A Better Business Traveler

The world's economy is sinking.
Wall street is dead. Global recession.

I have been hearing those words for the past two weeks. The reason was because in the several countries I have been into all the hotels have only CNN or BBC News channel in English, while the other channels are already translated to local language. So it forced me to watch only the news channel before I slept and those words always pop up. Yes I know it is a real thing. It is really bad out there. I know perhaps as the analysts keep saying on TV the worst is yet to come. But this is not a reason why I made a decision recently to try to minimize the expense during my business trip. The nature of my job requires me to travel extensively. I can't control the number of travels so I can't save the environment and contribute in making a greener world by reducing the number of flying with airplane. But obviously I can do something to reduce the travel cost. So when I was on my way to Brussels last month as the beginning of my 4-weeks Eurotrip I made a commitment to myself that during this trip I want to spend as low as possible.

In Cisco Systems we have a culture called frugality. It can be understood in many different ways but in this company it means reassessing everything we do to ensure we place the greatest number of resources in areas that have the greatest profit potential. In another word: don't spend unnecessary on non-productive areas. If we can achieve the same goal with cheaper way, why not to try that path? And I completely agree with it. I get decent pay by the company, I got my annual bonus, and I don't have major financial issue. In summary I'm not in bad situation and if I can cut unnecessary expense as part of the culture and as my contribution to bigger community, even the amount looks small, I decided to do so.

During my trip I invented some ways that I think can cut my travel cost and I have tried my best to always apply them. I even tried to cut some unnecessary expense even those are completely allowed and not against the company policy at all. There are few things that I can't control, for example hotel and flight since I must use company's preferred hotel and airline, but I found that there are many other things that I can do to minimize the expense.

So I have been traveling for about a month. I left my home on Sept 14, and today is Oct 10 I'm in Singapore calculating how much total I spent exclude the flight ticket and hotel. And the result, for 26 days traveling in Europe I spent only 482.72 Euros. It means in average I spent only 18.6 Euros per day for food, transport, visa fee, internet, tips etc. And I was traveling in Europe that is known to be more expensive than Asia. Try to beat that!

I'm really proud with the result. And I like to do this. I like to challenge myself and set my own target. I like to do things in different way everytime. So if I used to be one of the top spenders for travel and expense, this time I tried to be a better business traveler. I can do the same thing as previously I used to do, to spend in regular way since it's allowed and as long as the amount is below the company policy, or I can try to do it differently. And I don't do this to get reward whatsoever. It always gives me a highest satisfaction if I set a goal and I can achieve it or even exceed my own expectation.

So here it is, with proud, I presented the Himawan's Way to a Better (and cheaper) Business Traveler:

1. Book the flight as soon as we know the schedule of the trip. In Cisco if we book 14 days in advance we get special rate. It's more difficult in the projects since customer may change the schedule or confirm the date close to the time but for internal meeting and training the flight must be booked no less than 14 days in advance

2. Get a hotel that is closed to office, so no cost for transport between hotel to office. If we know we will spend most of the time in customer than book a hotel that is closed to their office instead

3. If we work with another team member try to go together to hotel/airport/customer/office to share the taxi cost. If possible use public transport or subway instead of taxi. Try to use shuttle bus from airport to hotel, and from hotel to airport (in some hotel it's free, if it's not at least it will be much cheaper than taxi)

4. Avoid to use Internet in the hotel if it's not free, go to office and finish the work there instead. And this is good since once we come back from the office in the evening we can have social life to explore the city instead of working from the hotel room. But if you are a real geek and can't live without getting hooked to the Internet than book the hotel that provides one for free

5. Avoid to eat in the hotel unless it's included in room charge (i.e. breakfast). Get used to eat food in local restaurant which normally cheaper than foreign food and it's always good to learn new culture or taste local food. Or just try to find McDonald around ;) Bring noodle cup in case we get hungry in the late evening

6. Hotel minibar is evil. Go to grocery to buy water and all snacks for late evening stock. Bring water, soft drink and any available free food from the office. Utilize water cooker provided in the room

7. Avoid to do laundry in the hotel, so bring enough clothes. Or do it yourself in the bath tub, and use ironing tools provided in the room to iron your clothes

8. If you work in project, let the Project Manager or local team to pay for dinner :) Make friends with local colleague in the office to get free ride to customer/hotel or even airport. If you are lucky they may even treat you for dinner or buy you drink

9. Apply for frequent flyer program and hotel membership, and use the advantage to use free business lounge in the airport. So if there is a day between flights, we can sleep in the airport or office. I did this many times in Changi airport I'm afraid if they start checking and ask for some fees next time I sleep over there :) If we stay in the same hotel frequently we may get free stay as rewards from the hotel membership so it can be utilized for a day between flights.

10. Use IP phone to call our family back home. Use hotel fixed line or office phone to join teleconference. Use callback facility in webex to call our IP phone instead of our mobile to avoid roaming charges

Oktoberfest Quotes

I have just arrived in Bratislava. For those who are too lazy to open the google map, it's the capital city of Slovakia, one country in eastern Europe. This afternoon I was still in Munich where I spent 3 days to attend several meetings with my new team and the other WWSP teams who cover the same Europe and Emerging Markets (EUEM) but for different technologies. Finally I had a chance to meet my new boss in person, meet his boss, introduce my self and meet half of my team members, and to learn and understand more about one of the Cisco AS organizations that I joined about a month ago.

So I work for World Wide Service Provider Carrier Ethernet practice team. We focus on solution and technology that involve the products related to end-to-end carrier ethernet network. That means it can be the whole solution or portion of it from core network where CRS-1 is taking the main role, multi-service aggregation network, user facing aggregation, to access layer until the last mile technology such as DSL or Wimax. And we don't only lead the deployment in this technology but we also have to write leading practice documents afterward to share our experience and ensure the knowledge gained can be replicated in other projects within our team, by another team and even a bigger community.

The best moment for me is when I realized that I work for a team who not only responsible to lead carrier ethernet deployment for EUEM area, but we also have global responsibility in our technology focus since there is only one carrier ethernet practice team in the whole Cisco organization. That is actually really cool, well, at least for me. Finally I'm in the spotlight just as what I have always wanted to.

There were lots of meetings and discussion and I heard some guys mentioned about the following quotes that I think they are really good so I put them here:

- During the discussion about mobility

We don't "go" to work anymore, we work

- During the discussion about workload

We are all burned out from work, but the tolerance from each person is the one that makes the difference

- During the discussion about work-life balance

It's not a question of "can you do it?" but "when can you do it?"

- During the discussion about inventing new solution

We don't sell solution to reduce Capex anymore, because there is no Capex! We need to sell solution that can generate revenue

Then there were two quotes that I personally made during the night when I had a chance to go to Oktoberfest:

I can't believe there are so many people get drunk at the same time in the same place and no fight

I'm hungry like hungary

Those two, of course, can be safely ignored :)


"Heid is so a schena Dog - lala lal la la!"

A Good Day

Today I'm really happy. Early morning CET time I watched Valentino Rossi clinched his sixth MotoGP world championship (eight including 250cc and 125cc) with victory in the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.


Then in the afternoon I watched Fernando Alonso scored a surprise success in one of the most eagerly anticipated Grand Prix in Formula One history, under the lights of Singapore.


I know, there is the first Formula One night race in history happening in Singapore but I'm here in Prague, Czech Republic. But still I'm so happy with the achievement from both guys.

This must be a good day for me. It's been amazing two weeks in Prague. I'm going out to walk now to enjoy the city.

Life Would Be A Mistake

So here I am in Prague, Czech Republic, to do yet another CRS-1 migration project. Frankly speaking the project can run smoothly because the customer is very knowledgeable and they know exactly what they want. I was leading the migration and I built the plan, but they really contributed and did most of the verifications. So I was grateful because it's almost over and so far the plan is successful. Only when the migration is done my boss told me this is the first production network to implement Secure Domain Routing and IPv6 over MPLS (6PE) in the world running the latest IOS XR software. Salute to the Czechs!

I would not have a chance to witness this if I didn't take decision to leave my senior position in previous team to join the WWSP team. I would not be here if I didn't make decision to join Cisco AS from Dubai to Singapore. Even at that time I had to ditch all the stable life in Dubai and change into travel freak. Further more, I may not be able to work in one of the most beautiful cities in the world today if I didn't make tough decision to leave my comfort life in my country to start working abroad about 7 years ago.

Valentino Rossi once said, what if he had never tried it. What would happen if he had never raced motorbikes. Well, I'm sure a talented and focus minded guy like him can be successful in any type of sports that he chooses. But he got the point. Thing can't only be said, it has to be done. Knowing the path is not enough, we must walk the path.

I may be able to say similar thing like him someday. But for now I would just say that everyone must take risk to live the life to the fullest. Let's get out from our small cubicle and see the world. Everyone must travel to enjoy life. Let's visit new places and accept any new challenges. Let's make tough decisions for a chance to see better days. Let's risk what we have in hand for a chance to see the brighter future. Go where there is no path and leave the trail.


So I'm almost done here in Prague. I'm heading to Munich, then Madrid next. Or perhaps I may go to Bratislava, Slovakia instead.
New adventure here I come.

Without traveling, life would be a mistake.
Without taking risks, life would be a mistake.
Without tough decisions, life would be a mistake.

Interview @ CCIE Lab

"On August 27, Cisco will introduce a pilot for the CCIE Routing and Switching lab exam in Beijing, China. The pilot will add a 10-minute interview that will assess the candidate's ability to apply expert-level networking skills and knowledge to networking problems that are encountered on the job. After the lab orientation, a panel of three experts will conduct a verbal interview with each candidate, asking a series of expert-level networking questions. The ability to correctly answer these questions will affect the exam score. After completing the interview, the candidate will have the complete 8 hours to complete the lab portion of the exam. These scores will then be added up and then combined for a total score which will decide a pass or a fail."

There was a discussion in Internetwork Expert's CCIE Blog with regard to the above announcement. It's not published officially in Cisco website, even I saw it in our internal web as well, and that message is only being sent through email to any CCIE candidate registers for the lab in Beijing. So it's true that they add interview section in CCIE lab. Why only in Beijing? At least for now. And I know most of you have known the answer.

What I want to add here is that the interview concept is actually not something new in CCIE lab. I took the lab before October 2001 and at that time the format was still 2-days exam. So first day is for building the infrastructure, with 45 total points. We need at least to get 30 points minimum to pass to the second day. Then second day morning is for advance features and hell lots of tricks that we may have never seen or heard about it before, and it can give us maximum 30 points. Only if we can get at least 55 points we can proceed to the last section which is troubleshooting.

Within my two attempts with both 2-days format, in two different location Brussels and Tokyo, after the first day the proctor asked each candidate one at a time to get into the lab and sit next to him. Then he would check my work and ask question such as why I did it that way, can I explain in more detail about this technology, is there any other way to do this etc. In Brussels I still remember I even had to do whiteboard presentation to explain the Frame-relay flow control mechanism. But there was no interview for second day morning. Normally after finish up the morning section we had to wait for a bit while since once the proctor found out that we are eligible to continue to the next section, he would start putting the troubleshooting questions into our rack immediately. You know, something likes screw up the cabling, modify IP address, change the password up until the most difficult tricks and usually there were 25 problems that can give us 25 points maximum.

But wait, it's not over yet even after we finish the troubleshooting successfully. My proctor in Tokyo still asked questions about how did I find the problem, which debug commands I run, how did I fix the issue and so on. In Brussels, I needed to find the whole 25 problems to pass and I didn't so the proctor said he doesn't have to check my work. When I took the lab, the interview in both sections, -after first day- and -after troubleshooting- , took much longer than 10 minutes. And my proctor in Brussels that time mentioned even I can get the configuration right but if I can't explain it he would not hesitate to deduct my points.

So as you see, the idea of this interview in the lab is not new. And it should not be something to be afraid of as any CCIE candidate who's ready to take the lab, and willing to pay USD 1400 plus all the travels, should be able to pass such interview easily. I still believe the interview should be done like those old days, so after the candidate finishes the whole lab, to explain why he did the configuration the way he did or just ask for more clarification about particular technology related to the questions. So the proctor can just run the script first to check who's above or at least quite close to the passing point, and only those candidates will have to go through the interview. I don't think those candidates would mind to stay for another hour extra, if that can give them the number they been chasing for. What do you think?

The Road Less Traveled

Last Saturday I gave a free lecture in my former university with the topic "How to compete in global networking market by becoming a CCIE". I was invited first just to give information on how to become CCIE, pretty much to deliver the same presentation I did in Networkers Indonesia early this year. But then I thought most of the audiences are students, even though the lecture is opened for professionals too, and they may need more information about the career in networking field instead. So I called some of my CCIE colleagues to come and tell the story about their career – how did they start, what drives them to continue, how they got support to finance their CCIE lab, where are they today as CCIE, and so on – which I believe it’s more important for those students to hear.

So I started the lecture by introducing myself and share the story about my life and how I started my journey. I also mentioned that the tipping point of my life was after I passed my first CCIE lab. That made me able to start moving around and competing in the global networking market from Asia to Middle East, and finally I’m able to join Cisco Advanced Services as what I always want to. My friend who works in Cisco product development team in San Jose, who happened to be in country for vacation, shared his story about how he had to drop his master degree to pursue CCIE. But it was worth it, though. Once he passed, he’d been working in large scale projects ever since until he decided to take the offer to go to US though consulting agency. And now he has worked for Cisco Systems San Jose in few different business units. One other friend told the story of what he had to give up to finance his CCIE lab: his home. It was definitely a very hard decision since he’s married with few kids. But he took the risk, passed the exam, and moved to a bigger company that can return him his investment. The last friend shared his experience in passing CCIE lab in first attempt, then decided to stick in the same company until he became senior manager, one option that may be taken by any CCIE after they get bored abusing networking gears.

I didn’t stop only with stories. I shared my point of view of the career in networking in general, then the engineering career in Cisco Systems as what I see, I hear and I have been through. Once I believe the class has got clear picture about it, and definitely I didn’t forget to mention one way to boost the career is by passing CCIE lab, I also shared my opinion about How to Become Engineer ++, which explains on few things that every engineer should have and the way to distinguish ourselves in the global competition. Before I repeated my slide on How to Become CCIE, I did few slides on How to Start Your Career in Networking which I believe is important too since most of the time the first step to begin is the most difficult step. Those are actually based on my writings in my other blog in native language.

Does it sound lame to you? Well, for them who have seen and done many, it’s kinda waste of time to listen to such thing. But for those students who don’t know what the career in real networking world is all about , or professionals who want to switch their career to networking, the lecture may be a good information and as something to begin with. The class was full, by the way. Those folks who arrange this event must even rejected some guys to enter the class since there is no more space available even they still insist to join. And even the lecture was recorded, and it was broadcasted as well to other universities in my country, I know it’s still can’t beat the experience to have a discussion directly with the presenters. Especially since I brought some merchandises from Cisco for the raffle draw in the end of the lecture. Well, students are the same everywhere. They need free goodies :). That may be the only reason why most of them stayed for 4 hours that day.

I have to admit as much as I enjoy giving speech in public to try to convince others, deep inside I like to do this to convince myself too. I mean my journey in networking field is getting harder and harder, and I have moved to new position several times when I have reached the top level in my current position. Everytime I get comfortable, I move. And it’s not as easy as it looks like. I have to start from beginning, understand the process and build the relationship again. So giving free lecture like this offers mutual benefits; for others to hear about all decisions I took to reach my level today and learn from all my mistakes, and for me to convince myself that I have to carry on so I can continue to spread the information.

Robert Frost once wrote, I took the one (road) less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. So no matter how hard it is, somebody has to do this journey. Somebody must take the risk. And one who has done it should share the story to others. To share the information. To make the history. And, to be immortalized.

I hereby offer to anyone interested, everytime I travel and when I have spare time, I’m opened for the invitation to give similar lecture in any location to anyone without exceptions. Obviously as time goes by my story will grow longer and longer, even How to Become CCIE will still be the main part. Everyone likes to hear story and they want to get the most updated one. The most challenging, the break through, and full of new adventures as eye-opener. This mean I must not stop the journey. I should not stay in my comfort zone. I shall continue to go where there is no path and leave the trail. And in order to support this idea, I will post my schedule in the Where Am I? sidebar of this blog so anyone willing to arrange the class can get the idea of the best time to do so. For example, I will be in Brussels in mid September then Czech Republic until end of the month, then I will be in Spain during the first week of October. I'm willing to give the lecture to anyone and in any location, but please remember I can do it only in English, or in my native language of course.

I’m a pioneer. A dreamer, a blogger, a traveler.
I’m a storyteller, and this is my story.

So, free lecture, anyone?

- The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means to an education. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Jason's Path

Related to my previous post, I modified my targets-in-visual to reflect the new path: Believed-in-product, certification-to-take, wannabe-like, places-to-visit, bike-must-have, real-world-skill.