5d • 👋 Introductions
Jay's introduction
Hey everyone, Jay Whale here. You'll find some basics about me on the About page, but let me add some color to who I am and why I started this community.
I jumped into IT in the mid-'90s—yeah, when dinosaurs still roamed and we used smoke signals for communication. I started my journey with CompTIA A+ before diving into Microsoft certifications: MCP, MCP+I, and MCSE. After teaching at a college for a few years, I transitioned to the corporate world, primarily delivering MCSE training, while also branching into other vendors such as Citrix and Dell.
In 2001, I was offered the opportunity to take my first CCNA class (then called ICND1 and ICND2), and I never looked back. I spent the next 20+ years focused primarily on Cisco—initially on routing and switching, but also on security, wireless, data center, and collaboration. Along the way, I also partnered with some other vendors and became certified to teach their products, namely HP, HPE, Aruba, NetApp,
My career has taken me to over 40 countries, teaching everything from customized corporate training to off-the-shelf courses like the CCNA. I've taught over 10,000 people—sometimes in sessions with just a handful of students, other times in massive auditoriums with hundreds. The largest class I ever taught had 828 people, and the topic was Blockchain (right when Bitcoin was starting to make headlines).
I've worked for major organizations like BMW, where I managed their security infrastructure and designed their VoIP and IP Telephony networks. I was also fortunate to support the migration of Dubai International Airport's wireless network from Cisco to Aruba. At the time, I was one of a very select few qualified in both vendors, so I understood the strengths and weaknesses of each and trained many of their engineers on deployment, migration, management, and security.
Today, I'm the Director of Content Development for a Cisco partner in Silicon Valley (though I live in Australia). The team specialises in creating online technical training content, including writing and developing many of Cisco's official course materials. I have personally written four of them. We also create content for some of the world's biggest security, storage, and distribution companies.
So why did I start this community? Honestly, because I love teaching. I love helping people understand topics that feel overwhelming at first. I love that moment when something just clicks—when the light bulb goes on, and that amazing smile spreads across someone's face. It's the most rewarding job in the world, and I want to continue helping people learn technology.
So there you have it—me in a nutshell. I hope I can help every single one of you in this group thrive and excel in your career and certification journey. Remember, I once didn't have a single qualification to my name. I have now passed over 100 exams and earned 48 certifications from 9 vendors. As my mother always told me: "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." Joining this group is your first step in the right direction!
Your turn. Introduce yourself to the community. It doesn't have to be nearly as long or detailed as mine, but a quick hello and why you are here would be excellent. Then I can try to cater to what this community has to offer to address your current requirements.
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Jay's introduction
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