LIU010: Personal, Technical, and Slightly Unhinged: Listener Q&A

Alexis

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Kevin

Welcome to Life in Uptime, the show where we talk to ourselves about questions and answers. This week, we don't have a guest. So we're abandoning our normal format and we're just going to talk to you guys and answer your questions.

And as always, I'm joined by Alexis. So Alexis, how are you today?

Alexis

I'm doing great. I'm actually having a fantastic day and I've been really looking forward to this. We get questions all the time in our DMs and our comments.

And like Kevin said, we really wanted to dedicate this episode to answering as many as we can. So thank you to those who submitted. And we are going very off script.

So I hope you enjoy it.

Kevin

Unfiltered. This is Life in Uptime.

Alexis

Oh, my God. Kevin, do you want to start?

Kevin

Uh, yeah, sure.

Alexis

Pull up the sheet.

Kevin

Well, we got the sheet. We took all of our... Alexis and I both did a prompt on Instagram stories and we've combined those questions and we kind of picked out some of that.

Because there's a lot of repeats, to be honest. A lot of general questions about the CCNA and what certifications and best paths and all that kind of stuff. So we tried to consolidate a little bit.

So if you don't hear your question, but you did have something related to those, we still appreciate it. Thank you for your question. But we can't, we can't list over repetitive like too many times.

So, all right, I'll start. So the first question I see here is from Ivan Salum. And I hope I pronounced that right.

What do you tell people saying networking jobs aren't available like before? Do you want me to start that one or do you want to hit that, Alexis?

Alexis

I've got a hot take on this one.

Kevin

All right.

Kevin

If you got a hot take, go for it.

Alexis

I think that networking jobs... I feel like a lot of people right now are kind of scared with AI. That's another question we get all the time is, is AI going to replace network engineering?

Is this still something I should study? And AI isn't going to replace networking. It's just going to make it different.

And I think that there are plenty of jobs that involve network engineering concepts. But what I'm personally hearing and seeing is that network engineers are being asked to take on much more infrastructure. So you're no longer just a network engineer.

Maybe you're working a little bit with the cloud. Maybe you're doing a little bit of cybersecurity. It's more integrated systems, right?

And you, because the network touches everything, kind of become the tie in between all of these systems. And I think with AI, the scope creep of the job of a network engineer is just going to continue to creep, which is kind of cool because it means that you get to dabble in a lot of other technologies. But I think that it's not that there's not as many network engineering jobs.

I think that there's even more. They're just kind of expanded into other functions. What do you think?

Kevin

Yeah, I agree with that. I think the roles of a route switch network engineer is less of those jobs because there are very few just straight route switch network engineers anymore. Now you have to have a laundry list of abilities and knowledge to be effective in the modern enterprise network.

And I think we get AI questions a lot, and I think we're not really sure where AI is going right now. I think that AI, there's too many questions around it still of what AI looks like and the skills that you'll need in a modern AI workforce to really use it effectively. There's that, I think we've all heard it before, that AI is not going to replace your job.

It's the person who knows how to utilize AI is going to replace your job. And while I agree with that, it's very, very generic. We don't know what that looks like yet.

We don't know you need to have X, Y, Z skill in AI to be competitive or to be, you know, in the workforce now. So a person that's replacing, quote unquote, replacing you that has AI knowledge, there's no concrete information about what those skills are. So while I, so I agree with that saying, it's still a lot of unknown stuff.

So what I would tell people saying that networking jobs aren't available is they are available. They're just harder to get that the entry level jobs might be less that, you know, it's, it's the senior level jobs. It's the people who need a laundry list of knowledge and abilities to get those jobs are, are, um, rarer, but they're, they're still a lot of jobs around.

It's not, not going anywhere. There aren't less networking positions, just more duties.

Alexis

They're different. They're different.

Kevin

Yeah, exactly.

Alexis

Okay. You went really serious with the first question. I'm going to, I'm going to bring us back.

Kevin

I will. I went deep.

Alexis

This one's from Dave 405. He wants to know what's the vibe. You went the complete opposite.

Kevin

That was like.

Alexis

I know. I thought we were going to do a fun one to kick off and you just dove right in.

Kevin

It was the first one on the list and that's how I work. You know, I, I get that engineer brain, step one, boom, get it. Um, what's the vibe?

So I'm old. I don't even know what that question really means. What the vibe, like the vibe is, is I don't, what I try to make the vibe.

I can go with that. I try to make the vibe where I'm having fun and making the best out of any situation. That's, that's my vibe, I guess.

That's what I try to do to, to anything. But what does that mean? What does the vibe mean?

Alexis?

Alexis

Like, how are you feeling? Like, how are you doing like a checkup?

Kevin

Like a, yeah. Okay.

Alexis

Yeah. Uh, I'm having a great day. I, um, this was my fifth day skiing.

Um, I'm just learning. I spent a lot of time falling down a mountain. I feel like my face is really wet, red and wind.

Kevin

Did you actually fall down a mountain or is that you being like, no, I'm not being dramatic at all. Um, please tell me someone got it on, on, on recording.

Alexis

Oh, 100%. Um, this is a picture of like, I know they're like, no one can see. I know.

I know. I'm pulling it up. They're like, it's blue.

It's easy. I don't know if you can tell how steep it is. It is.

No, anyways, that's Kevin's in Florida complaining.

Kevin

The vibe is you fell off a mountain and you're having fun skiing and being with your people.

Alexis

Yeah. We're having a great time.

Kevin

That's awesome.

Alexis

All right. Take a question.

Kevin

Um, all right. So segwaying, since we're talking about you skiing down a mountain on a workday in the middle of like the middle of the workday. Um, I think that we had a couple of questions about you traveling and how you, um, stay, I think you're staying eating on a good diet while you're traveling.

Um, Mr. Steven macaroni macaroni. Um, how do you keep a good diet traveling so much?

Alexis

So that's a really fun question. It kind of, it depends on where I am and how strict I'm being. So technically what I try to do is no sugar, no alcohol, no dairy, no gluten.

Um, basically, yeah, basically no fun. Right. If it, if it isn't whole foods, I really try to avoid it.

Um, I try to be kind of mindful of like portion sizes and, you know, eating only when I'm hungry. Sometimes I do travel with like a portable food scale. Um, sometimes I'm tracking macros, sometimes I'm not.

Um, you really, really, really have to force yourself into time zone and like making sure you're getting up and working out. Um, this weekend, Switzerland is actually really weird for me because there's no gym in the town that I'm in. So I'm trusting that I'm just getting my work done.

Kevin

Oh my gosh.

Alexis

It's been hard. It's been hard. It's going to be like the longest period of time I've gone without like actually lifting.

Um, but I'm trusting that you do like calisthenics and stuff like this.

Kevin

You can do like pushups and sit ups and like, yeah, I'll travel.

Alexis

Um, I travel. Manduka has a travel yoga mat that's, I think it's like two millimeters and it's only four pounds. And so I'll travel with that.

And then like two pound Pilates hand weights. Um, and generally like if you just follow along with the YouTube video, you can get like a decent workout in and they're pretty nice because they're 30 to 40 minutes. You can do them with like minimal space in a hotel room.

Um, the diet is really, really the hardest part. Um, I think my favorite if specifically for conferences or like work travel, if I'm assuming whoever's asking this is like doing some work travel, um, I'll actually order meal preps from local meal delivery services to the hotel that I'm going to. And if the hotel doesn't have a fridge in the room, you can tell them that you need a medical fridge because you're on a special diet, which is true.

But a lot of foods upset my stomach and I can't function at work if I'm not performing. Right. And so I need the food.

Um, and then you'll have a mini fridge with like meal preps. Sometimes you have to eat them cold if there's no microwave, but like, it's better than, you know, eating greasy French fries and having an upset stomach and feeling like all the time.

Kevin

So now can I pull the curtain back here a little bit? Cause sure. You say all that.

I know, but I want to give our audience an accurate representation because we, we, we just got back from Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago and we were at the celebration, like the celebration story. And every single time we go to a celebration, Alexis's first thing out of her mouth is I want ice cream. Where's the ice cream?

So she had ice cream and then she had churros, like she had all this junk food.

Alexis

And then I, and then, you know, we're leaving out and then I got food poisoning and immediately after Cisco, Libby Amsterdam, I spent, Oh my God, 10 hours in my hotel room, just like sick, sick as a dog. I slept for 48 hours straight. The only reason I survived is because I called one of my coworkers and he brought me like activated charcoal and medicine from a drug store.

I honestly thought I might have had to go to the hospital. It was like top two times I've ever been sick in my whole life. So it kind of backfired, but I have a nasty, nasty sweet tooth.

And the hardest thing for me traveling is going to like a grocery store in a new country and they have all the, the different candies. I'm like, I can't, I can't try all of them. And so I, I, I kind of struggle with like all or nothing.

Like I'll either eat nothing or I'll buy like six packs. It's a work in progress.

Alexis

I'm just giving the people.

Kevin

I, to give people an idea of like how it was on the conference floor with you, like we're trying to like videos or so we're hanging out together and making videos and stuff. And like we're scourging the place, trying to find stuff to eat. You end up just eating chocolate.

Like someone gave us this very, very nice person.

Alexis

They were wonderful.

Kevin

Yeah. We had so many people that came up to us and they were awesome, but they gave us chocolates and like Dutch candies. And that ended up being Alexis's lunch and dinner.

Alexis

Well, because what happens is like you get, if these big tech conferences, like you get so busy and you're in and out of sessions and you're walking and there's a lot of movement and people are stopping you and you're talking and like, it's very chaotic. And then you look and it's like two o'clock and lunch is over and you're like, and then there's nothing to eat for miles. Whether you're in Vegas, I don't care what conference I'm at.

There's no good food. Like if it's AWS reinvent, if it's Cisco live in Las Vegas, like you might get like a Starbucks and you know, you get like the most mid food ever from a Starbucks in Vegas when the line is 50 people long or it's like overly priced and greasy and it's just like not good food, which is again, why I prefer to have the meal preps. I did not adequately prep for Amsterdam, which is why I was eating chocolate and strew waffles on the conference room floor because there was nothing else.

Kevin

Okay. You get a pass. You get a pass.

I just want to make sure that we're honest in this Q and A that we're not like, I only eat prepared food and I'm like, I will call you out. I want you to call me out too in this Q and A. If I start BSing, call me out.

Alexis

I'm not BSing. I do order meal preps most of the time.

Kevin

I was not accusing you. I was just saying, you know, I want us to be honest. Um, okay.

So I'll do, can we do a hard one next one?

Alexis

Like a, yes, I'm going to pick an actual technical question. Um, okay. I like this one.

Um, from tips, shush tips, tips, shush tips, tips, shush, what key personality traits are most valued as a pre-sales network engineer? I think this is a great question and I'm going to answer it from my point of view. And then Kevin, because you're on the other side, you've been a customer work.

Kevin

I want you to, we talked about this before and I have a feeling we're going to be aligned on what we say, but go for it.

Alexis

Okay. Um, I think the most important trait to have, if you're going into pre-sales, like I was a solutions engineer at Cisco and you can be a pre-sales engineer at almost any, any vendor, they all have them. Um, number one is being a teacher.

Like you like teaching, you genuinely enjoy like teaching technology to others and wanting to help people. Um, at the end of the day, if you're working as an SE for these vendors, a lot of times you have, um, other architects or other engineers that you can lean on who may have more experience in you or maybe more technical than you, and you are acting as the voice of the customer to help advocate for them in your organization. And a lot of times what happens is you'll get asked questions and you don't know the answer, right?

Maybe it's like over your head. Maybe it's a new feature that you just haven't been up to speed on yet. Like there's a million things going on in the industry.

You can't always know everything all at once. So, you know, just being able to be honest and say, Hey, great question. I don't know.

I'm going to go find out for you going, finding the answer, learning the answer, and then teaching it back to your customer. And if, if you can do those things, I think that's what makes a great SE personally.

Kevin

Good answer. Good answer. Good answer.

Okay.

Kevin

Kevin, what's your answer? Yeah. From the, from the customer point of view, I would say that number one, being honest about everything.

Like don't, don't BS me. If I can tell you're BSing or I get the, even the hint, the whiff that you're BSing, you lose all credibility. And once you lose credibility, we're done.

Like there, it takes a lot to come back. You make one mistake and it takes, you know, a while to earn that trust back. Number two, I would say don't, I don't want to be sold to, like I don't want to have the hard sell, the, like the kind of used car salesman like thing.

Alexis

You shouldn't be forcing solutions. It's educating, not selling. But even your job, your AM's job is to sell.

Your job is to educate.

Kevin

Yeah. But it's not even, don't educate. I don't know.

The solution that you're telling me about or educating me has to tie back into our environment. It makes sense for our environment. Don't try to take a round peg and put it in a square hole and tell me that it's going to work or it's, it'll fit.

Like, cause I will listen to you. We'll, we'll do a test. And if it doesn't work, you're losing credibility there too.

Or like, okay, this person, they were just trying to sell this solution or, or implement the solution. And they didn't really know our environment or how it's going to integrate, how it's going to work.

Alexis

Well, and something, something I always said to my customers when I worked at Cisco was that, you know, I can teach you this. You are the one, ultimately I'm not in your environment every day, right? You, you can tell me all of the things and I can help educate you on what I think is going to work best.

But ultimately you need to be the owner of the decision with the technology that you're moving forward with because you are the one that is going to have to implement it and use it every single day. And I have my opinions on what I think you should use based on my experience, but ultimately you are the one running your network. It doesn't hurt my feelings if you make a different decision.

Unless we're like six months into the sales process and, you know, jerk us around a whole bunch and I've bent over backwards for you multiple times trying to help you out, then it might hurt my feelings a little bit.

Kevin

But yeah, same. So pretty aligned.

Alexis

Yeah, same, same.

Kevin

Okay.

Kevin

I have to pick the next one.

Alexis

Yes, you do.

Kevin

Okay. What's the smallest thing that can absolutely ruin your day? This is from Natalie Doidy X.

Doidy? Doidy. The smallest thing that can absolutely ruin your day.

Alexis

Um, man, I really don't like washing my hair.

Alexis

Like if you're a girl, Natalie's a girl. So she understands them. They're not going to understand.

But I wash my hair maybe, I don't know, once every four to five days. And right now it's really long. And like, I'm in another country and finding a blow dryer that works with the voltage and the outlets that I have available has been a struggle.

And, um, it's just kind of like a, I have to do that today. And it takes a really long time and I can't get anything else done, which is also why I'm wearing a hat because I had a helmet on all day. And I, you know, we're not dealing with that.

Kevin

Um, that wasn't a very good answer, but no, it's, it's, it's an unfiltered, accurate answer. That's what we're looking for here.

Alexis

It's because I have to wash my hair tomorrow. That's on my mind. How about you, Kevin?

I gave you some time to think.

Kevin

Um, yeah, I'll go. So there's actually two that I'm dealing with right now. One's work related.

One's personal and the personal one's kind of gross. I'm not going to talk about it. It's not that sound.

That sounded like it was weird.

Alexis

Yeah. Now you have to kind of explain it.

Kevin

Okay. I'm getting over a cold right now. I'm like sick and I have a mustache and the nasal like stuff with a mustache is gross.

This thing is terrible. It makes me want to shave my mustache off. I've never in the last like two years of having a mustache.

This is the first time I'm like, I want to get this thing off me so I can actually fully blow my nose for once and not feel gross.

Alexis

I remember you without a mustache.

Kevin

It's been a while. It's been two years.

Alexis

If you shave your mustache, I think the internet would go crazy. Y'all don't know who you are. It's like when I took my glasses off and everyone was like, who's that?

Kevin

Yeah, exactly. It hit a rebrand completely. I did.

Okay, but I'll do a work related one. And that is, uh, so I'm very, I plan my days out very meticulously and I hate drive-bys or if I'm working in the office, people talking to me. I'm sorry.

Coworkers, I love you. But like, just, I'm not a social person where like, I want to talk about your kids for 30 minutes or like, I have a schedule.

Alexis

If you didn't put a meeting on Kevin's calendar, don't go and see the call.

Kevin

Exactly. If you want to shoot the stuff or talk and socialize, just send me an invite. Send me a 30 minute invite or like a catch up meeting.

Alexis

Is this why you decline my FaceTimes?

Kevin

Yes, all the time. I'm busy. If I'm doing something, I can't, I have ADHD.

I have like a schedule that I'm following. So I have to stay on task or else I will be completely derailed and it will derail my entire day if I go down this rabbit hole of talking to people or, um, you know, just, just unpredictable meetings. Like it just, I can't do it.

Alexis

So can I give a work-related one?

Kevin

Yeah, of course. It's our podcast. We can do whatever we want.

Alexis

I hate JIRA. Anytime I have to open up JIRA for anything, I'm like, I purposely avoid it. I avoid it.

And then it all piles up and I have to spend like 45 minutes straining my tickets and tagging it to make it worse.

Kevin

Yeah. By delaying it, you're like, you're piling all into one and now you're like, stuck doing this for a while. No.

Alexis

Yeah. Yeah.

Kevin

Okay.

Alexis

Um, question. Um, I'm going to do a CCNA question from Martin Monsek. Is it still worth doing the CCNP or CCNA certification exam after you did all of the courses?

I'm assuming he's, what he's saying is like he did the training and he has the knowledge, but he hasn't paid to take the certification.

Kevin

Right. Yeah. That's what I'm getting to.

Um, so normally I would say the certification is not worth as much as the knowledge for a lot of certifications. The CCNA, CCNP are not those certifications. I feel like they carry the weight of it's worth actually getting the certifications.

Now, like something like a Linux plus or, um, some of the entry level, like Google, Microsoft certifications, those, I would say you don't have to do a plus for example. Like if you're completely new to computers and technology, study the, the, uh, a plus exam. Don't actually take it though.

You don't, you don't need it. No one's looking for an a plus on their, on their resume, but CCNA, CCNP, any of the Cisco heavy certs, those are worth it in my opinion.

Alexis

Yeah. I think it's a big, I mean, the, the CCNA was how I transitioned into it. Like I was an aerospace engineer.

I, my four year degree is in aerospace engineering. Um, I pivoted, I got hired by Cisco and I took my CCNA and CCNP and that was my like, I can work here now. I deserve to be at this table.

And I remember being, was I 24? I think I was 24 when I went to my first customer lunch. It was, it was very early when I started supporting customers.

And I remember sitting at a, a table full of guys that were like old enough to be my dad. And they were like, oh, you're our new SE whatever. And I was like, yeah, I have my CCNP, my old one.

Oh my God. Okay. Wow, sweetie, that's great.

And I, yep. I was like, oh, okay, this did mean something. Um, so I'm with Kevin.

I, I do think it's worth it to get the piece of paper, have the knowledge to back up this paper, but you should get a piece of paper.

Kevin

It also depends on where you are in your career. If you're looking, basically certifications are great. If you want to advance your career, either, um, getting a new job or a promotion.

But if you're in a workplace that you've been there for 30 years, you're already a network engineer, then the actual certifications probably won't help you if you're planning on staying there and retiring there forever. It's your work production and what you know is, is what's going to keep you there. So, I mean, we don't know the backstory of this person's question, but if you're entry level or starting your career or wanting to transition, um, careers, definitely get the piece of paper.

Alexis

Cool. Your turn.

Kevin

Okay. Um, it's an interesting one. Is online university a good idea?

Will it look as good on a resume? That's from Caleb's, Caleb's Huffet?

Alexis

Caleb's Shuffet.

Kevin

Caleb's Shuffet? Caleb's Shuffet. I love these last names.

They're all hard to pronounce. We couldn't get a John Smith to send us a freaking question, could we?

Alexis

I also want to point out that Kevin is still going great down the list. Like he's not skipping around at all. I want you to know that he is seeing the first question in front of him and just reading that one.

Kevin

I am organized. This is how I live my life, Alexis.

Alexis

I have a hard time answering this one because I, I'm not a recruiter. I, I don't know. I went to college in person.

I don't know if it's kind of like stack ranked or if there's any sort of like filtering on the backend of resume platforms or like the job filtering process. Um, I, my knee jerk reaction would be how good of a student are you? Like, can you hold yourself accountable to going to classes online and sitting and paying attention to hours and hours of lectures online where you're working by yourself and you're not there in person?

And can you hold yourself accountable to doing the work? The other thing is I think going to school in person, like part of it is the friends that you make and the networking you get to do and the experience you get to have. It's not all just, oh, I can put this paper on my resume and I went to, you know, MIT and it looks good.

Um, part of it is the relationships that you build while you're in school, whether it's the professors that can introduce you to other people or their career fairs that you get to attend in person. Now, online university might have some of that, but I think it's going to be much more difficult the same way it's difficult to like, I don't know, make friends and develop community online.

Kevin

Okay. Okay. I see that.

Especially for like the, the, I think the biggest thing there was being able to, to, what's it called? Uh, socialize and like, no, not even focus. Um, the, you just mentioned it now.

This is why, this is why the community and like, uh, what's it called? The thing where you connect with people, connection, networking, networking, the thing that Oh my God. The people network, you're not the, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I have a, I have a, I have a different take than you. And so I've been a hiring manager and this is going to largely depend on the hiring manager. But my personal take is I don't care at all.

I don't care if you got your degree from a community college. I don't care if you get went to Harvard. I don't care if you went to WGU.

It does not matter as long as you typically HR wants the college degree. They want to have the check Mark that you did the row. It did the hoops and all that kind of crap for it.

But I don't personally give a crap if you have a college degree or not really. Um, to me, what I care about is do you have a passion for technology? Do you have a basic understanding of networking?

Are you someone who's going to do the extra mile and do research and figure questions out on your own? Or are you going to ask everyone for questions and be stuck spinning your wheels, that kind of stuff. And you can get that from the interview.

I don't, I don't want to see your transcripts. I don't want to know that you got all A's and B's and have a 3.7 GPA or whatever. I don't care about any of that because who you are in college might not necessarily be who you are at the workplace.

Um, so it's, it's a personal thing, but I don't know. It's gonna, it's gonna vary depending on the hiring manager.

Alexis

I think speaking of building community, Tinkfu asked, how did y'all become homies? And I love this question.

Kevin

The power of TikTok.

Alexis

Kevin, do you want to tell the story? I honestly don't even really remember it, so I want to hear your take.

Kevin

I, I mean, I'd be interested to, this is my take. I'd be interested to hear if, like, I'm remembering it the way you remember it or whatever, but, um, so, I would say it's been two and a half years now, I want to say.

Alexis

I think we're going three, honestly. I think, like, we keep saying two and a half and it's been two and a half years.

Kevin

Time keeps going. We keep saying two and a half. Cause I don't want to admit how old I am, how long we've been doing this.

Um, okay. It's about two and a half, three years ago, Alexis and I were both making videos on TikTok. I was, we were both making memes, really like crappy memes that were just, I don't know, that zero educational value, really just making fun of ourselves, thinking like things about networking.

And, um, I followed her, she followed me, and I think I, I don't know who messaged either first, but I was like, Oh, you're in networking. Yeah, no, but like, it was basically like, Oh, you make networking stuff too. There's only like three of us on this entire platform, so we should be friends.

Um, and then we started sending each other like ideas for memes and, um, helping each other spot check, like, Hey, I'm going to do this meme. What do you think of this? This is actually funny.

Or is, am I just being weird kind of stuff? Um, and then she was an SC, so she would send me stuff like, Hey, does this make sense to you as a, as a network engineer? Um, and we just kind of use each other's resources to help us grow on, on TikTok.

And it transitioned from helping each other with memes to like business ideas of like, how do we grow our platforms? How do we, you know, how do we reach people who are interested in networking who have never talked about networking or never thought about networking? Like we just brainstormed together.

Alexis

We, we both have, I mean, even though Kevin and I had very different roles, um, being like a network engineer and a solutions engineer, I mean, they're similar roles, but they are different. Um, the ultimate end goal of the platform is the same, which is to inspire people to go into it and educate people about technology. Right.

And we're both doing it or it's like a similar, but different way. Right. And, um, kind of like Kevin said, I would have ideas that wouldn't necessarily perform well on my platform, but I think would do very well on Kevin's just because of it's a slightly different sense of humor and slightly different delivery.

Um, and again, the end goal is the same, which is to help people get into the industry, have fun, have a good laugh. Right. And it's, it's very nice having someone else in your corner.

And I think it goes for anything, right? Like whether you're studying for a certification or breaking into a new industry, it helps to have a buddy that you can shoot ideas off back and forth and kind of motivate you. Like I will say Kevin's outpaced me on followers.

It's fine. I'm okay with it.

Kevin

Different markets.

Alexis

Right.

Kevin

Like, and your LinkedIn is killing me. I can't compete with you on LinkedIn at all. It's a different market completely.

Alexis

I like LinkedIn. It was my favorite trial for a while.

Kevin

You weirdo.

Alexis

But yeah, it's, it's nice to have someone else that like understands and has the same goal and that you're able to like co-work with, especially in content creation, especially in content creation about it. Because like Kevin said, there's not really that many of us out there.

Kevin

Well, it's getting bigger. When we first started this, it was me, you and Lexi and, um, uh, they weren't even on social media. They were on YouTube still.

They weren't on TikTok much or Instagram much at all. Back then they've since then grown and now they're seeing how the, how short form is taking off. But, um, yeah, now there's a million people out there.

Um, a lot of early career people, which I love to see that they're creating content and showing their journey.

Alexis

I try every time I see someone that's making networking content, I follow them back and DM them and I'm like, keep it up.

Kevin

Keep going. Exactly. Because I remember most of my followers.

Oh, go ahead. I cut you off. I keep cutting you off.

I'm sorry.

Alexis

Oh, it's okay. I remember how excited you were for me. Sorry, couldn't resist.

I remember how exciting it was when I was like a new creator and when someone who had like more followers than me or was more experienced than me followed me back and was like, ah, keep going. I was like, yeah. And so I've been trying to do that for new people too.

Kevin

I do the same thing. And I, I, I really only follow other creators on my, on my platforms. It's like, it's like a, I will follow basically anyone.

If you make constant content or content on your platform, I will follow you, um, for both support and to steal ideas. I mean, to, um, I'm not gonna steal ideas from you.

Alexis

You're an a** man. I can't, I can't believe you said that.

Kevin

That's my personality. I can't help it. I'm, they know I'm I'm.

Alexis

There's questions I want to answer on the list that are not in order. And so I'm just going to start asking them because I leave it to Kevin. He's going to skip them.

Um, how was Cisco live EMEA compared to Cisco live us? I think this is a really interesting question because also I've, I've gotten asked before, like if I could only choose one Cisco live, which one would I pick? Because there's people that can't go, like you have to pick one.

Kevin

Yeah.

Alexis

You can't, not everyone can go to all of them.

Kevin

I'm jealous of the people that can just pick which one they go to. Like I'm, I can't, my job won't pay for me to go to Europe or to Australia. Like I'm stuck at the U S one.

So the fact that like companies will pay their people to go to a different country blows my mind. I can't even imagine that. So if you have that option, that's, that's amazing.

Um, but the actual question, I think Cisco live us is more hectic. I feel like it's more like just everyone's rushing. Everyone's doing stuff.

There's so much to do where, uh, E M E A was more chill. Like everyone was kind of slower. Um, I don't know.

It was, it was nice. It was more relaxed, which yeah.

Alexis

So school, I have Cisco live us. I compare to like prepping for the super bowl. Like I know I'm going to Cisco live in Vegas.

I'm like drinking electrolytes the week before I'm walking extra. I'm like up in my step count to 15,000 a day to try to like prepare to be on my feet. I'm, I'm ordering the meal preps.

Like I'm like prepping for that because I know it's grueling and it's, it beats the hell out of your body. Cisco live EMEA and Cisco live Australia. I got eight hours of sleep every night.

I got a workout in, in the morning. I like casually walked around. I didn't feel it.

It was just so much more relaxed. And I felt like because of that, I was able to have much more in-depth conversations, um, either with people that were coming over to talk to me or just people in general because everyone's not like on edge. Like they are in Vegas.

Maybe it's just Vegas, but I don't know.

Kevin

I think, yeah, I think Vegas just feels more chaotic in general. Like, cause you're going through casinos to the conference and there's, you know, people running around there and ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, all these noises and lights. So it's like, even before I get to the conference, I'm overstimulated.

Alexis

Yep. Literally.

Kevin

So it's a different vibe.

Alexis

Literally.

Kevin

So I'd definitely recommend it if you can pick any conference to go to no matter where it is. And if it's your first Cisco Live especially, EMEA is, I think, a better experience to get your feet wet into Cisco Live.

Alexis

Also one more point and then I want you to pick a question. I do think that a big part of going to conferences like Cisco Live is the networking aspect and like meeting other people in your local area. So if you are in EMEA, maybe go to the EMEA one for your first time because you'll make more contacts that are local if you're in the U.S. That's true. U.S. and then branch out. I think branching out is cool. That's a good point.

Kevin

Yeah. The cool thing is all the vendors were pretty much the same, which was nice to see. There wasn't like a majority of just European vendors or something like that.

So if you're going, you can still talk to your rep or whomever your company that you're working with is still going to be there. But definitely a good point about the people attending are going to be more in the industry where it's located.

Alexis

Yeah.

Kevin

All right. So speaking of, I think we just mentioned this before about community and talking to people, Tucky88, do you also struggle, I get to actually show how weird my personality is on these kind of podcasts. People don't understand how weird I am.

I am. I'm a weird guy. Tucky88, do you also struggle with not being able to explain slash talk to friends slash fam about the work that you do?

Alexis, go for it.

Alexis

Oh, I don't know if anyone remembers, I did two videos with my family. Can you explain what I do for work? The second one was can you explain what is the cloud?

Alexis

One time, I don't know if I should say this on air. We can decide later.

Kevin

Why not? We've already been censored.

Alexis

Okay. It's okay. So I got a FaceTime from my sister a little bit ago and you guys know, I mean, I make all these videos about technology and she called me and she was like, Alexis, I was watching this video and it literally sounded like you were speaking another language and me and my boyfriend were high.

And so I handed him my phone and said, Oh my God, listen to this. And then for the next 45 minutes, we scrolled through your page, hi, watching your TikToks because it was so funny to us that we literally couldn't understand a single word you were saying.

Kevin

That's amazing.

Alexis

I don't know. I don't know if this one's going to make it on air, but I, I feel like I've just kind of accepted it. And also I have different levels of explanation depending on who I'm talking to.

Like you kind of ask a probing question, right? Do you know what the cloud is? Do you know what network engineering is?

Okay. Well, then I actually kind of explain. And if not, I'm like, well, I work in tech and IT and then I make content too.

And their response is usually, Oh, so you're an influencer. And I'm like, I, yes, I'm technically an influencer.

Kevin

Do you feel like you lose them already when you start talking about the cloud? Like if they don't, if they say no, they don't know what the cloud is. They don't know any of that stuff.

You start explaining it to them. Like the people I talk to, they're done. They're like, okay, I don't know what you're talking about.

Alexis

I feel like most people know what AWS is. I'm like, you know what the cloud is like, like AWS? And if they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, like that'll go a little bit deeper.

Usually I leave it at, I work in, I work for an Australian tech company in IT.

Kevin

Got you.

Alexis

I don't, I don't even say I do, you know, my, I used to, I used to go in with the, well, my job title is technically global evangelist. I leave that part out. Now I say I work in technical marketing.

Kevin

Global evangelicalist.

Alexis

Oh yeah. I forgot. You don't know how to pronounce that word.

Say it again.

Kevin

Still can't say it. Evangelicist.

Alexis

Yes.

Kevin

Evangelicist.

Alexis

Kevin, how do you explain your job?

Kevin

I say I make the internet go good.

Alexis

I do good internet things.

Kevin

I do good internet things. Like my, my kids, my youngest one is seven. And what he knows is that like, I do internet things.

And like, it's funny cause he'll like, if the internet's down or like there was that story about, I forget what, there was a big outage a few months back. He's like, why didn't you fix that dad? Like, he doesn't understand that, like how big the internet is and how, no, I deal with my little, a little section of the internet.

Alexis

He thinks you fixed the whole internet.

Kevin

Yeah. Like that's all he knows. Like the internet is this ephemeral thing in the sky and my dad fixes it.

Alexis

It's so cute.

Kevin

But if I was talking to an adult, it is really difficult because most people, I feel like if you, if you care, then you would already kind of know the basics of technology. And the people who don't know, don't want to know. Yeah.

So like my wife, right. Bless her heart. I love my wife with my entire heart, but the woman does not care about technology to save her life.

And if I'm trying to talk to her about my day, I know that it's not going to land. Like I have to lead with my coworker did this or my coworker said this. She wants the tea.

She wants like the person drama. But if I mentioned like, oh yeah, we had a, you know, a firewall.

Alexis

We had a tier one outage.

Kevin

Yeah. Like she doesn't care.

Alexis

She's checked out. I didn't replace the line card.

Kevin

Exactly. Like doesn't care at all. Um, so it is, it is a struggle to relate to people and, and share your day with people who are non-technical and that's where the power of social media is.

That's where the power of going to Cisco live and the power of doing these local meetups. Yeah. Is so that you can meet up and finally share that passion, get it all out.

And sometimes it's weird. You can tell the people who don't have anyone to talk to because when they, when they finally connect with someone, man, it just unloads. They're just like, yeah, it's like, cause I'm like, and I find it funny and I love it because I know that this person hasn't been able to share that with anyone else.

And so it's a great opportunity and I love it. But yes, it is. It is very difficult and it does not get better unless you surround yourself with people who care.

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Alexis

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Kevin

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Alexis

Teams use it to detect anomalies early, prove root cause and prevent repeat failures. And because you can run it in your own environment, you stay in control of your data and infrastructure.

Kevin

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Alexis

OK, I have one from mate booblay or made booble. And I think this is going to be fun because Kevin and I, I have to age Kevin in every episode, every episode. It's going to have a little bit of a take.

What is your take on work-life balance when you're young?

Kevin

Hmm. Well, so I'm weird, I guess not weird, but I'm my experience was that I had kids pretty young. My oldest is 15 and I'm 41.

So math is hard. But I was in my early 20s when I had a kid.

Alexis

You don't remember how old you were when you had your daughter?

Kevin

No, time is... I know how old she is. That's the important part.

I don't know when I... But what's funny, like when I was Alexis's age, I had I was married, two kids, a house. Like I...

We're very different position.

Alexis

I have...

Kevin

Don't start crying.

Alexis

No, I'm not. No, no, no. My eyes, my eyes are watering.

Alexis

It's glacic, it's glacic. I have, for reference, I have basically the least amount of responsibilities I've had in my entire life.

Kevin

Yeah, right. You've gone backward, not backwards, but you've gone more free and I've gone more, more responsibility. So it's hard because it's going to depend on what your work, like what your life looks like.

But for me, I was in a corporate job that I hated and didn't give me work-life balance. And my solution to that was to go to the public sector, was to find a job that allowed me to have the work-life balance that I wanted. And I feel like when you're young, you have to make the choice what's more important to you, your career or creating a family.

And you have to make that personal choice for yourself because it stinks that you kind of have to pick one. But you do, you have to, especially when you're young, go all in on your career where you spend nights and weekends studying for certifications and volunteering for extra work and maintenances and all that kind of stuff. Or you say, no, my priority is having kids and spending my nights doing board games and feeding kids and changing diapers.

Alexis

It's kind of like, it's kind of like, have you seen the meme? I remember this was really big when I was in college. I saw it all the time on Instagram and it was like a circle and it was split into three pieces.

And it said, you can only choose two, eight hours of sleep, get good grades, have friends. You can have friends and get good grades, but you're not sleeping. You can get sleep and good grades, but you won't have friends.

Or you can have friends and get sleep and fail all your classes. Like you can only choose two. Which two are you choosing?

And it kind of reminds me of that.

Kevin

Yeah, it's not sustainable to try to do both. You really, you can do both a little bit. Like half, half, but we believe curse words.

So half, but both of them.

Alexis

I've been cursed left and right.

Kevin

I know you're, I feel bad for our editors. Careful. You're going to cut this whole section now, Alexis.

Dang it. Yeah, so you can do both, but like you, I feel like you'll be spitting your wheels and you'll have an unhappy mind. And you won't be there for your kids, but you also won't be like making headway in your career.

So I feel like the best thing to do is just to pick one, whichever one is more important to you or aligns to your core values. And at least for the first few years of your career, go, you know, head deep into that. Would you agree, Alexis?

Alexis

No, I mean, again, I'm also in a very different scenario than you were. I don't have kids. It's not on the horizon for me anytime soon.

Knock on wood. That would be a difficult situation if I found out I was having kids right now. But I don't, I have never really believed in like work-life balance.

What I like, what I lean more towards is work-life integration. Like, I think you, all pieces of your life and maybe, I'm very, very blessed that both my job and my side hobby of content creation kind of float together and allow me to live a lifestyle the way that I want where I'm able to travel all the time and do things all the time and meet people in different countries and like do all this crazy stuff that you guys see on my Instagram. But I'm very much in a work-hard, play-hard season.

And I remember being, this was like during COVID. I mean, I was working a very normal like stay-at-home remote job for Cisco, right? I'd visit customers once or twice a week.

Outside of that, I was locked up in my home office in DC. And I remember like staring out the window in Arlington, Virginia. And I was like, every single, I live the same day every single day.

Every single day feels like Groundhog Day. And I got in like a big fight with my ex about it because he was like, well, is it a good day? Is it a good day?

You have a comfy bed and enough money in your bank account. And we ate dinner tonight. So like, it's a good day, right?

And I was like, I'm bored. I'm bored. And now I kind of just like flip my life upside down.

And I've been traveling full-time since April. And I've had all of these crazy experiences. And I work, I mean, for example, I woke up today at 7 o'clock.

I worked for three hours from 7 to 10. I immediately opened up my eyes, went downstairs, made breakfast, and sat on my computer while the rest of the house I'm in woke up. We all went skiing from 10 to 4.30. I came home, showered, did a little bit more work, checked my email and stuff like that because I'm in Europe and the U.S. just woke up. Did my check-ins with my boss. I'm on this podcast with Kevin right now. After this, I'm going to go heat up some dinner, take care of editing, not editing, but like reviewing edits on some videos for Megaport.

And I have a meeting at 12.30 in the morning today. Am I happy about taking a meeting at 12.30 in the morning? Not really.

It's not my favorite thing to do. Normally when I'm working U.S. hours in Europe, I try to work from 3 to 10.30. It usually scope creeps until midnight because, you know, work just kind of goes like that. I don't love knowing I have a meeting that's locked in on the calendar at 12.30, but that's the price that I pay for having the flexibility that I do to be skiing in Switzerland right now. And that's the sacrifice I'm willing to make, right? And I am trying to integrate my job into the things I want to do. And I think that if your job isn't, maybe this is like a really selfish hot take, but like if your job isn't giving you the flexibility to live the life that you want to live, you need a different job.

I'm also working in a house with 20 other people that are working very normal jobs in tech or finance that like they're very normal jobs and they're all doing the same thing that I do just under the radar. Like I do not exclusively have this privilege because of social media. I can name now 25 other people that are doing the same thing and half of them don't even have Instagram accounts.

Alexis

So disclaimer.

Kevin

I feel like the moral of your story is don't have kids.

Alexis

I would like to have kids. I would like to have kids. But like you said, it's a decision that you make.

You can only pick three. You can only pick three. Remember the circle?

Sleep. Good grades. Have friends.

Job. Flexibility. Children.

Money. I don't know.

Kevin

I just feel like your integration strategy is kind of like it works as long as all you're dealing with is like work. Once you start adding in family responsibilities and kids and all these other pieces, it's much harder for all that stuff to work around traveling.

Alexis

I disagree with that. I mean, I think I'm I am integrating wrong. I disagree with you again.

I I'm I'm integrating the travel into my life right now. But that's not to say in five years when I want to have children, I can't make a different decision and decide to integrate their lives into my work schedule to make my work flow around the time I want to spend with my children instead.

Alexis

Yeah.

Alexis

Yeah, for sure. I know a girl I used to work with. She was one of my neighbors and she would take her lunch break for two hours in the middle of the day every day.

In schedule, she had a stay at home nanny. Again, work and tech. She had money to hire a stay at home nanny.

But it's very privileged, right? But she the nanny would come. She would get her kids ready and do the whole morning routine and get some quality time with them in.

The nanny would come. She would go and work and then she would come back and do their lunch time and play time. And then they would go down for their nap with the nanny.

And then she would go back to work and work another four hours and then have the quality time after dinner to do homework and all the stuff when the nanny went home. And that was kind of like how she integrated her normal work schedule into her life.

Kevin

Yeah. I mean, I just OK, I'm on a soapbox here. So I might cut all this from the podcast.

I just don't want I don't want people to think that like we're dismissing the struggles they have in their life. Because sometimes people are dealing with situations that are not conducive to a life where they can do both. You know, like some people have to sacrifice and pick.

And if you have sick parents that are living with you and you're like having to be a caretaker for your parents and like you're also trying to hold down a job and you're also trying to have friends or whatever, like it's everyone's situation is a little different.

Alexis

You have to pick. You have to pick.

Kevin

And yeah. So I just there are situations where you can't you can't necessarily live the life you want because of your situation. And, you know, I think that's important to recognize that there are people out there struggling to do that.

That's all I want to say.

Alexis

I can sympathize with that. And I don't think you should not take responsibility for decisions that you made. But and sometimes like you get dealt a hand.

Right. And that's.

Kevin

It's hard. Like he's like the story you're saying. She works in tech engine.

Alexis

I know. I'm also like an optimist of like I will find a way. Like that's also just my personality is that no matter I don't care what the situation is, I am going to find a way to make it work.

But that's also just like how I am to my core. I'm also a little psychos.

Alexis

Next question.

Kevin

Okay. So next question is from Straight Silver. And he's he's he's asking some straight questions here.

Alexis

Oh God.

Kevin

So his username is accurate. Alexis, there's been some drama online.

Alexis

There's always drama online. I'm scared.

Kevin

There's always drama. But about a year ago, I think it was a year ago. Were you fired from Cisco?

Alexis

It's really funny, Kevin, because immediately after I announced I was leaving Cisco, I think I had like four different people that messaged me immediately and they were like, do you want to come on my podcast and talk about it? I said no to all of them. Here we are.

I was technically.

Kevin

Were you under like an NDA too or something?

Alexis

Not not like an NDA, but it was just.

Alexis

It was a how do I how do I say? I was voluntarily resigned.

Alexis

That is the literal term that was used. So I was not fired.

Kevin

So you quit.

Alexis

I was voluntarily resigned. The non-technical term is managed out. And I don't know if anyone else has ever experienced that.

Yeah, the to go into the full story would be a lot of drama. And probably some like he said, she said stuff, which is why I've never gotten into it online. There was things that I feel were very misleading around my move to Charlotte and my permission to move to Charlotte.

But long story short, I was voluntarily resigned for moving outside of my sales territory. And honestly, I mean, at the time I was I was so upset about it. I had been trying to move off of my team.

I was working in commercial. So Cisco has different segments of their business. They've got commercial.

They've got enterprise. They've got federal. They've got public sector.

And I had been wanting to move out of commercial and do a different segment of the business anyways. And so I was like, oh, no problem. I can get a job in another segment.

As it turns out, Cisco was on a hiring freeze the entire time I was looking for a job. So I couldn't get a job in another segment. And it was it was a.

Alexis

What would you say? Like. Perfect storm of the hiring freeze communication.

Alexis

Misleading things, in my opinion, and also me wanting to move states. Ultimately, you know, at the time I was very upset about it. I'm still a little bit upset about how everything went down, but I can look back now over a year later and say that it was probably one of the best things to happen to me, which I think at the time I never, I never would have imagined saying that.

Right. I would have been a lifer at Cisco. I would have been a lifer.

I never would have quit. No matter what the situation was, I never would have left that company. And I would still be working there right now.

And I probably would not have grown my my platforms as much. I would still be constrained to only talking about Cisco technology. I don't feel like I would have gotten as much experience in the industry.

Like, ultimately, leaving Cisco was the best thing or being managed out of Cisco or voluntarily resigned from Cisco, whatever you want to call it. It was one of the best things to ever happen to me. And I'm grateful it happened.

Looking back, I think I've gotten a lot of opportunities and growth that came from that. But sometimes when things happen like that in the moment, it was it's really, really hard to see the silver lining. Really, really hard.

And so I've I just never really talked about it. I just kind of said, I'm not there anymore and left it at that. Also, because like, I don't know, I'm even with my my the ending of my very long relationship I was in.

I like to wait before I talk about things with the Internet. Right. Sometimes I like to process them a little bit.

And I feel that you guys deserve to know what's going on in the moment when you're like, oh, my God, why are there no pictures of cats? And all of a sudden you're not. It looks like you're not living in Charlotte.

Like, I feel a level of accountability to tell you guys what's going on, whether it's like with work or personal, to keep everyone up to date. But sometimes the like behind the scenes or like the processing emotionally, I get a lot of questions about like, how are you? How are you doing?

Are you OK? Are you OK? I'm fine.

I'm fine. I just like to take a little bit to process things by myself before I decide whether or not I want to share that experience with the Internet.

Kevin

Yeah, that makes sense. I actually brings up two questions for you. Two follow up questions.

Number one, would you go back to Cisco if the situation was different?

Alexis

It's funny. I have people. I was literally at Cisco Live EMEA and someone was like, would you just come back and work for Cisco?

Like, if I hired you today, would you come back and work for Cisco? After leaving, and Cisco has a great culture. Like, I can't tell you how many, I have so many close friends and like ex-colleagues that work there.

And I really look up to the company. I think that after experiencing working at a smaller company, I really enjoy working for a smaller company. One with like slightly less politics and slightly less organization.

I just personally think it's a lot more fun. I also, I'd really love to work for myself one day. I think that's another big goal of mine.

So going back to work for Cisco is kind of completely contradictory to that. And also, I mean, Kevin and I were talking earlier about representing the industry, right? And industry trends and vendor agnostic solutions.

And going back to work to a vendor like isn't really conducive to that because it's not that I can't make content about things that are not Cisco if I'm working for Cisco, but it's kind of like anti my job. Right? If I'm working for Cisco, you got to be pro Cisco.

And I just kind of think it makes you a shitty engineer. Like personally, I studied aerospace, right? My whole experience in IT was working for Cisco.

I didn't really get a lot of like cross vendor experience until I started working for Megaport. And Megaport has all sorts of partners with, you know, Fortinet and Palo and like all these other guys that we can run on our platform. And so like, I didn't really have experience outside of Cisco until I left.

And I just think it makes you kind of a shitty engineer if like you only know one solution, right? I mean, you're recommending the best thing you know, but it's also the only thing you know. And if you only have a hammer, everything's a nail when it could be a screw.

I think that's the analogy I'm looking for.

Kevin

Don't ask me analogies. Me and analogies are not good.

Alexis

You want to use the right tool for the job. But if you don't know all the tools, how can you pick the right one?

Kevin

And that's where us as creators who we tried to educate and help people online. If we are representing a vendor that is, you know, we have to stick to the script or the solutions and the people can't really trust us to give them an unbiased, you know, point of view or everything we say is in the lens of that vendor that we represent.

Alexis

Right.

Kevin

So yeah, it makes sense.

Alexis

I think it would be really hard to go back to Cisco now because I think it's almost like a little bit anti my personal goals.

Kevin

Mm-hmm.

Kevin

Yeah. Makes sense.

Kevin

All right. So my second follow-up question here is, you mentioned having some processing your personal and feeling obligated to tell your audience about your personal stuff.

Alexis

Mm-hmm.

Kevin

Do you feel that, like, it's an actual obligation that, like, you have, like, they deserve, the audience, the followers deserve to know information about your personal life?

Alexis

People yearn for the truth, Kevin.

Kevin

But if so, like, I feel like, you know...

Alexis

They yearn for the drama. My life is chaotic and people want the details.

Kevin

But it's interesting because, okay, I'm not saying we're movie stars. That's the easiest analogy for me. It's like Brad Pitt, right?

And I look just like him. So this is a good analogy. Brad Pitt isn't a movie, right?

His job is to act in that movie. And then he's only famous because people like him for his work. And then they kind of feel like they have an obligation or an access to him.

They see him out in person. And be like, hey, you know, take a picture with me. Give me an autograph.

Because he's a public figure. And I'm torn on that personally of, like, do people deserve access to my personal life?

Alexis

Are you owed? Are they owed an explanation?

Kevin

Yeah, like, I'm providing them a service. I make videos that educate and help them. And I do AMAs and I do all this stuff.

And they exchange that by giving me likes and follows and that kind of stuff. But nowhere in there is there an exchange of personal information. They aren't deserving of my personal life.

I choose to give them certain access to it.

Alexis

Yeah, bits and pieces when you choose to.

Kevin

Yeah, but like, how do you determine what the boundary is there of what your personal life, what you're choosing to share? Like, you went through a very public breakup with your boyfriend. I wouldn't say it was very public.

Alexis

I made, like, a couple videos about it.

Kevin

But videos of you crying. Videos of you being emotional.

Alexis

Like, things that I would personally never post.

Kevin

I know, but I just wouldn't do that.

Alexis

I think it depends. I think it depends on every creator. And, like, also what kind of, like, how well you want your followers to know you.

Like, something I think it's, I really enjoy when people feel like they know me. Like, I enjoy, I wear my heart on my sleeve if you guys have met me in real life. I'll tell anyone anything.

Anyone anything. All the time. Like, there are very little boundaries.

If you meet me in real life and we are complete strangers, you will know everything about my life within, like, 35 minutes.

Kevin

Alexis.

Alexis

Everything that's going on.

Kevin

That's called trauma dumping, and that's not healthy.

Alexis

Is it, though?

Kevin

You need boundaries, Alexis.

Alexis

I, but, I mean, maybe. Maybe I just need to do a better job. But I really enjoy, like, feeling like I know people on a deep level and feeling like people know me on a deep level.

And I feel like you only really get there by being open and vulnerable and sharing things. Like, you only have close friends at the level, like, your friends are only as close as you let them be. And that's, that's, I mean, I know we're talking about, like, we were talking about followers, but even with, like, friendships in your personal life, your relationships that you have with your friends and family are only as deep as you let them get by sharing vulnerable things.

And I'm not saying that, like, everyone deserves to know that. Like, I don't share, like, everything I share with my friends and family on the internet. But there are levels that I will share because I think it's something that's important to me to, like, be a little vulnerable and to feel known.

And when I share those things, usually what I get in my DMs and my comments is that other people are easily able to relate to that experience. Like, a video I'd really like to make that I've kind of dragged my feet on is when, and this was, like, three, four months ago. I mean, if we're, like, putting a timeline on this, we're, what, nine, ten months out from me moving out of Charlotte and, like, turning my life upside down.

But, like, back around the three, four month mark, when I was making some of those videos about, like, hey, I've moved out of Charlotte, I'm going through a breakup, this is a big life transition. I remember my dad, I was at home with my parents and my dad walked in and he was like, why do you share stuff like that on the internet? It's so unprofessional.

What if some executive is gonna see that and they're gonna think differently about you because you just posted a video of you crying? And, true, true. That's a risk I'm taking.

But at the same time, there's so many people that can have things going on in their personal life and also show up completely professionally at work. Like, you were talking about, you know, having a sick or dying parent that you're caring for, like, you know, something at home blows up in your face. A lot of people assume that if your personal life is blowing up, you're not able to show up effectively and do your job.

And maybe that's true in some cases. Because it's not true in all cases. I really want to make a video about that, right?

Like, my life completely fell apart. And I am still able to effectively perform. The fun story, and I know we're almost running out of time here, when Kevin and I, when I launched the idea of this podcast, if you guys are still with us, we're like an hour and 15 minutes into this, when I launched the idea of having this podcast, literally I had messaged Ethan, who owns Packet Pushers, on LinkedIn, and I was like, hey, I have this really crazy idea, can you schedule a meeting?

We scheduled this meeting three weeks out. Okay? The night before I pitched Ethan this podcast was when I broke up with my ex-boyfriend.

And so I showed up to this meeting with Ethan, literally with no sleep. I had no sleep, I had no makeup on, by all intensive, like, for all intensive purposes, I looked like a complete disaster. And so I get on the phone with Ethan and the Packet Pushers gang, and I'm explaining the concept for this podcast and why I want to do this show and why I'm so excited about it and what difference I think it's going to make, and my voice is raspy, I'm, because I was crying all night, like, I looked like hell and I'm like very intently explaining what I want to do.

And Ethan is like, you know, Alexis, I got to say, I'd love to support you in this, I think it's a great idea. Are you sure you're able to take on more work? Like, you kind of look like you're having a hell of a time, I'm not going to lie.

And I said, Ethan, listen, this is, I'm very passionate about doing this, I just ended a seven-year-long relationship last night, this meeting is very important to me, I was not going to reschedule it for three weeks from now, I want it to happen now. And I know I look crazy right now, I will have my shit together by the time you launch this, because it is something that I want to do. Right?

And again, you can have things blow up in your life and still show up at work. And I'm equally passionate about that, I should probably make the TikTok while I'm like, heated, because you got me going. But, anyways, that was my rant.

Kevin

For anyone who's wondering what our like, for anyone who's wondering what our like, FaceTime conversations sound like, that was basically it, where we ask each other questions, and then eventually, Alexis will just start talking at me about something, and she just will go off, and I just sit here going, and then I'll start multitasking something, and call back, oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Alexis

Okay, anyways.

Kevin

That's the behind-the-scenes conversations.

Alexis

We are like, so off-topic now. Let's do...

Kevin

Alright, so we're getting...

Alexis

One more, one more...

Kevin

We're getting past an hour.

Alexis

Yeah, one more question, and then we'll wrap. And I think this one's a good one, based on the conversation we just had.

Alexis

In an alternate universe, what career would you have?

Kevin

Weirdly enough, I've gotten this question a lot in my Friday AMAs on Instagram.

Alexis

Oh, amazing.

Kevin

Yeah, like, people are really interesting on this. And, so, for a little while, I was in tech, and I was going through a life transition, and I was going divorced, and I was depressed, and my life was falling apart, basically. And instead of going to the Alps and going skiing I hate you so much.

and living the best life possible, What are you trying to say right now? No, just saying, we all deal with things differently. But very, honestly, very similar.

I looked at becoming a park ranger. What? Yeah, I want to become a park ranger.

And just, work in a park, you live in the park, and you just, fix fences and hiking trails, and deal with people, and ski off on my own in the woods.

Alexis

I never knew this.

Kevin

So, I still get, actually, I signed up for job alerts of park ranger jobs in my area, from the national parks in my area. And I still get emails, saying like, oh, a job popped up that fits your description or whatever. And I don't unsubscribe, because it's still like a little part of me.

It was like, maybe one day, maybe one day I'll just go to a park.

Alexis

I feel like that's part of working in IT. There's a part of your brain, where you always just kind of want to go off in the woods, and just disappear.

Kevin

Yeah. Get away from technology, get away from all the things, and just, be out and touch grass, basically.

Alexis

What do you think I'm doing? Why do you think I'm out here?

Kevin

I know, but you're, I don't know, you're doing it successfully. I was like, you do it beautifully. You're doing it like, successfully, and you're like, you're a boss, a boss bee.

I won't curse, because I don't want to give our editors a break.

Alexis

You were going to be park ranger in Tampa, Florida?

Kevin

Yeah, there's no great parks around us. It's swamp and flat land.

Alexis

The Everglades is a great park.

Kevin

That's scary. I don't want to do that. That's like crocodile, or alligator, we don't have crocodiles here.

Alligators and snakes, I don't want to do that stuff. I want to go to like, a paved area.

Alexis

What hiking trail are you going to maintain, if it's paved, Kevin?

Kevin

I can sweep it, and blow it off with a leaf blower. I don't know. I'm not outdoorsy.

I like camping every once in a while, but I'm not like a burly, outdoorsy guy, you know, like I can't do that kind of stuff.

Alexis

And you were going to be a park ranger?

Kevin

At like, Brandon Park. Like, it's nothing, like, nothing crazy. The pay was, was terrible.

Absolute garbage. I would have to live with roommates, and have my kids share a cot, in the living room or something. So it wasn't, it wasn't every fleshed out.

I'm saying like, you had this beautiful idea of, skiing, traveling the world, going to Europe, all that. My idea was to live in a, like a, crappy one bedroom apartment, and live in a, like, different levels.

Alexis

I mean, my original, my original idea was to live in a van, and van camp. And everyone was like, what are you going to do?

Alexis

Down by the river!

Alexis

By the river! I was like, yes, exactly! That's exactly what I'm going to do.

Actually, there's a girl in the co-living that's living in a van from Norway, and her van is beautiful.

Kevin

Oh, I bet. These people do, like, they do it right. Alright, so, we have to stay on track.

Alexis

Alternate career, alternate career.

Kevin

What would your career be?

Alexis

Um, well, growing up, I said I always wanted to be a dolphin trainer. That was my childhood. My childhood.

Kevin

I was not expecting, I don't know what I expected, just not that. I don't, like, air, like a pilot, or something. I did not expect a dolphin trainer.

Kevin

Okay, alright, dolphin trainer, um.

Alexis

Okay. Okay. Okay.

Kevin

Alright, why a dolphin trainer, Alexis?

Alexis

When I, let me finish the story.

Kevin

I'm trying, I'm trying to tee you up again.

Alexis

When I was a little kid,

Alexis

I always said I wanted to be a dolphin trainer, and then I decided I wanted to be a pilot, because my family never traveled growing up, and I thought if I was a pilot, I'd get to travel, and then I realized how much student debt you had to go into to become a pilot, and I was like, I'm not willing to take out that much student debt, which, like, jokes on me, because I ended up in a ton of debt anyways, um, and my eyes are too bad to join the military, so I can't be a military pilot and get it for free, and that's how I ended up being an aerospace engineer.

Alexis

Gotcha.

Alexis

Now, that being said, alternate career. There was a point in time where I considered going back into aerospace, um, when I was working in IT for, like, three years, I was, like, struggling really, really bad with my boss, I considered going back into aerospace. Now, considering everything and the journey I've been on, if I was to pick an alternate career, I think journalism would be really cool, um, and I'm almost, I almost want to, dabble in that a little bit, um, moving forward.

If you guys have seen any of, like, the conference wrap-ups I've done, um, I think, like, doing, like, tech journalism would be really cool, and writing, broadcast journalism, like, videos? Yeah, like, like, just, like, broadcast journalism, or, like, um, um, sort of, like, writing little blogs and wrap-ups and doing, like, some more formal stuff on camera, like, newscasting. Like, I think, I think that could be kind of, kind of cool.

Kevin

Tech Bites with Digital Bite.

Alexis

I hate you. Um, thanks for making, thanks for making fun of my dream. I didn't make fun of yours.

Alexis

I guess I did a little bit.

Kevin

A little bit. Not as much as Dolph Trainor. That's a relationship.

You know? I, I, I consider you, a little sister or something, where, like, I, I, it's my job to make fun of you and to, to tease you a little bit.

Alexis

Yeah. To put you down a peg.

Kevin

Otherwise, your head would be way up here.

Alexis

Maybe the next time we do a Q&A, it'll be Life Advice with Kevin, where Kevin just gives me his life advice about the decisions I'm currently making. And, I'm sure that people listening, I, I hope that you guys listening to this would get a kick out of it because either you're in Kevin's situation or you're in my situation.

Kevin

No, I think you're, I think your situation's good. Like, your love life and your dating situation is terrible. We're not talking about that here.

We're gonna have a whole episode on that.

Alexis

We're not talking about that here.

Alexis

Anyways, um, well, thanks, thanks to coming, thanks to coming. Thanks for coming to another episode.

Alexis

Thanks for coming. Thanks for listening to another episode of Life in Uptime. Um, we're your hosts, Kevin and Alexis.

Kevin

Mostly, we're mostly your hosts.

Alexis

Um, and if you guys have any other questions you'd like us to answer but we didn't get to, um, DM us on Instagram. This was fun. I'm sure we'll do another one.

And I forget word for word what the closer is but something something keep your uptime high.