My career has been building and upgrading networks in K-12 education. At the risk of exposing my age I still remember the sound of a broken link in a token ring network. We couldn’t wait to replace it with Ethernet. My responsibilities included installing switches, building servers including domain controllers, and monitoring the network. When administrative staff began asking for wireless access, we purchased a few autonomous access points and put them in conference rooms and libraries. After all you just put up the APs and it works just like magic right?
The need for more wireless coverage led to the need for training on how to meet our customers’ needs and which product would suit those needs best. My husband and I were working for different school systems at the time so we decided to work together and evaluate as many different products as possible. We compared notes and agreed Aerohive was the best solution for our school districts. We had the privilege of learning from David Coleman in different Aerohive classes. I remember my first class like it was yesterday. When David Coleman began explaining how wireless worked my mind was overloaded. I didn’t think I was smart enough to understand wireless. We added access points as the budget allowed but we didn’t have full coverage.
Two years after we began implementing Aerohive, I switched school districts. The school district I’m working for now uses all Cisco products. That was a big learning curve. When I was given the responsibility of the wireless network I wanted everything to be perfect. I remember thinking Prime maps were all I needed. When my husband, Robert Haviland, told me they were pretty but that wasn’t what I needed to design wireless I was crushed. I thought maybe he said that because he didn’t know Cisco.
Our school district works closely with Presidio and that’s how I met Sam Clements. I shared with him what my husband said and his response was “Your husband is a smart man.” Sam agreed to be my wireless mentor to teach me the ways of wireless. I began studying and trying to learn as much as I could about how wireless works and the standards. I started with CWTS and CCNA. My husband and I decided to start our CWNP journey. Once we passed our CWNA we had a desire to learn everything we could about wireless. We didn’t take the tests in the same order or even the same version of the CWAP. After three years of giving up social time with our friends to have study weekends we did it. We passed all the tests and decided to submit our CWNE applications together. I still haven’t read his essays and he hasn’t read mine but we made it. Maybe we will read what the other one wrote one day but for now we are enjoying the feeling of accomplishing the certification.
