Well, it’s been sixteen months, but I’ve just received another round of F5 training from Eric Mitchell, instructor extraordinaire, of Milestone Systems, Inc. If you are looking for F5 training, I highly recommend both Milestone Systems and Eric Mitchell.
I’m very excited about receiving this training for many reasons. We trained on the latest version of F5’s OS, 10.2. I was out of the office and wasn’t interrupted by any emergencies once which allowed me to keep up with the staggering pace and not fall behind. I learned, not only F5’s Big IP, but modern day networking concepts and designs which make me feel much more capable of supporting and designing an enterprise level network solution. But, the most exciting development over the last time I had F5’s training is that I’ll be actually using these skills this time.
The class itself was amazing. I have never been to a training class that operated so smoothly. I think it was my complaint at the onset with regard to the class laptop. It was an IBM think-pad which had a touch sensitive track pad. When I tried to type on it, my palms kept tapping the touchpad messing up the application focus. Eric said, I could use my own if I wanted. So, I did; I plugged in my personal Macbook Pro, created a Network Location, configured my ethernet, and it was absolutely wonderful.
Then there was my week of total mental lucidity. I’ve never been to a class where I stayed so focused and devoured topic after topic, completely and thoroughly understanding complex concept after complex concept. We had to start earlier than the scheduled class start time and we finished up much later than anticipated. I found myself having to stand several times in an attempt to keep focused, stay off mental exhaustion, and to wake my lower extremities; the conference chairs weren’t designed to be used non-stop for ten hours a day.