Cisco’s annual national partner convention in North America, Cisco Live, was recently held in San Diego and drew over 20,000 participants. IT professionals agree the event is a perfect venue for training on new technologies, as well as for having access to the engineers behind the products.
As part of the conference, Cisco supports education partners by providing opportunities for students to participate in the event through Dream Teams (DT). DTs are determined by an application process for national (10 candidates), and local (20 candidates) teams. For the local team, 9 students were chosen from SDCE’s Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Certificate Program.
“The DT students gain experience setting up and tearing down network equipment to support the wireless users at the event,” said Don Aragon, Continuing Education instructor and DT mentor. “With more than 17,000 users and over 1,000 access points, the support is significant.” The hands-on experience is also an extension of what students learn in SDCE’s short-term Cisco Certificate Program, which serves 150 students annually.
DTs provide coverage of the Network Operation Center helpdesk so they answer actual questions and troubleshoot real issues during the event. Joni Blakeslee, Senior Manager in Cisco Corporate Affairs, says, “Our students at Cisco Live, or the ‘Dream Team’ as we call them, demonstrate increasing value, and provide excellent technical support to Cisco teams and customer support attendees.
DT members also have the opportunity to interact with Cisco executives, engineers and partners during the convention. “The most valuable opportunity was the social networking,” said Nick Saylor, a graduate of SDCE’s CCNA Certificate Program, who was chosen for the DT.
Following the conference, Saylor competed successfully in a national candidate search for a Wireless TAC Customer Service Engineer. The position is a one-year contract with a starting wage of $30 per hour. Plus it means a genuine possibility of a future full-time career with Cisco. “I had the chance to speak directly with Cisco executives in a more relaxed manner as opposed to what would be the typical application process,” he said. “That opportunity was invaluable.”