Inside the Aruba Mobile First Expert Hall of Fame: Sven Dregorius

Meet Sven Dregorius, Aruba Mobile First Expert (AMFX) and Technical Consultant with Networkers AG. I caught up with Sven to find out how he got started in mobility, why he became an AMFX and recollections of an ice-cold project.

The AMFX badge is the highest level of achievement within the Aruba certification program. The AMFX Hall of Fame celebrates the elite network professionals that chose to align themselves with Aruba, the most innovative industry disruptor.

Company: Networkers AG (Hagen, Germany)
Title/Role: Technical Consultant (Network Infrastructure)
LinkedIn: Sven Dregorius
Airheads Profile: @dregoriuss
Certifications:

Jenna: How did you begin your career journey in mobility?
Sven: At my last job in 2012, we compared HP MSM with Dell PowerConnect-W (Aruba OEM) for a project with mobile devices on trucks. The request was for the truck driver to be able to download their route plan early in the morning in the office and send back a success message or report using the smart device in the evening. We compared the small AP-105 and AP-93 to those really big MSM APs. With all the features like RAP, VIA and excessive configuration possibilities, we were sure that the Aruba OEM would be the best fit for a long term WLAN.

This was the beginning of my career with mobility and it was very early in my career as it was in my apprenticeship. My ex-colleagues needed a few years of persuasiveness to let the WLAN grow from 10 to many more access points.

In 2014, I decided to change my job role and started at Networkers AG in Hagen, Germany as a technical consultant for network infrastructure. The new job was focused on routing, switching and Aruba Wi-Fi. We soon started to gain knowledge in ClearPass as well and had some projects with “creative” customers at the beginning of our ClearPass journey. This helped to learn a lot about the possibilities ClearPass has.

Jenna: What made you invest in learning about Aruba and becoming an Aruba Mobile First Expert?
Sven: I already had the ACMP and ACCP certification and we focused on ClearPass installations, so our Aruba Partner Account Manager Patric Kaufmann suggested to go for ACCX. I never thought of doing one of the lab exams before, because there was no motivation to invest time and money. A colleague and I decided to give it a try and planned the exam for June 2017.

A few weeks afterwards (after checking my mails nearly every hour for the result mail) I got my result “Pass” and I felt very relieved. I shared the achievement on LinkedIn and asked the community “What next?!” Someone just said “AMFX” and I had never heard of it before. I started to research and planned to do it. In the following six months I managed to register for the two other exams—ACMX and ACDX—and passed both.

Jenna: How has becoming an AMFX affected your interactions with customers, colleagues, and managers?
Sven: The appreciation and acknowledgement increased a lot from people who know the value and challenge of lab exams.

Jenna: What are the top three things that you gained from being an Aruba AMFX?
Sven: It is:

Self-esteem
Recognition
A bit of weight from the best surprise cake I’ve ever had. And, a big thanks to Patric for the surprise. ?

Jenna: Can you share a story that called upon your expert knowledge? Anything anecdotal from customers, employers, partners where you used your expert knowledge?

Sven: Two years ago I had to troubleshoot the WLAN for a cold-storage warehouse (~3°C/37°F). The customer had connectivity issues in an area with the highest client activity. On the first walkthrough I saw that the AP was mounted with a 90-degree rotation. I mentioned that this was not a proper design but it should still work.

I decided to do a small site survey and found the signal was way too low. After checking the provisioning details, I realized that there was a fault with the configured antenna gain for this one AP. It seemed that someone provisioned this AP with an antenna gain of more than 20dBi instead of 4dBi or so. The result was ultra-low output power. I reprovisioned it with the correct settings and the results: Customer happy, me freezing cold.

Jenna: Can you share a piece of advice for individuals who want to become an AMFX?
Sven: Learn to work under pressure without freaking out! The exam is eight hours and you can do all the tasks if you learn to prioritize what you need to do first. Don’t waste too much time on things that won’t get done the perfect way because a few points are better than no points at other areas.

Jenna: What is your favorite piece of personal tech?
Sven: Maybe this sounds boring, but I have to say it’s my smartphone. It’s amazing how powerful these devices are today.

The best accessories I bought in the last year is a Bluetooth- and WLAN-enabled console adapter. Needless to say, it’s not comfortable to do configurations on your smartphone or tablet, but it’s way faster than booting up your notebook and wiring all the cables if just a small change needs to be done.

Jenna: What is your favorite internet meme?
Sven: This sums it up.