Many career paths lead to the title of Distinguished Engineer. I’ve taken a road few have traveled. This year, I celebrate 25 years with Cisco, and I can’t help but reflect on my unique journey.

With no college degree, my tech career began on the sales floor of a big box electronics retailer. Today, I lead architectural strategy for Cisco's AI solutions.

I got here by reading technical books, being hands-on, figuring out how stuff works, and asking questions.

Starting on the floor

I grew up skateboarding around Fremont, California. I made some poor choices as a teenager, and after landing in juvenile detention, I knew I had to change directions. I served an 11-month sentence, which included a stint at the Boys Republic, a high school for at-risk teenagers, and emerged ready to get my life back on track.

Going to college wasn’t for me, but I was interested in technology. So, at 18, I landed a sales job at Fry's Electronics.

One day, a customer I was helping asked if I would come work for him. Soon, I was driving across northern California selling teleconferencing equipment from manufacturers like PictureTel, Frame Relay networking products from Bay Networks and Cisco, and CSU/DSUs and ISDN Inverse Multiplexors from Adtran.

While I wasn’t a very successful salesperson, that job taught me how the internet works. I became fascinated by the way telecommunications technologies break down human speech and video in bits, transport them around the world, and reassemble them on the other side.

I knew I wanted a career in telecommunications, and I was particularly fond of video-conferencing technologies. I didn't have the educational background or experience, but I was passionate and eager to learn.

Success didn’t come naturally. I struggled in my first few roles but kept trying. I taught myself engineering mostly by serving as a liaison between customers and engineers — bringing customer questions to technical experts and relaying the answers in simple terms. Over time, I continued building my knowledge and experience.

Landing the technical role

While working at video technology company Winnov, I learned more about Cisco and thought it would be an amazing workplace.

Two years later, I joined Cisco as a Technical Marketing Engineer, combining engineering expertise with customer communication. I spent my first 10 years in technical marketing, eventually leading the Technical Marketing team for Cisco’s Telepresence Systems Business Unit.

Cisco's 2010 acquisition of Tandberg accelerated my career even further. After leading the technical integration of Tandberg, Cisco Telepresence, and Cisco Unified Communications portfolios (which included moving to Norway for 13 months with my family), I was promoted to Principal Engineer.

I had done it. This was a true, bona fide engineering position. From selling mice and keyboards at Fry’s Electronics to leading the integration of a $3.3 billion acquisition, I could finally say I was an engineer.

Dealing with imposter syndrome

In the 15 years since, I’ve held engineering leadership and individual contributor roles. After Cisco acquired Acano in 2015, my family and I moved to London, where I helped lead the transition from on-premises to cloud-based collaboration. Most recently, I became a Distinguished Engineer.

Despite this, I sometimes still feel like I'm not a real engineer. I never earned an advanced degree in computer science, math, or physics. I never learned how to code. I'm still that kid from juvenile hall who never went to university, and that still haunts me.

But people I work with are quick to silence my imposter syndrome.

"Kevin is really good at architecture and engineering leadership, and it's not because he learned that in a university," says Cisco Fellow and Collaboration CTO Cullen Jennings.

“He knows the problems, the business and how our products work. He sits down in a lab, builds things and makes sure he truly understands them."

When doubt creeps in, I remind myself: Cisco’s engineering councils approved my promotions for a reason. I worked hard to earn those qualifications. I’ve done some amazing things. I deserve to be here.

Related links

• Careers at Cisco
• Cisco Purpose Report FY25