The Everything Feed - All Packet Pushers Pods TNO050: Resiliency and Transparency with Andy Lapteff
Nov 21, 2025
Scott talks with Andy Lapteff, a Senior Product Marketing Manager and passionate podcaster with a rich background in telecom. Andy reflects on his non-linear career journey from blue-collar jobs to tech, revealing how he turned challenges into opportunities. He shares insights on the demanding nature of fieldwork and his pivotal shift to networking through Cisco NetAcad. The conversation touches on resilience, mentorship, and the creation of the Art of Network Engineering podcast, driven by a desire to help others transition into tech.
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From Trades To Telecom Bootstraps
- Andy left college, worked trades, then intentionally restarted his career in telecom and cable to break into tech.
- Hands-on central office and Comcast work taught him physical network fundamentals and resilience.
Power Of Study Groups
- Study groups and community support turned a repeated CCNA failure into success for Andy.
- He credits peers who invested time as the reason he could pass after multiple attempts.
Interview Tested Persistence
- Andy persisted to get a NOC interview despite lacking experience and faced a whiteboard BGP question.
- A senior engineer, Kevin, guided him through the answers and helped him land the role.