It’s time for our November Member spotlight!
For our eighth Member Spotlight, we chose to recognize @KRobert. Since joining, he has written 77 posts, provided 3 solutions, and received 65 kudos! We've really enjoyed all of his helpful switching and SD-WAN board contributions 🙂
Congratulations!🏅 👏
Tell us a little bit about your background.
Prior to working at my current company, I have only had hands-on experience with networking equipment in school. I had a knack for AV and technology while volunteering at my church as a high school student and that interest lead me to pursue the Technology field as a career. I designed a couple websites during that time and frankly did not enjoy it, so networking became a much more favorable and enjoyable option. In school I discovered network and security were definitely the directions I wanted to take. Shortly after graduating from college, I took a a job as a help desk technician at my current employer and was introduced to Meraki though a previous colleague that now conveniently works for Meraki. My colleague left and I slowly began my transition to the Network Engineer. Prior to him leaving he was able to get Meraki into our environment and we have been migrating toward a full stack Meraki setup since. I really enjoy connecting dots and solving puzzles. The Meraki appliances along with the simplicity of the dashboard makes everyday a fun and enjoyable day at work.
What motivated you to start posting in the community and what keeps you coming back?
The community is full of people who know so much about Meraki, Networking, and Technology. Seeing that in a welcoming environment wanted me to be more involved in it. I have been a part of the Meraki Community for just over a year and I decided that I wanted to be more involved so I challenged myself in the month of October to try and be one of the 4 MOTM. I reached the top 5 for about 5 hours on 10/31, but @NolanHerring and his awesome skills took that spot back by the end of the day. At the end the month I was able to make it to the 6th place, but the challenge to keep up with peers like @NolanHerring, @PhilipDAth, @jdsilva, @Nash, and @BrechtSchamp, made me want to continue to dive into helping the community and try to be a part of the awesome knowledge pool that the Community is. I tip my hat to the top 5 I just mentioned. It's almost robotic how fast they are at replying, how much knowledge they have and how freely they share with everyone. Kudos to all of them 🙂
Any Meraki product / feature that you’re particularly fond of or couldn’t live without?
Currently my favorite Meraki product is the Z3C. It has everything you need including 4G LTE connection. It is the definition of VPN Plug-n-Play. My favorite feature of Meraki is the Dashboard. I enjoy showing others that I can setup everything for a device(s) prior to it even being turned on, and then say "All set. Plug it in and that is all you should have to do." The look on their face and the "Really? That's it?" that follows would make any Network Engineer happy.
What’s your advice to folks looking to move to the next level in their Meraki / networking knowledge?
Stay humble and try not to have an "I know everything attitude." You may know a lot, but you can't know everything. If you are stumped on an issue, there is always someone out there who has ran into it before. With enough Google searching skills and an awesome community like this one, there is always an answer you can find and usually a helping hand on the other side. Finally don't silo yourself to just networking. Branch out and learn the whole infrastructure stack. The more you know about your environment, the easier connecting dots and solving issues becomes.
Thanks, @KRobert! Want to nominate one of your fellow community members for next month's spotlight? Submit your nomination here!
