October Member of the Month: Vasilis Bouloukos

October brought forward countless networking Horror Stories but one standout community member saw the opportunity within those horror stories. Our very own Indeni Knowledge Expert, Vasilis Bouloukos, can be seen all over Indeni Crowd contributing his knowledge to improve network operations. Whether it was participating in the forum discussions or racking up points through countless challenges, Vasilis’ fingerprints were everywhere making him the exemplary October Member of the Month!

Got a question around Cisco? Vasilis is your man. He has built out the Indeni coverage for Cisco Nexus devices which is why you see his responses all over the Cisco forum. He is constantly helping members by answering questions and overcoming hurdles; you know you are in good hands when a self-identified perfectionist is helping you resolve issues.

Vasilis knew from an early age that he wanted to be part of the IT world. His first code ever was typing “Hello World” with the Pascal programming language from his Intel 80386 PC. He considers this code his initiation into the programming community. After that, he was off and running…right into Indeni and the Indeni Crowd from a job advertisement with great reviews. After some time, Vasilis formed his own opinion:

The people working at Indeni are a great asset. I have met great managers and technical experts through Indeni. At this point, I should mention Ulrica who is one of the best managers that I have ever met and worked with. Everybody [at Indeni] is available to help you and the Indeni Crowd is a great contribution to this goal.

When asked more about the Indeni Crowd, Vasilis’ experience in other well-known communities (like Cisco Support Community) came to light. He earned the Member of the Month because he believes Indeni Crowd provides real value:

I can say that Indeni Crowd is a very promising community.  The regular challenges, points, and rewards are essential to keep the community active which is the biggest challenge for every community. Finally, it is important that you can get an accurate and fast response to any question from the several experts in the community.

Indeni employees have loved working with our October Member of the Month. It is common knowledge that his ability to translate complex systems into easy-to-run, reusable code has led to the success of our Cisco Nexus support. Indeni’s VP of Product, Ulrica de Fort-Menares, reminisces about their first meeting:

One of the first things Vasilis shared with us, ‘I’m inspired by the Greek philosopher, Plato, who said that the beginning is the most important part of the work and I always try to follow this in my career and life.’ It was at that moment we knew we would have a great Nexus product. It is a distinct honor to be able to work with him.

This Indeni Crowd all-star deserves a big bravo for his dedicated involvement in the challenges and discussions. Though Indeni Crowd is the go-to for all networking questions, Vasilis has been pivotal in developing the Cisco Nexus portion. With that, we are thrilled to name Vasilis as October Member of the Month and hope you join us in celebrating his contributions.

While you’re celebrating Vasilis, enjoy a few fun facts about our stellar Member of the Month:

Do you have a collection of anything?

Yes, I have been collecting coins from all over the world since I was 5 years old. My personal goal is to have at least one coin or banknote from every country in the world. A long-term project and definitely not an easy task to achieve!

Best and worst quality?

Best: Perfectionist

Worst: As my wife occasionally call me “impatient”. I don’t know if it’s true, but I don’t like to wait without a serious reason. Time is money! Hmmm…maybe my wife is right again. ☺

What’s a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?

Elvis Presley: Suspicious Minds

There is a funny story that makes this song special for me. I used to take my tablet on my international trips, but I only had one Elvis album uploaded.  Every time that I returned from a trip I used to say to myself, “I have to upload more songs to my tablet” but I always forgot! So, I have heard this song thousands of times and still love it. It makes me feel like I am on a plane or train and traveling to another country.☺

What is your proudest moment as a network engineer?

My proudest moment as a Network Engineer…undoubtedly the day that I passed the CCIE lab at Brussels and became a CCIE. Though four years have passed, I still remember everything from that day; even the lunch menu offered by Cisco (…even though I didn’t touch it due to the stress of the exam).