My Journey As A Cisco High Extern (1/3)

Hello, and welcome to my journey as a Cisco High Extern! Over the next 10 days, I am excited to be part of this wonderful program that will no doubt help me grow both professionally and personally. I aspire to write down my daily discoveries in this three part series (one for week) that I aspire to share to the LinkedIn community! Before I start, I would like to thank the Cisco High Planning Team for making this program possible.?

Day 1 (07/05/2023):?

Today marks the first day of our Cisco High journey! As I step out of the NJ Transit Train station (by myself!) this morning, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and sounds of busy chatter surround me and I smile. There she is: the New York City that I love and cherish. I still had to pinch myself that this is real, that I am truly participating in an externship in my favorite city at a company that perfectly embodies all the values I believe in: inclusivity, curiosity, diversity, and innovation. I shook my head and got on to it: enough daydreaming for now, it’s time to face the real deal.

Reaching the Penn1 Building, I stared open-mouthed, slack-jawed around me. An exquisite lounge with the most comfortable seats, long arrays of books encased by a beautiful library, the rich smell of coffee sneaking out from the coffee shop, and most importantly: people everywhere. Men and women conversing in professional business attire, employees diligently typing away while relaxing on the embroidered sofas, and the kind security guards guiding newbies, like me, on how to use my access pass to reach the elevator. I thought I couldn’t be more excited than I was, but seeing the sheer elegance of the Penn1 Building and realizing that I would be coming back here for the next two weeks thrilled me.

Walking into our conference room, I was greeted by the sights of my cohort mates. I met a few recognizable faces, but the majority of them were people I was meeting for the first time. I was giddy with anticipation.

Amidst the whispers of excitement, Mr. Lancy Lobo came up to the front of the room and officially commenced the program. Mr.Lobo introduced himself and we soon got to hear from the rest of the planning team: Tony, another lead of the Cisco High Planning Team and a Systems Engineer; Sami, a Systems Engineer; Elena, a Consulting Engineer; Allison, a Systems Engineering; and finally, Meera, our Extern Coordinator who attended the program last year.?

We soon introduced ourselves and met with our virtual counterparts. I was amazed to learn that in total, there were about 91 of us! As Mr.Lobo and Tony provided an overview of the Cisco Externship Program, I grew more excited as I learned about each aspect of the program: the executive speaker sessions, professional building workshops, Nasdaq and MSG tours, and the Capstone Project!?

As we finished the kickoff session, Mr.Lobo left us with one statement that stuck with me: “This program is only as good as what YOU make of it.” You could either choose not to participate and keep to yourself or truly engage in each session, ask questions, and network with everywhere you meet. As we put our hands together, I knew which path I would take to make the most of these next two weeks.

Jumping right into the next session, we had the pleasure of hearing from Jim Flynn, an Account Manager at Cisco about setting goals for ourselves. Now, this wasn’t like any other assembly meeting at school where the presenter sprouts some basic knowledge about “reaching goals” that come across in any leadership book. No, Mr.Flynn took us through a journey through his presentation. By giving us an example of Elon Musk, he told us that Elon Musk’s goal wasn’t to make a bunch of money, it was to get humans on Mars. How did he accomplish these goals, you might ask? Well, he knew he had to acquire a lot of money; hence, he founded 5 companies and became a billion dollar investor. He created SpaceX and showed us that his vision can become a reality. Another powerful example Mr.Flynn explained to us was President Kennedy, whose goal was to make Americans be the first to reach the moon. We didn’t accomplish this goal until 6 years after Kennedy died. However, Mr.Flynn stated that Kennedy’s vision was so powerful that his legacy lived on.?

Wow. That was powerful. I want to create that vision, that goal that is so powerful that my legacy is the factor that makes it complete. As we were about to close the workshop, we received a pleasant surprise from Sweetie Browne, the founder of the Cisco High Program! Immediately, I noticed her bright, colorful clothing and the radiant energy she brought to the room. Sweetie shared with us the story of how Cisco High came to be and how we should take advantage of every opportunity presented to us. But, she also did us the honor and introduced us to the very famous Cisco introduction! Essentially, as we each raised our hands and shared our goals, we also had to share our names and a fun fact about ourselves. Sweetie challenged us that the extern who remembers all the students’ fun facts by the end of the program will receive a special prize, making the interactions so much more fun! As we each shared our goals, we enjoyed learning more about each others’ interests.?

Before we broke for lunch, we also had a special visit by Madison Flynn, Mr.Flynn’s daughter, who was a previous High School Extern at Cisco and went on to intern at Cisco as well. Hearing her story, it was amazing to see how this program continues to have an impact on the students who make the most out of it.

Lunch itself was a surprise! From having lunch promised to us for the first two days of the program to having a different lunch every day, we were greeted by the aroma of classic New York style pizza. This was the first break we had, but it didn’t take long for us to transition from the awkward, first-time conversations to cracking jokes about different TV shows and relatable school moments.

In the afternoon session, we got to hear from Al Slamecka, the Industry Lead for Global Financial Services, and Sielen Namdar, the Industry Executive for Global Sustainability. In this information packed presentation, we got to learn about the evolution of financial technology solutions in the industry and how they need to continuously adapt to target key areas, such as security and customer experience. Since financial technologies and cybersecurity are two of my greatest interests, it was fascinating to learn about its intersection with sustainability - a connection that I didn’t make before this presentation! From hybrid work to creating more sustainable facilities, we were left with quite a lot to think about as we were presented with our capstone project. Now that we learned about these technologies in both industries, how can we reimage financial services so it can support sustainability??

After going over the capstone project expectations, we finally met with our groups! We used the 45 minutes we had productively as we each took turns getting to know each other and sharing possible ideas. My group, the Witchers, quickly fell into an easy, but efficient dynamic: one person proposed an idea and then we all went around and shared our opinions on whether the idea is possible. We then met with one of our mentors, Mr.Sumit Kumar, who gave us insight on how we can proceed. After an effective brainstorming session, we decided that we would each come up with our own ideas and create a group chat to start our planning!

At the closing session, we debriefed about our first day and learned about what to expect for the next day. As I boarded the train station back home, I was already excited for Day 2!

Day 2 (07/06/2023):

I checked my watch and impatiently tapped my foot. It was already 10:18 AM, but there was nothing I could do to make the train go faster. Since NJ Transit lines were down today, my train was delayed and I was going to be half an hour late. However, I stuck to my word: I was going to make the most of it.

Rushing into the Penn1 office, I quickly met with my team members in the middle of the Generations in Workplace Workshop. We worked together as we listed facts for the Baby Boomers Generation, listing all the important events and people that occurred during this time.

After returning to the main session, we met with Michelle Kandah, a Program Manager at Cisco, who went into depth about each of the four generations and their characteristics: the Baby Boomers, Generation X, the Millennials, and Generation Z. It was surprising to me that I never really thought about how different characteristics of each generation interact. For example, while people from Generation X, such as my parents, are more independent and strive for a work-life balance, Gen Zers, like my peers and I, are more risk-averse and value diversity and representation. Michelle then went into certain conflict points in the workplace that could occur based on these differences in our generations. Especially when we talked about feedback, it was relatable when I learned that most Gen Zers prefer specific feedback on why and what we need to improve rather than having us figure it out by ourselves. On the other side, Millennials, although they appreciate the feedback, would rather have taken the feedback early on than later. I know in the workforce I will have to interact with colleagues and senior members from all different generations, so this workshop gave me a lot to think about how I should interact and connect with others!

From the awkward getting-to-know-you conversations we had yesterday, today’s lunch, or should I say ping-pong, session was a key moment in bringing our cohort together! The majority of us were all crowded in the game room, eagerly cheering on our cohort mates in quite intensive matches. At one point, it was quite comical to see 40 pairs of eyes bouncing back and forth as we placed fake bets on who would win. I didn’t even realize how quickly the hour went by when we were called back in!

In our next session, we were introduced to Sara Shreve, a Business Development Manager, and the queen of the Cisco Networking Academy. She took us through an introduction of the types of certifications the Cisco Networking Academy provides, and the benefits that these certifications can lead to while applying for jobs. As Externs, we were tasked to complete 1 out of 3 6-hour courses: Intro to Cybersecurity, Intro to IoT, or Intro to Data Science. Ugh, this is so hard! Having my early interests in cybersecurity and fintech, I first thought the cybersecurity course would be the way to go. However, I have recently gained interest in the applications of IoT and Data Science, so I know I would benefit from learning more about these fields. Luckily, Sara assured us that we would have access to these courses for a full year, so I definitely can pursue one of these courses and complete the rest later!

We had a pleasant surprise session next with Chris Palermo, the Global Collaboration Sales GTM and Strategy Specialist at Cisco. Chris talked about his journey with social media, and the different aspects of why he believes social media is important: growing our network, becoming aware of trending topics, and engaging with our customers. One of Chris’s words stuck with me, “It’s those loose connections that will get you far in life.” Whether it be someone we meet by the coffee machine or having a short conversation in an elevator ride, taking the extra step and forming a connection will take us one step closer to helping us build our career. It really was fascinating to learn how Chris actively leverages social media to not only promote new developments in Cisco, but to connect employees and users around the world in riveting discussions surrounding technology and the workforce.

4:00 pm EST: Somebody, please pinch me if this is a dream. We had the opportunity to visit NASDAQ at the 4:00 closing bell ceremony today! Having recently acquired interest in the stock market, it was hard to believe that I would be visiting a leading online global marketplace of trading stocks of the world’s most sought out companies. It was almost surreal as we all made our way into the crowded TV room, where we instantly met with flashing cameras and a center stage in front of us. However, little did we know that it was not just a special day at NASDAQ for us, but also for Electrovaya Inc, a leading lithium-ion battery technology company, that celebrated its listing on Nasdaq that day! We got to see CEO Dr.Ras DasGupta and other members of the Electrovaya company ring the famous Closing Bell. On the walk back from Times Square to the Penn Station, I couldn’t stop smiling.

Day 3 (07/07/2023) :

I checked the NJ Transit app only to see “Canceled” and “Delayed” appear again on the screen. To our unfortunate luck, this wasn’t a good week for NJ Transit as more of its lines were closed for the majority of the day. Therefore, instead of standing in line for hours and waiting for one track to be open, I decided to take part in the externship virtually today, although I yearned to be back at the office.?

Our first two sessions were Engage and Connect sessions with Nadine Fakhoury, a Senior Systems Engineering Director, and Madie Bologa, an Account Manager. While focusing on different areas of expertise, I learned that networking and giving yourself the opportunity to continue to grow while working in a team truly helps you not only your professional career path, but your personal one as well. Maddy also went into detail about the Cisco Sales Associate Program, or CSAP, where she talked about her journey working on the sales side and how she grew to love the customer interaction aspect of the field. By learning about her experience, I am all the more excited for Monday’s session where we will be officially introduced to the CSAP program. As a rising college freshman, I hope to take advantage of the engineering route and learn how I can combine both technology and business into my future career goals.?

In our next session, we had the opportunity to hear from Ambrose Collella, a System Architect, who specialized in Sports and Entertainment. Just when I thought that Cisco couldn’t surprise me more, they introduced yet another field where they reign. This session was incredibly unique as I got to learn about how common features we see in football games, such as the replay mode, actually function behind the scenes. A great deal of concepts, such as using API integration and utilizing the Cloud, goes into ensuring that the replay server works whenever needed and is available to both the sports representatives and thousands of fans watching. Mr.Colella left us talking about his experience in traveling many places around the world and how it shapes who we are. “The world is your oyster.” Indeed.

For the next session, we had the opportunity to tour around the Cisco Penn One office and learn about how IOT and wireless technology contribute to the sustainability of the office. I truly wished I could be in person for this section of the tour, but I enjoyed viewing the office and learning about its specialties through the lens of my virtual cohort mates. It truly was fascinating to learn that Cisco was planning for a hybrid work environment well before the pandemic, and that many companies are now following Cisco’s example in constructing a smart and sustainable workplace environment.

Whew, it definitely is a session-packed day today! For the second-to-last session of the day, we got to learn from Francisco Tello Buitrago, a Technical Solutions Architect at Cisco. Having never met with a solutions architect before, I learned that the crux of this role is to both find and solve problems. Mr.Buitrago delved into Meraki, which is a device that uses cloud networking to manage Wi-Di, routing, and security. We also gained an introduction to the Internet of Things and how it is changing by cloud computing. However, what I didn’t anticipate from such a technical heavy job is that a large chunk of the solutions architects deal with customers and face-to-face interactions every day. The role demands you to have a highly social disciple, and requires you to collaborate with not only customers, but experts from retail, finance, hospitality, and other fields to approach these problems. It was also exciting to learn that this role involves traveling a lot! In fact, Mr.Buitrago himself visited customers in over 12 countries. Now, that is definitely an enticing factor that I will add on my list of potential careers.

For our final session of the day, our Extern Coordinator, Meera Batra, and a previous Cisco High Extern, Anya Singh, spoke about their experience with college applications. Having recently graduated and gone through this process myself, I could relate and agree with a lot of the tips Meera and Anya emphasized. One thing I would stress for sure (and which I realized quite late in the process) is that you should pick a college that best fits you, not the other way around. I’m glad this was pointed out as most high schoolers get caught up with rankings that they realize later how important this is!

Well, after our closing remarks, I can only say that these past three days have been nothing short of remarkable. I owe it to the Cisco High Planning Team, all of the amazing presenters, and my fellow cohort mates for making this program possible. I feel as if I have already learned so much about the professional world, and I can’t wait for what this coming week awaits!