changing lanes
after last 13 years spent at Cisco Systems Poland, working in the “field” I decided it’s prime time for something new. something, that can challenge me and give back that sense of new adventure. having opportunity to spend all that time with great people, learning a lot and experiencing even more was great fun. i went through full country chain - from “simple” Systems Engineer, to Architecture Lead, Systems Engineer Manager, then Regional Sales Manager (driving 2/3rds of country business operations) and finally Country Systems Engineer Manager and CTO. those thirteen years bring together the best moments (like ability to see your interns grow into SEs and then develop in different roles, or meeting Customers and Partners on countless conferences and events, including Cisco Forum and Cisco Connect) and some of the most challenging and stressful in my life as well. living with weight of your decisions and learning on your own errors, taking ownership of having those hard 1:1 discussions… and ultimately also having to let some people go was really a steep learning curve (and opportunity) i won’t ever forget. some day i may share some of my observations - it’s still too early I believe. ...