Yesterday evening, a scary realization came to me as I was heading to the CCIE party at the NASCAR Bar and Grille. The realization was, that in this ratty shuttle van, there were 26 CCIE certifications, and if we crashed we would take out a significant portion of the engineering leadership in our billion dollar company…
Luckily we made it to the party without dying, ePlus is safe for the time being. It was nice to have Cisco show appreciation to their biggest cheerleaders, and even better to run into your peers and share a drink.
The venue was nice, though I am sure in retrospect that the organizers now know that if you pack hundreds of nerds in a room with video games and beer, there is bound to be a line. The party itself did seem to die out pretty quickly, but I do have to thank the folks at Cisco for taking the time to put the event together for us.
Next year, Cisco is on its home turf. I think I’ll be the first to put my vote into the suggestion box. My vote is for Conference Room “G”. Wherever it does end up, let’s look forward to seeing each other again next year.