Rock and Rolling with the Giants. An Interview with Extreme Hero Alberto Guerrero.

Extreme Heroes are true rock stars: Meet Alberto Guerrero from RETO Industrial

Hola, Alberto! What’s up? How are you spending the summer?

Everything’s good. We have had a lot of work.

Congratulations on your Extreme Black Belt certification! Has the knowledge that you gained already come in handy with customers? Are you planning on acquiring other certifications?

Thank you. Of course, I apply that knowledge every day. You never know when you could find a new problem to solve or a more efficient way to do something, and the certification has definitely helped me problem solve and focus my efforts.

Right now, I am planning to take the new non-certification courses in the Extreme Dojo and I am going to do the Certified Wireless Network Administrator training, Comptia network+, and then Extreme Academy’s Building Secure and Robust Wireless Networks course.

RETO Industrial is the biggest Extreme partner in Latin America. How would you describe your experience as an Extreme partner? What do you value the most in the partnership?

When I was first introduced to Extreme products, I was positively surprised by how simple it was to work with them, as compared to Cisco or Juniper for example. Also, Extreme has always supported us in a very professional and human way, and I really appreciate that. One day we had this severe incident with WLAN equipment and the Extreme support team stayed with us for almost 10 hours to help us solve the issue!

Which Extreme solution or product do you like the most?

ExtremeCloud IQ, without a doubt. Though we’re not currently using it, I had a chance to take the certification course and I consider it to be a powerful and very easy-to-use tool.

Grupo Televisa, which is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. It's one of the biggest customers of Extreme in Mexico and you’re the project leader on the account for RETO Industrial.

Televisa is a huge account, and I mean gigante! The company is best known for its TV programs and news, but the group also owns casinos, a stadium with a football team, and many, many other businesses. Televisa has campuses in Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Tampico, Veracruz, Acapulco, Hermosillo, Puebla, Cuernavaca, and Mexicali. We manage the network of this monster media company.

Sometimes it can feel a bit intimidating to work with such important clients with such huge networks, but the satisfaction is definitely worth it.We greatly appreciate the fact Televisa trusts us with their networks.

The name of your company, RETO, means “challenge” in Spanish. What would you consider the biggest challenge in your life?

The name of the company actually stems from the founders’ names: Ricardo and Enrique Toscano. But you’re right, the company’s not afraid of challenges and neither am I. Going to live and work in Canada tops my list of personal goals that I’m hoping to achieve within one or two years. I´d love to visit Europe someday, too.

I have a lot of personal challenges too. I want to read 60 books a year (40% done so far), finish recording my first solo album, and achieve financial independence someday. Oh, and maybe hit the gym every day and go to sleep earlier.

We heard you’re quite a guitar player. What sort of music do you play?

Generally, I’m a rock ’n’ roll guy, but I also like to play some surf, blues, pop, ska, metal, and sometimes even cumbia.

If you had an opportunity to do some jam sessions with any rock star in the world, who would you pick?

I’d go with Jimmy Page. I always loved his aggressive and deep style of playing. “Stairway to Heaven” was one of the very first songs I learned to play.

How do you celebrate your wins? And how do you react to defeat?

I celebrate my wins by sharing them with my partners, friends, and family. They congratulate me and encourage me to keep going. I follow a similar routine with defeats. People close to me are always able to cheer me up and encourage me to move on.

Let’s send a message to the partner engineers who might still be hesitating from becoming an Extreme Hero. What pushed you to do it? And how has your professional life changed since joining this elite club?

As an Extreme Hero, I have access to many cool benefits: a welcome package, technical newsletters, forums, webinars, a digital badge, and exclusive incentives. And being an Extreme partner, you also can obtain the Extreme Networks Design Specialist, Extreme Certified Specialist, or Extreme Sales Specialist certifications, which are hard to pass on.

For my effort, dedication, and passion, I have already been promoted twice since I started to study in the Extreme Dojo and joined the Extreme Heroes club.

If you are an Extreme partner and would like to become an Extreme Hero, click here to learn more.