CCDE Reading List

CCDE Reading List

One of the most common questions I get from CCDE candidates is: “What should I read?” and “Where should I start?”
This post is the CCDE reading list I actually used to pass the CCDE written (400-007) and practical exams. I have organized everything into my O’Reilly playlist, publicly accessible, so you can follow it directly if you have an O’Reilly subscription.

This list includes full books, individual chapters, and video courses. Some chapters were selected for their specific content, while the video courses provide a complementary perspective on subjects covered in the books.

CCDE Tips

CCDE Practical Exam — Tips and Tricks for Exam Day

I recently passed the CCDE practical exam at Cisco Live. I am now CCDE #2026::37. During my preparation, I gathered insights from fellow candidates, seasoned CCDEs, and instructors, including Zig Zsiga, Russ White, Orhan Ergun, Mark Holm, and others. I combined them with my own experience on exam day: it took me three attempts to pass, so I have some experience. This post is my attempt to distill all of that into a practical guide for anyone sitting for the CCDE lab.

Operations vs Projects Balance in IT infrastructure teams

Operations vs Projects Balance in IT infrastructure teams

For the past two years, I have been managing a team responsible for the data center infrastructure. It is a medium-sized team in charge of the HPC clusters, bare-metal servers, storage, network, and virtualization and container platforms.
This team has a dual mandate: keep daily operations running smoothly and carry out innovative and challenging engineering projects. As the person responsible for resource management and keeping the team’s project schedule on track, one important challenge is to find the right balance between these two responsibilities. This requires a strategic approach to resource allocation and time management.  Let me give you my take on the operations vs projects balance in IT infrastructure teams.

The Future of Network Engineering in the AI/ML era

The Future of Network Engineering in the AI/ML era

It seems like yesterday when I saw my first network automation presentation at a conference. I remember it very well; it was in 2015 at the Cisco Network Innovation Summit in Prague. Mr. Tim Szigeti was presenting the first version of the Cisco APIC-EM, the future Cisco Digital Network Architecture (DNA) controller. I talked already about it in a previous article, written in 2018, about my journey toward network programmability and automation.

After its presentation, and for many years afterward, the question was on everyone’s lips:

Cisco-2501

25 years as a Network Engineer!

In January 1996, I entered for the first time in the configuration of a Cisco 2501 router. This was the beginning of my career as a network engineer. That was just 25 years ago!

Here’s a quick look back and a few tips for junior engineers who are at the beginning of their careers.