Cisco AppDynamics Community

Johanna.Au · ‎10-13-2022

Hello, Community members! Please give a warm welcome to Yukari Ichinose —the latest instructor featured in our ongoing AppDynamics University instructor series. Based out of our Tokyo office, Yukari discusses her unique journey to AppDynamics, as well as her many passions outside of work!

Please feel free to add your comments and questions for Yukari 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.

Your work

Can you give us a picture of “a day in the life”? What do you do at your job?

Yukari poses in the AppDynamics Tokyo office

I’m a Tokyo-based instructor for the Japan and APAC regions of AppDynamics. My job is to deliver AppDynamics training in both Japanese and English to our customers. As the amount of AppDynamics users in Japan has grown, we’ve increased our offering of courses in Japanese. I also serve as a bridging member for our Global Education Team and Japan team.

How did you get involved with technical instruction and working at AppDynamics?

I actually started out as an English and American Literature major from Japan. I studied a bit in Manchester, UK, and then went to Iowa State University, near where my sister lived at the time, to pursue a degree in MIS (Management Information Systems).

After graduating, I journeyed back to Japan to start my career as an engineer and in-house support specialist for financial and telecommunication companies. My tasks then included performing data storage provisioning and configuring Cisco switches for SAN (Storage Area Network). From there, I shifted to consulting for different companies. This helped me learn about the broader application of these technologies.

I joined AppDynamics as a consultant in the summer of 2019 and delivered projects as well as training programs. Later, a role for an AppDynamics technical instructor opened up. I knew I still enjoyed teaching, especially during my time as a high school instructor, and was still certified! I decided to apply and fully transition to the AppDynamics Education Team in 2022.

What has fed your interest in your work?

I’ve had great experiences with the talented people at AppDynamics and with the students who attend my courses from all over the world. My students come from all different backgrounds and bring a lot of experiences with them. It often feels like I am teaching and learning at the same time.

What inspires me are the wonderful people I’m surrounded by; I really appreciate being a part of this organization. The AppDynamics culture is all about caring for and helping one another. We always help the customer be successful: One of my students recently mentioned that they feel supported by us, no matter which role they are in.

Your work at AppD

What are your top tips for maximizing learning in an AppDynamics instructor-led course?

Please don’t hesitate to ask questions if you are not sure of something. You are not the only one: other students often have it in mind as well.
You can send questions privately in the Webex chat.
Compare the AppDynamics environment to your own configuration or system. This way it will be easier to understand how you can configure and monitor your environments. Many tips will be given during the courses.
You can also email or connect with me over LinkedIn after class. It’s good to know what students do with their new-found course knowledge within their respective companies.

Life after-hours

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

I love to play golf and used to play almost every weekend before the pandemic. Now, I go about once or twice a month, commuting 1-2 hours outside of Tokyo to the golf course, with a group of friends.

I frequently travel with my family! I’ve been to Iowa to visit my sister and other parts of the Midwest (Wisconsin, etc.), hot springs in Japan, and Hawaii.

I have been playing piano for 13 years. Currently, I play classical music but want to get into jazz.

I have gone on scuba diving excursions in Key West, Florida, Saipan, small Japanese islands, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Insights to Share

Do you have advice for students about to take a course with you?

Enjoy learning and growing your knowledge and skills! Utilize the course opportunities to play in the lab environment! They are great chances to test and poke around without having to worry about breaking the instance.

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

As a learner, you can start watching self-paced learning content to get some ideas about AppDynamics’ solutions. There are subtitles in English, French, Japanese Portuguese, and Spanish available.

Our instructor-led courses are also offered in many different regions, which means you can take them at whatever time works for you. There are learning paths for each role, and you can prove your knowledge with recognition badges and certifications.

I want to emphasize to Japanese students that there is instructor training available in Japanese, and there are Japanese subtitles available for self-paced learning.

TIP | If you see the “globe” icon within AppDynamics University, that means multiple subtitles are available.

What’s your favorite way of keeping up with industry news?

I see new articles and recommended features on my LinkedIn news feed. Within the Japan team, my colleagues will drop interesting links and tidbits in our chat channels. As a team, this exposes us to new technology trends and where our industry is heading, so we can better help our customers.

Learn how to get started in AppDynamics University.