“Truly and sincerely, it completely changed my professional development.”
Editor’s Note: In its 25th anniversary year, Cisco Networking Academy celebrates educating the learners who connect the world in collaboration with our unmatched ecosystem of partnerships including governments, academic institutions, and nonprofits. In fiscal 2022, we had 29,300 instructors and 11,800 academies around the world offering our IT and cybersecurity courses.
Alvaro is a part of making this possible.
A matter of choice
Alvaro says he didn’t choose Cisco Networking Academy. It chose him.
While he had always had an interest in technology “I had not found a teaching platform or system that convinced me to obtain complete and comprehensive learning,” he says.
Clearly the Networking Academy Program content spoke to him, with its well-organized materials and step-by-step exercises: Since he started studying Networking Academy courses in 2015, he has completed 16 courses, including all the introductory ones, most of the Essentials, and a number of professional-level courses, including CCNA 1, 2, and 3 and CCNA CyberOps.
“As an Academy Support Center leader for the Cisco Academy at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH), I need to know the content of most courses firsthand,” he says, adding that the best way is to complete the courses as a student, before sharing the knowledge as an instructor.
This approach has its challenges though. Alvaro had to balance the time in between work and study and felt the need to complete the courses as quickly as possible, so he could get on and teach them to his students.
Revitalizing a career
Alvaro credits the Networking Academy program with revitalizing his career. Before he started with the program, he’d felt professionally stagnant. “I didn't feel fulfilled in terms of knowledge,” he says, “I felt outdated, behind, I needed something more, something to guide me, and Cisco gave me that with its content.”
“Truly and sincerely, it completely changed my professional development,” he says.
As TICs & Cybersecurity Training Analyst at UNAH, Alvaro is also responsible for supporting other academies, and is part of the Instructor Training Center team at Cisco UNAH – Centro de Recursos de Aprendizaje Academy.
Alvaro has also been involved in opening new academies in neighboring Nicaragua. “The biggest challenge has been to convince institutions that they will have a quality curriculum and continuous support,” he says, adding that “there are excellent professionals in Nicaragua willing to take on the challenge and turn them into opportunities.”
Turning learning into opportunities
Alvaro continues to turn his learning into opportunities too and is continuing to study Networking Academy courses. “I am convinced that I am a Team Cisco member,” he says. “The learning paths in most of its areas of specialization are very complete, and their theory-practice methodology is the best I have ever known.”
Alvaro’s advice for prospective students is to overcome the first hurdle—getting started. “Once you complete the first course, no matter which one or at what level you start, you won't be able to stop.”
***
Explore more inspiring success stories at netacad.com/careers/success-stories.
Ready to begin your learning journey? Explore all of our courses.