Cisco AppDynamics Community

Johanna.Au · ‎11-08-2022

Hi, Community members!

We’re excited to announce the first follow-up to our popular Instructor interview series. In these coming articles, we will spotlight the other various members of the AppDynamics University team. Some future featured roles include content creators, developers, and people managers. You’ll get the scoop on what they do on the job and after work. This new series will continue as our Instructor series concludes.

Introducing William Dimaculangan, who develops the lab environments for our AppDynamics University courses. Read about his recent participation with the Hurricane Ian clean-up efforts in Florida last month.

Please feel free to add your comments and questions for William and our Community moderators, below. We look forward to engaging with you!

– Johanna & Claudia

NOTE| ILT courses are exclusive to our Premium and Multi-User University subscription holders. Visit our site for more information on subscription types.

Work at AppDynamics

What do you do at your job?

I manage the AWS environment for AppDynamics University. I maintain the Virtual Machines (VMs) and the code that supports our Lab Environments for our customer classes. We strive to give them the best learning experience possible.

What were you doing before working for AppDynamics? How did you end up in your current role?

I was working as a Java Developer before coming to AppDynamics. When I first joined the team, I originally worked as an instructor, but it became apparent that we needed someone to move into maintaining the lab environments on a full-time basis as they got more complex. I stepped up into that role because of my development background.

What do you like most about working in the Education team?

Because it’s a small team, I get to make a huge impact. It’s good to know that the courses we provide are helping our customers become more successful.

Life in your free time

What are some of your favorite things to do, or experience, outside of work?

I like to travel, although Covid has made that more difficult. However, I still managed to make it to Thailand last year. I’m always up for adventures of one form or another.

Volunteering in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian

After a near miss by Hurricane Ian (my condo was under mandatory evacuation orders the Monday before it hit), I decided to take a week of Cisco’s Volunteer Time Off* benefit and headed down to Fort Myers.

I volunteered primarily with the Red Cross and was impressed by how well they were able to distribute a large amount of supplies and personnel to the places and people they were serving. I worked a number of different positions and got to see everything from their warehouse—where they loaded up trucks with supplies and snacks—to their shelters and Disaster Aid Stations, where they got those supplies to the people that needed it.

I met a lot of great volunteers, both within the Red Cross and with other organizations that were all down there to help. I also got to talk with many people who were still reeling from the impact of the hurricane. Many of them had lost everything and were struggling to figure out next steps. I heard a lot of their stories, including one man who at the height of the hurricane was standing in 4 feet of water in the middle of his living room with his elderly mother floating on a mattress next to him.

Overall, it was a very worthwhile experience and I feel I was able to make a difference for quite a few people.

*Cisco offers employees a bank of volunteer time off each year, among our options that support giving back to the community

Parting thoughts

What advice would you give someone who is interested in getting started with AppDynamics University?

The instructor-led courses are a great way to get a good understanding of the product. We have a great team of instructors that can really help you get up and running.

Getting started with AppDynamics University