If You’re Not Taking Advantage of Cisco DevNet You’re Out of Your Mind

I mean it. And although I have neither the psychology degree nor the clinical experience to back up that diagnosis, I do have this: A newfound understanding of just what it is that Cisco offers through DevNet, where they offer it, and how you can get your hands on it.

First off, let’s deal with the name. “DevNet.” Don’t let it fool you. I thought that meant it was only for developers. A space where they could get together and talk about…I don’t know…all the developing they’re doing. But it turns out that DevNet is really as much about teaching non-developers how to write software for Cisco products as it is for existing developers to raise their collective game.

How do they do it?

Well, if you’re at a Cisco Live in the DevNet Zone, they do it right there. You can spend the whole 5 days of the show immersed in training sessions from dawn ‘til dusk. But if you’re not there, you’re still totally covered. You see, through the DevNet site you can access hundreds of learning labs 24×7 at no cost whatsoever. You can also access the documentation to back up those lessons. You can talk about what you’re learning on the discussion boards. And if you want to experiment with Cisco products, but don’t have the cash to just set up an environment for that purpose, well, you can jump right into a DevNet Sandbox and do it for free. Experiment your heart out. Make sure you reserve it in advance, but then let it rip.

Amazing, right? I think it sounds like one of the coolest programs that Cisco offers, and I have to tell you that I’ve barely scratched the surface as far as program details. If you’d like to hear more of those, tune in to this week’s Cloud Unfiltered Podcast. In it, I interview Hank Preston of the Cisco DevNet team (the guy in the picture), and he explains to me how the whole program started, why it started, what they have to offer, who it’s for, and how to get involved.

https://alln-extcloud-storage.cisco.com/ciscoblogs/5ac770ffec582.mp4

Here are the links if you’d like to check out the full episode: YouTube | SoundCloud | iTunes

If you’d like to look at previous episodes as well, they can be found in our archive.

And finally, if you’d prefer to go straight to the assets Hank mentions, here are the relevant links:

DevNet Home Page

DevNet Learning Labs

Sandbox

Developer Blogs

Hank’s Twitter Feed

Enjoy!