Some will say that DevNet began at Cisco Reside! in Might of 2014 when the occasion itself was celebrating its twenty fifth anniversary. The 2nd flooring of Moscone Heart South supplied the house for the very first DevNet Zone the place the ragtag group of DevNet workers discovered themselves immersed in a sea of automation neophytes from the minute the doorways opened. After scrambling for 2 months to organize and a sleepless weekend internet hosting the very first DevNet hackathon, selling Cisco applied sciences like MSE, Jabber, and Cisco Prime, the already exhausted workers was energized to seek out so many individuals excited to find out about APIs and coding. The power was excessive, the vibe was palpable, and John Chambers was within the room. DevNet had arrived.
At first…
Some may additionally say that DevNet began in December of 2013, when, after months of an intense effort by an impressed group of doc writers, builders, QA, DBAs, methods architects, and BDMs, developer.cisco.com launched. Introducing the world to Cisco docs that weren’t PDFs and a intelligent innovation referred to as the Sandbox. DevNet was Cisco’s foray into the software program world from its {hardware} roots. Now, these ISVs and SIs who needed to construct options might check out Cisco’s programmability alternatives with out constructing their very own labs and spending tens to a whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars}.
However the fact is DevNet began 10 years in the past, this week, in a handful of conferences held in Spherical Rock, TX, and I had the fortune of being there. The precursor to DevNet was referred to as Cisco Developer Community (CDN) and previous to that it was Cisco Expertise Developer Program (CTDP). Each of those packages have been profitable in their very own proper, however the focus was all the time solely on companions. DevNet was meant to be a “startup inside an organization” that supplied a real enablement program for all builders. The first purpose was to take away the boundaries to entry that lay in entrance of these wanting to construct options on prime of Cisco platforms. At that tête-à-tête, the foundations for DevNet have been laid, and have guided this system ever since.
The primary DevNet Zone, 2014 Cisco Reside US in San Francisco, revealed overwhelming curiosity in Cisco’s software program route
The “hair on hearth” years
The primary few years felt like we have been flying round with our hair on hearth. Some issues have been unbelievable, just like the preliminary launch of Studying Labs, our partnership with Networking Academy, and the DevNet Zone, a staple now at Cisco Reside!. Different issues we found, like week after week of hackathons the place college students barely understood Cisco applied sciences not to mention needed to construct one thing with them. However whether or not it was successful or a failure, we all the time have been capable of give attention to the important thing to every thing; serving to folks with code constructing and API utilization to make their jobs, options, and organizations higher.
As our expertise grew, we knew we wanted to actually construct our neighborhood to scale the message, and that’s the place the actual enjoyable started. First off, we launched DevNet Categorical, an “in-the-box” program that allowed our Gross sales System Engineers to take DevNet’s programmability content material and ship it, with interactive labs, on to their buyer base. Over three years, this program grew to become so standard that we have been holding or supporting 300+ occasions per 12 months, together with pre-Cisco Reside! workshops internet hosting 100+ builders at a time.
Following the success of that effort got here DevNet CREATE, our standalone occasion began in 2017. The impetus for CREATE was that it’s “greater than a Cisco convention.” And that it was. Lots of of builders got here to DevNet CREATE to pow-wow on matters referring to DevOps, SecOps, ML, philanthropic expertise, and basic software program growth. To not point out the event-within-an-event Camp CREATE the place 30 chosen builders have been break up into innovation groups to construct cutting-edge options. Let’s simply say you haven’t lived till you’ve traversed and recognized your community in VR. It was in contrast to something Cisco had ever seen!
A neighborhood that is aware of how one can work, innovate, and have enjoyable doing it!
That phrase, “neighborhood,” actually doesn’t seize the complete impact of the folks that contributed to it. Yr after 12 months, occasion after occasion, we benefitted from companions, SEs, learners, clients, and inner engineers that supported and unfold the phrase of DevNet. Community engineers who had been doing their job for a number of many years have been now seeing their colleagues writing code to construct options and make their job extra attention-grabbing and needed in on the enjoyable. College students and earlier in profession technologists noticed the worth in including automation understanding to their operations training. At DevNet CREATE we might try, as finest we might, to acknowledge those that actually acted as an additional advocate for DevNet by presenting them with our Creator Awards. This recognition confirmed that we weren’t simply paying consideration, however actually appreciated our neighborhood.
The DevNet Group celebrates changing into 500,000 members sturdy on the
“DevNet Social Membership” occasion at Cisco Reside in Orlando, Florida
Nevertheless it’s not all work and no play. DevNet knew how one can have enjoyable. The capstone for our neighborhood social life was the DevNet Social Membership; an inclusive social gathering for all our fellow DevNet-ers at Cisco Reside! Flamenco dancers and rock cellists ushered within the good occasions as we celebrated with everybody in our neighborhood.
DevNet will get skilled
Piggybacking on that success, we discovered that our efforts in training, particularly with Cisco Studying Community and Networking Academy, wanted validation. That’s the place DevNet’s certification program got here in. Over the course of two years, whereas doing ALL of the above, our diligent group labored with our colleagues in Cisco Studying and Certifications to construct exams and course materials that might be worthy of the model of a Cisco Certification. If you’ve by no means written examination questions for a number of ranges of technical exams, I’d invite you to strive it someday. It’s a maddening foray into being VERY choosy about wording and Bloom’s hierarchy of studying. We made it via although, and all that effort culminated in Cisco’s first launch of a programmability certification monitor in February of 2020.
Then, as everyone knows, the world was hit with calamity. However, via it, DevNet adjusted. Digital occasions grew to become a necessity as we held DevNet CREATE and the DevNet Zone at Cisco Reside! on-line for hundreds of attendees. We have been capable of facilitate digital exams for individuals who needed to ensure they used the lock-down time to bolster their resume. It even gave us time to work on some concepts we had swirling at the back of our heads however by no means had time to give attention to, just like the Snack Minute video collection.
Extra to come back
Fortuitously, we’ve been capable of return to reside occasions holding our first DevNet Zone in individual at Cisco Reside! 2022. It was a extra reserved occasion with security protocols in place, however the viewers for programmability and automation content material was simply as hungry as ever. The week proved profitable with full lecture rooms and workshops. We noticed an excellent greater response for the occasions that adopted in 2023 in Amsterdam and Las Vegas.
The DevNet workers poses within the DevNet Zone at Cisco Reside US 2023
By way of all of it, I used to be lucky to see DevNet and its folks develop, change, pivot, and in some cases, survive. It’s been the most effective and most attention-grabbing problem of my profession. I all the time inform anybody who asks (and a few of those that don’t) that I like my job and I’m by no means bored. It is because I imagine in what we do right here and the folks we assist in our neighborhood. There are solely a handful of us from the unique group remaining within the group, however the affect of the entire a whole bunch of folks that made DevNet what it’s throughout 10 years can’t be overstated. As we glance to the subsequent 10 years, I’m extraordinarily enthusiastic about DevNet’s subsequent chapter, however it’s all the time enjoyable to look again and see the place we’ve come from.
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