start to land the plane here, I want to ask
you what is the best piece of career advice that you've ever
received? But before you answer that, if
people want to follow you, you know, I know you got you're out
there on the socials and stuff. People have more questions for
you. Where can they find you?

(53:33):
They could find me on LinkedIn, they can find me on Twitter.
I'm also on TikTok. I make a lot of short form and
long form content Now. Should I do that about a year or
so ago? I don't want to be the dinosaur,
right? And I'm just been having fun
with that. I got a lot of new stuff coming
out has I, you know, for a lot of people that don't know, and
it was as more of a just like a life thing.
This year I was I'm coaching my son.
My oldest son asked me for last like free.

(53:53):
He's like dad coached me in football.
I said absolutely. So I coached them and I had a
blast. However, I didn't more so
anticipate how that would content wise, you know, so I was
trying to make maintain that balance.
But now that I'm, you know, backat it, you know, I'm hopefully
the community hasn't forgotten me too much.
It's really awesome to be back, get to share my knowledge with
y'all. But I got a lot of new stuff
coming out. I, you know, like I said, moving

(54:15):
into the new house, you have a new studio office, so going to
reset that up. I'm doing some more, you know,
how to laugh tutorials, which isgoing to be great because I've
always written blogs on a lot ofthat stuff.
But now I'm going to take that in kind of transverse it into
video and short long form content.
So just a lot of cool stuff coming, but I'm on TikTok, you
know, LinkedIn, Twitter, wherever books are sold.
You can always reach out to me on my have my e-mail down there

(54:37):
as well. And I'm always around to ask
questions anytime there may be adelay these days, I'm a little
busy, but I will always get backto anybody.
Anybody ever wants to reach out,Need some help, career advice?
That's what I'm here for. That's awesome.
I and I really appreciate it. We'll make sure and link to all
those resources down in the description below.
And and you know, I just to repeat the question I asked, you
know, do you have that one pieceof advice that you wish you

(55:00):
would have known when you first started that you think that will
help anyone who's looking to make this career change?
The one piece of career advice that I would say is, as I've
been saying all this this whole time, you know, stay hungry, you
know, stay humble, stay blessed,but stay hungry and stay on top
of it. It is a grind.
But if you keep grinding, like we're all going to make it to
the top, we're going to get to where we're going.

(55:20):
You know, things are hard right now out there, not just in the
job market, but just everywhere.So it's a matter of Stan having
a positive mentality, taking care of your mind and your
physical well-being in yourself.And then just just like I said,
keep grinding, you know, keep studying, put forth that effort,
the the payoff coming. And for those that are actively
doing that 200% right now, and they may not feel it, give it
time. You know, the payoff is coming

(55:42):
and it it'll be there. But that would be the biggest
piece of, as I say, is to grind,keep moving.
Absolutely. Again, thank you so much for
taking the time and if you guys haven't checked it out, if you
want to see the last time we we talked, I'll definitely make
sure and link it up here in the the show notes or down in the
show notes. Again, thank you for all all the

(56:02):
the wonderful advice. Thank you for having me brother,
always a pleasure. I'll talk to y'all soon.
Absolutely. Again, I hope you guys enjoyed
this episode and until next time, keep learning.