Meet A.J. Murray!
A.J. is a seasoned Demo Architect within the Sales Enablement team at Zscaler, Inc. With over 17 years of dedicated experience in IT, he has held diverse roles, including Systems Administrator, Network Engineer, and IT Manager, with proficiencies spanning Windows Server, Active Directory, Microsft365, Linux, and VMware Virtualization.
Transitioning to the realm of Value Added Resellers, A.J. excelled as a Sr. Network Engineer, specializing in Cisco Enterprise and Data Center Networking Solutions, where he focused on post-sales deployments.
“Paint me a picture of this morning—where are you, what’s on the screens,
what’s the coffee order?”
"I work in technical enablement so my screens are a little bit different.
I’m working on content for a VPN based solution. I work for a ZTNA company.
Iced coffee this morning with just a splash of vanilla."
“When someone outside tech asks what you do, how do you explain it without
using the word ‘packet’?”
"I create content our technical sellers consume to learn about our latest product features."
“How do you triage between alerts, tickets, and longer-term projects?”
"Whatever I can take action on right now. Projects get delayed, and some alerts aren’t mine to work on.
So whatever I can work on right now will win out."
“What’s one CLI command or script you run so often it feels like muscle memory?”
"show cdp/lldp neighbors - What’s really connected where?"
“Who’s pinging you most during the day—security, app teams, the NOC, vendors?”
"Security for sure!"
“How does documentation fit in: love it, automate it, or necessary evil?”
"Love it! This team had 0 documentation when I got here.
Now we have a large library of Confluence articles."
“What’s a ritual your team uses (stand-up, war room, memes) to stay synced?”
"2x Stand-up meetings. Ad-hoc for everything else."
“Which tool in your stack feels irreplaceable today,
and which one you’d swap out tomorrow if budget allowed?”
"I was recently turned on to ZOC, a terminal emulator.
Store and organize my sessions. It’s cheaper than some of the others out there
and I love it! I’d love a real telemetry solution. We aren’t even monitoring all that well. It would
be great to know when something breaks rather than having a user report it down."
“How much of your day is still ‘click and type’ versus pipelines and APIs?"
"Too much…"
“Where do you see the biggest skill gap for the next generation of engineers?”
"I’ve noticed this next generation is all about automation, APIs, Python, etc. They really need
to focus on the networking fundamentals. If they don’t TRULY understand what they are
trying to automate they are going to have a difficult time and make mistakes.
Focus on the fundamentals."
“How has USNUA membership shaped your career or mindset?”
"As a NUG leader it's really fun to bring the local community together. People meeting new people, learning
from each other, landing their next job, growing their careers. It’s just fun to be apart of!"
“What would you say to a member who lurks but hasn’t engaged yet?”
"You get out of it what you put into it. You can lurk and learn a thing or two, but once you start
engaging you’ll get so much more."
"CLI or GUI?"
"CLI"
"Most underrated layer of the OSI model?"
"Layer 2. MAC address hunting is an art."
"Go-to snack before a maintenance window?"
"Something with protein in it. Usually a greek yogurt, trail bar.
If I know I’m in for a long one I usually keep trail mix in my bag."
Thank you to AJ for taking the time to share their insights and experiences with us.
Their perspective on the various Network tools offers valuable knowledge for other Network Engineers.
Have suggestions for future interviews? We'd love to hear from you. Send us an email at info@usnua.com
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of their employer.
