cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
cancel
1480
Views
0
Helpful
9
Replies

Cisco Ask The Expert Prize Winner - October 7th - Thank you Cisco!

marikakis
Level 7
Level 7

Hi all,

I don't know if you had the chance to join the recent Ask The Expert Live Event with Lucien Avramov. I did and guess what? I won a free subscription to the Cisco Live Virtual environment!

I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I exploited a bug in the rules of the game to win. Every know and then during the presentation we were presented with a poll question and the participants in the poll had a probability to win such a prize in each question. I downloaded the .pdf and read the rules again. It seemed that the first person to answer a question would win. You can guess what happened next. I started clicking radio buttons before reading the content. I answered that I've never heard about NX-OS before. At that point I think I heard one of the people from cisco saying "we already have a 'never heard about it'"! I can't remember the last time I laughed so much. Hopefully my hotel room was really sound proof. In the next question I think I said there are more than 60 Nexus in my environment! Now, that makes sense!

I suspect I won more than once, but the rules didn't have so many bugs and there was a limit of 1 prize per participant. Cisco will probably change the rules (make them more random) next time if they want some honest answers. Nevertheless, it was a great experience and don't miss any future events. You never know what Cisco's Santa Claus has there for you! 

Thank you Cisco! Thank you so much!

Kind Regards,
Maria

7 Accepted Solutions

Accepted Solutions

Daniel Bruhn
Level 8
Level 8

Maria,

I can always count on you to find a way to game the system   I better go to our admin tool to be sure all your CSC points are legit   I've passed along your feedback to the team who handled this event.  It sounds like they need to do some work on the rules.

Cheers,

Dan

Cheers, Dan

View solution in original post

Jon Marshall
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Maria

Much as i respect your networking knowledge and much as you would be a very sad loss to CSC you are wasted in the field of networking. A career as a master criminal awaits you i think

Jon

View solution in original post

Rob Huffman
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Hi Maria,

Great story my friend! I can just visualize you clicking away and

throwing out some "never heard about it" answers ...hahahahaha!

Sweet!

It's not like you won a Million US dollar$ so I wouldn't worry too much

plus, like my Dad used to say;

"Rules are meant to be broken"

Cheers!

Rob

PS: enjoy your free subscription to the Cisco Live Virtual environment

if anybody deserves it, you do, Maria!

View solution in original post

Hey Maria,

Good stuff my friend

Anyone who takes the time to read the rules of the game deserves a prize

in my books! Plus taking into account the severe 100ms RTT disadvantage

is worth a second prize. "It's all about the Network" . Plus it's always best

to choose the funniest answer, we can all use the levity

In regards to Jon's keen observation about your criminal potential, he's probably

right but you are just too darn honest. That will never work in a true criminal

enterprise .....hahahahahahaha!!

Like the Bob Dylan song "Forever Young" Mahesh is most correct. Don't ever let

the child inside disappear!

Cheers!

Huff

View solution in original post

BTW: Where is Leo lately? (Yes Leo, I missed you ). Should I expect an Interview with Leo Laohoo soon or am I waiting in vein?

I'm here, Maria.

Interview me???  Why?  What did I do wrong this time???  And I'm sure it wasn't me.  I was half-certain I asked if she was 35 (age and not year of birth) before configuring the port!

if you notice above my tendency to confess my "crimes"

Funny you should mention this.  In Australia, as a network person we tend to follow the rule-of-thumb of "innocent until caught".

View solution in original post

A career as a master criminal awaits you i think

I went to install some switches to a site.  When I got there the person-in-charge was in a foul mood and when I asked to get access to a particular room, she said she didn't have the keys nor the time to look for them and walked away.  She also mentioned that the room is locked as per "security" requirement.  Since I was standing outside the door I looked down at the locks ... Hmmmm ... evil thoughts.

I whipped out my "collection" of hotel room key cards, choose one and proceeded to pry the lock open.  Viola!

Got in, did the deed and walked out.

Imagine to her surprise (the next day) when she found out that the building was fully functional (network wise)!

BTW:  The trainee who came with me asked me if I ever did time in prison.  He he he ...

View solution in original post

David Williams
Level 1
Level 1

Ha!  I also attended that event Maria.  I was wondering who these people were that had never heard of NX-OS and had over 60 Nexus switches.  Now I know.  It was you!  Congrats on the prize!

View solution in original post

9 Replies 9

Daniel Bruhn
Level 8
Level 8

Maria,

I can always count on you to find a way to game the system   I better go to our admin tool to be sure all your CSC points are legit   I've passed along your feedback to the team who handled this event.  It sounds like they need to do some work on the rules.

Cheers,

Dan

Cheers, Dan

Jon Marshall
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Maria

Much as i respect your networking knowledge and much as you would be a very sad loss to CSC you are wasted in the field of networking. A career as a master criminal awaits you i think

Jon

Thank you both for your responses.

Dan, you bet I'm gonna game the system in every way I can. For example, I left this thread marked as a question so that I can give to people some resolved check marks. My points are legit though and the people I respond to in CSC typically make 5 times or more money than I do when employed in my country, so me going out of my way to increase my points instead of my money doesn't make much sense, does it?

Dear CSC member, Are you tired from posting helpful answers all the time and not getting any resolved check marks? Maria has the solution! Post something funny in my thread and I will consider my laughing issue resolved. Temporarily of course.

BTW: Where is Leo lately? (Yes Leo, I missed you ). Should I expect an Interview with Leo Laohoo soon or am I waiting in vein?

Jon, I appreciate your appreciation for my criminal potential. I have thought of that as well. However, if you notice above my tendency to confess my "crimes", you bet I'm gonna end up in jail. In that case, I'll have my lawyer arrange for me to do some community service in CSC, so I'm gonna end up in here one way or the other (probably with a new Criminal badge and stricter moderation)!

I haven't strictly broken the rules of the game, but I understand that people might consider my behavior unethical. If anyone insists, I can give my prize back to cisco to give it to somebody else. That was overly dramatic, wasn't it?

BTW: Where is Leo lately? (Yes Leo, I missed you ). Should I expect an Interview with Leo Laohoo soon or am I waiting in vein?

I'm here, Maria.

Interview me???  Why?  What did I do wrong this time???  And I'm sure it wasn't me.  I was half-certain I asked if she was 35 (age and not year of birth) before configuring the port!

if you notice above my tendency to confess my "crimes"

Funny you should mention this.  In Australia, as a network person we tend to follow the rule-of-thumb of "innocent until caught".

A career as a master criminal awaits you i think

I went to install some switches to a site.  When I got there the person-in-charge was in a foul mood and when I asked to get access to a particular room, she said she didn't have the keys nor the time to look for them and walked away.  She also mentioned that the room is locked as per "security" requirement.  Since I was standing outside the door I looked down at the locks ... Hmmmm ... evil thoughts.

I whipped out my "collection" of hotel room key cards, choose one and proceeded to pry the lock open.  Viola!

Got in, did the deed and walked out.

Imagine to her surprise (the next day) when she found out that the building was fully functional (network wise)!

BTW:  The trainee who came with me asked me if I ever did time in prison.  He he he ...

Rob Huffman
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Hi Maria,

Great story my friend! I can just visualize you clicking away and

throwing out some "never heard about it" answers ...hahahahaha!

Sweet!

It's not like you won a Million US dollar$ so I wouldn't worry too much

plus, like my Dad used to say;

"Rules are meant to be broken"

Cheers!

Rob

PS: enjoy your free subscription to the Cisco Live Virtual environment

if anybody deserves it, you do, Maria!

Hi Rob,

I'm glad you posted. You typically defend ethics, I agree with you, and I was a bit worried about what you would think about this naughty behavior of mine. I would have done this just for the fun of it, even if the prize was just a gum. When I confirmed that game rule from the .pdf, I thought "excuse me, but I'm gonna win"! You know, it's very difficult to avoid reading the text or at least some of it, even if you decide to do so. It's a habit that is not so easy to break. In the funny question about familiarity with NX-OS I almost had a quick look at all the answers, I had to make a quick decision and I'm glad I chose the funniest answer. I would have chosen that one even if I was a world class datacenter expert  (I am not and my answer was not far away from the truth ) and not interested in the prize. (BTW: I have seen many similarly funny certification practice questions and maybe one day we can start a contest to post them in the forums )

The unfairness of the game was that people were attending from various places in the world, so even if I was as quick as another person, if that person was closer to the cisco server, they would win. Fortunately for me, the biggest delay comes from the reaction of the user, who typically needs at least a couple of seconds to respond, and I had to minimize that delay to win. So, to my defense, I can say I kind of won "scientifically" from Europe with the server being probably in the US, and I had at the least an order of 100ms RTT transatlantic disadvantage to begin with. I think the game was basically a networking question.

In the question about how many Nexus I have I was better prepared. Based on the .pdf I estimated the point in Lucien's presentation that the next question would appear and I was fully alert at that point. I even had my cursor close to the expected area where the radio buttons would appear!

So, Jon is probably right. My criminal potential is obvious! Or maybe I'm such a kid sometimes. Mahesh said it nicely in a thread about ratings in the Getting Started with LANs section. There is a baby heart in everyone. I think that is the best phrased and closest to the truth theory about the value of ratings I have read in the forums so far. We can use many reasonable arguments to promote ratings, but I think what actually happens is them bringing some type of joy to volunteers in a very easy and costless way.

Kind Regards,

Maria

Message was edited by: marikakis (because I partly watched the video and I probably misheard the person from cisco, anyway it doesn't matter so much :) )

Hey Maria,

Good stuff my friend

Anyone who takes the time to read the rules of the game deserves a prize

in my books! Plus taking into account the severe 100ms RTT disadvantage

is worth a second prize. "It's all about the Network" . Plus it's always best

to choose the funniest answer, we can all use the levity

In regards to Jon's keen observation about your criminal potential, he's probably

right but you are just too darn honest. That will never work in a true criminal

enterprise .....hahahahahahaha!!

Like the Bob Dylan song "Forever Young" Mahesh is most correct. Don't ever let

the child inside disappear!

Cheers!

Huff

David Williams
Level 1
Level 1

Ha!  I also attended that event Maria.  I was wondering who these people were that had never heard of NX-OS and had over 60 Nexus switches.  Now I know.  It was you!  Congrats on the prize!

Getting Started

Find answers to your questions by entering keywords or phrases in the Search bar above. New here? Use these resources to familiarize yourself with the community:

Quick Links