What a week! From 14th to 17th of April, the Champions Summit 2025 organized by Juniper happened (although, to be fair it was really the 15th and 16th, as the 14th was “just” a Get-together / Arrival and the 17th was already departure if you checked the Agenda). The Event overall was a HUGE success in my humble opinion, and so many people told me that having an event like this after such a long time was the perfect thing, and I totally agree – I’ve had a lot of fun and attended really great sessions (although even the technical ones were a bit “sales infused” at the beginning but that’s totally fine). The main thing, as always, was not the sessions or slides – it was meeting with peers from all over the world, sharing Ideas, thoughts, Problems and connecting with each other.
## Political Trigger Warning ##
In this blog post (that as always represents my PERSONAL view as this is my PERSONAL Blog), I will recap the event only “post event,” as sadly due to the political shenanigans from the oiled-up orange Maniac in the Oval Office, I wasn’t able to bring my private phone with me – some european Memes would have been too nasty to survive a scan at the border 😉 This maybe explains why I was so “silent” during the Event when usually I almost livestream every time, but sadly this wasn’t possible this time. This maniac is known for his impulsive and extremely stupid actions, so I had to minimize the risks. At the Airport, we were asked a TON of questions before finally getting our Stamp to board the plane. We were almost treated like criminals who wanted to invade the US. This was just a sad thing to experience. From a lot of talks, I recognized that most US folks don’t agree with the current leader even a single bit, and we Germans know that sometimes elections can backfire… Sometimes you even make the same mistake multiple times… Now you know my stance – enough politics – let’s focus on the things we love – the Tech 🙂
## End of Political Trigger Warning ##
Sunday, 13th of April:
After roughly 14 hours (11 hour flight and 3 hour travel to the airport), my colleague and I arrived at the MGM in Las Vegas. We (for the first time ever) had the opportunity to fly “Premium Economy,” which gave us way more room for our long legs and (I still don’t believe it) a real GLASS for drinks instead of a plastic cup. 😀 It’s the small things in life that I enjoy the most 🙂
The last time I briefly walked through these halls was in 2019, when we had the NXTWORK at the Cesar’s Palace. Sunday was mainly our arrival day – nothing fancy. One thing, however, BURNED into our Memory – we grabbed 2 slices of Pizza and 2 Cokes – want to know the price? We were in the Food Court, not a Restaurant, and still left $42!!!! Even our fancy Restaurants here in Germany cost less, while the food quality is exceptionally higher compared to what we got served… But hey – it’s Vegas, right? The Bank always wins – even when you “dine.” 😉
The View from the hotel room was decent. I had a huge construction site next to my window; looks like they got rid of a hotel, but I can’t figure out what went missing. I need to compare the pictures to my 2019 ones to be sure.
After throwing our Luggage into the hotel room, we went to check out the place. If you know the hotels and casinos in Vegas, you know you’re in for a hiking trip. Everything can be reached by foot, but prepare yourself for a LOT of steps on your watch. 😛 Our Record on one day was roughly 52.000 steps… The Summit Venue itself was a bit hard to find as it was a 10-min walk from the reception, and no signs near the reception told anyone where the Summit would be hosted at – but after asking some fellow travelers, they pointed us towards the Conference Center – and indeed there it was. 🙂 The Sign was in front of a Pool-Area (which was locked all days at all times for some reason), but the view was gorgeous! We went straight to the Reception to check, where we would need to check in on Monday. My Colleague booked himself a JNCIP-Exam so we also checked out to see where the Certification Desk was.
The team really did an awesome Job decorating the place. Imagine walking into there for the first time and seeing this:
No – that’s not Hogwarts (although it felt magic for sure) – that’s the Summit-Hall of Champions (I just made that up) – it was the hall where the Teams showcased Demos and some Info Stands – we had some really great discussions there, let me tell you. The Scene was so beautiful, and the theme matched everywhere we went.
Monday, 14th of April:
How do you start the day at a Summit properly? That’s right – by taking an Exam! Although this time I wasn’t able to take one as I got ’em all 😀 No more “written” Exams for me at this point – still feels surreal as most of my free time in past summits was sitting in the room studying for the next exam attempt. Rainer and Oliver both took the JNCIP-DC. I had to take the opportunity to grab a selfie with the wonderful folks from the Certification Team. These folks help us to achieve our goals by providing us with the opportunity to write the exams free of charge at the big events – and that’s something I’m extremely grateful for. The Job as a technician is extremely stressful, and it’s nice to know that the Team works tirelessly throughout the event to make it a bit easier for us. I can’t say this enough: YOU FOLKS ROCK!!!!! What you do for us is so great and important – THANK YOU!
From the Certification Table, it was just a walk down the hall to the Registration Desk, where we received a goodie bag (with a shirt that we all wore for the evening event) and, of course, our name tags. The Certification Team had the matching Pins for the tags, so I grabbed ’em all and put them where they belong. My colleague joked that I looked like one of those Russian Generals with all my Pins, but he was also inspired and impressed that throughout my 15+ year career I was able to achieve what I have achieved. For me, it always feels like I’m just getting started, and I’m just the little guy looking to sit at the big table, but he assured me that I already achieved a lot.
The Rest of the day was a bit of Sightseeing, syncing with peers and walking to the welcome reception – although at around 7 PM I had to walk back to my room because the Jet lag really hit me like a truck – resulting in me being wide awake at 4 AM the next morning… 😉
Tuesday, 15th of April – a VERY special day:
We started with a light breakfast before heading to the opening session.
After the Opening Session (great session, if only they had taken out that hideous “cake” slide that I HATE to see because at this point it’s shown so often I want to puke…), I focused on the Campus-Topics while my Colleague focused on the DC-Topics. It was a nice mix of Technical and Sales Sessions (yes, I purposely attended sales sessions to get as much info as I could for the Sales colleagues at home). The Presenters were good, knew their stuff and presented great sessions. And thanks to the folks organizing the Summit, we had plenty of time between the sessions to sync with peers, find the next room for the next session, and grab a quick drink. Over the years, I had attended multiple Summits and the organization during the event was spot on! More than well done! Later that day, after the sessions had happened, we had a roughly 2-hour break to get fresh and into more formal clothing before the Main Event: The Dinner and Summit Awards – and I bet you can already tell what happened there if I explicitly mention it. 😉
I have absolutely no Idea how Joachim, our PAM, pulled this off, but the 5 Tables DIRECTLY in the first row had all been marked “Reserved for the German Team.” – WOW – what an entrance! I felt like a king when I saw that sign -thanks, Joachim, for making this happen! We had a really great time, and we always enjoy your company and the great talks we have. 🙂 The German Team was huge this time – really huge for an international Event so that we saw a lot of familiar faces.
Now – why did little Christian mention that it wasn’t just a dinner, but also an awards ceremony? Well…
As you know, I originally said that I would not attend the Event because of the terrible timing (Easter in Europe is a sacred holiday, and the fact that the Summit collided with it is still echoing badly…). The Family always makes sacrifices because of all the time I need to prepare for Labs, Events, Sessions and whatnot, so I was extremely frustrated when I saw the dates – and hopefully next time someone will check the 2 only “big” holidays in Europe (Easter and Christmas) and NOT place the dates near those events. However, I got a message after my “I will not join” speech in Slack – and this message obviously changed my travel plans a bit – and I’m sure everyone can understand – I let the following 2 images speak for themselves:
THATS RIGHT – I FINALLY GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Being selected as THE Top Technical Champion for all of EMEA was just mind-blowing! I still can’t process that this really happened. At the Dinner table, I even joked with a former colleague that I would only truly believe it when I really hear my name being called. Remember Madrid 2 years ago? I was nominated but closely didn’t make it – and the feeling of walking up that stage was unbelievably satisfying. I’ve presented in front of hundreds of people, so the stage isn’t really new for me, but when I walked up the stage to receive such a prize – I even forgot how to wear a name tag. 😀 This isn’t just a trophy for me – it’s a trophy for everybody that helped me grow over the years, for all present and former bosses, colleagues, friends and of course our wonderful customers. You all make this community what it is – you all helped me grow – you all helped me shine – from the bottom of my heart: THANK YOU ALL! This engineer wouldn’t be who he is today without ALL of you. HUGE shoutout to Axians for allowing me to fly over the big pond and for always having my back – our Company is truly special 🙂
Talking about special: One special shoutout goes to Miguel Romera from NTT (former Dimension Data) – you’ve believed in me back when I started my career and saw something that I wasn’t able to see back then – and I will be forever grateful for what you did for me. 🙂 It’s moments like this that remind me what an awesome journey this was so far 🙂
The Rest of the evening was party and celebration, and I want to thank ALL of you for being there with me. Life wasn’t always as nice and bright to me, so I really enjoy this side. 🙂
Wednesday, 16th of April:
After a very short night (again waking up at 4 AM inner clock), we joined our fellow technical colleagues for another two sessions before heading to the airport after lunch so that we would be home in time for the start of the holidays. Thankfully, the sessions started to repeat themselves after lunch, so we didn’t miss anything and could attend all the talks we had on our list. Allyn and I grabbed a quick selfie and looked all over the place for Thomas Gräber – but couldn’t find him. Hopefully we will see him next time, as it’s always a pleasure to hang out with him. 🙂 My original plan was to have a real-size paper Thomas with me, but there’s absolutely no way that I would have been able to get a paper Thomas through security at the airport. 😀 Those paper figures aren’t even extremely expensive, as I found out, so I will make this joke happen at a future event for sure. 😉
With bags full of new ideas, heads buzzing with inspiration, and many great conversations, we wrapped up this incredible event. A huge thank you to all our colleagues and fellow technicians for the exchange, the laughs, the insights, and the shared passion. It’s always a pleasure to meet you all, and I already can’t wait for the next meetup with the greatest community on this planet.
The next big challenge for me is now the JNCIE-DC and after that the JNCIE-SP to achieve the last step of my self-set Career Goal before I retire – having all Juniper Certifications currently available. 🙂
That was a joke. I have no plans to retire – when the time comes, retirement will be a relic of the past here in Germany. 😀 😀 😀
Stay safe, folks!