Jonathan - March 2026 Featured Member

Welcome to our Featured Member series. This months spotlight is on Jonathancert , a spectacular contributor to our community!

DevCentral: To start, please introduce yourself and tell our community a little bit about you. What do you do and why is it important?

Jonathan: I’m Jonathan and I’m a retired Air Force veteran and “The Ohio State University” fan. I’ve been working in Information Technology since 2001. Due to my military career, I’ve lived in Germany, Portugal, Azores and South Korea. My foundation is routing and switching but after being introduced to the Application Delivery Controller (ADC) ecosystem I found a new passion. My broad role is maintaining the Wide Area Network which includes F5 DNS and LTM’s. My success impacts the Department of Defense and associated Warfighter.

DevCentral: As a Senior Telecom Network Engineer at TekSynap, what is your typical workday like?

Jonathan: The department I’m part of is 24/7 operations, so the changing of the guards at shift turnover influences my workload. As the Senior F5 tech I tend to get the issues that would involve conducting traffic flow and network misconfigurations, SSL/TLS issues, irule and policy issues. Tcpdump and wireshark are muscle memory.

DevCentral: Can you give us a glimpse into your technical expertise?

Jonathan: I began my technical journey in 2001 with my first instructor‑led networking course, and earned my CCNA in 2005. Over the years I’ve held multiple certifications, including Cisco CCDA, Cisco Service Provider, and Juniper JNCIA. My foundation is routing and switching, and that core knowledge has been invaluable in mastering F5 Application Delivery. If you don’t understand how data reaches a virtual server, you’ll never understand why it doesn’t, that mindset has shaped how I troubleshoot and design solutions. Along the way, I’ve expanded into Linux, Ansible, Azure, and security, all of which naturally complement and strengthen my work with F5 technologies.

DevCentral: Do you have any F5 Certifications? If so, how have they helped in your career?

Jonathan: Yes, I have an F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP (F5-CA, BIG-IP). The road to pass the exam helped immensely. I built my own home lab via VMware with a GTM and two LTM’s. Some issues at work I can use my lab to mirror worst case scenario on changing a configuration.

DevCentral: As someone who is retired from the US Air Force, what’s one of the most memorable projects you worked on that has impact on what you’re doing these days?

Jonathan: My biggest noob moment was working Tech Control at base comm. Had an issues with some remote device not being able to reach beyond our perimeter router. Our distro was a Cisco 6500 fully bladed. In a rush to see the logs and events I did a “undebug all” with no ACL or buffer prerequisite. Quickly watched all the green port lights turn orange. Power Cycle required. Since then, I give myself a five second pause before pressing “Enter” or “Update”.

DevCentral: How have you brought experiences gained in the Air Force into your community? (Does not have to be DevCentral)

Jonathan: The Air Force drills into you the importance of documenting the sequence of actions taken to resolve an issue, and that habit carries directly into both your personal and professional life. Before you fix a problem, you make sure there is a problem, because one user unable to access an application doesn’t automatically mean a ADC config change. In the world of ADCs, where capabilities are broad and complex, it’s easy for people to point at the F5 when something breaks.

Two Air Force Core Values — Integrity First and Excellence in All We Do — guides how I carry myself in the DevCentral community. I recognize that the community spans a wide range of experience levels, and try to contribute in a way that’s respectful, honest, and helpful. I want to bring the same professionalism and integrity learned in the service.

DevCentral: What drew you into the DevCentral Community and what keeps you engaged?

Jonathan: I was looking for blog that was reliable and review frequent post relating to F5 and other technical community didn’t dive deep enough into problem solving. DevCentral appears to have a mix of identity, curiosity, and belonging. For me It’s not just the content, it’s the feeling of being around people who think the same way, solve problems the same way, and get excited about the same weird technical details.

DevCentral: What is a piece of advice you would give those looking to start their journey in the world of tech?

Jonathan: If you’re starting your journey in tech, find a path that keeps you curious. This field is huge — Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Software Development, Data, Analysis and now with Artificial Intelligence, entirely new frontiers are opening. Anyone who claims they “know everything” in tech is someone you should avoid. The best people are always learning.

I started in help desk and I don’t regret it for a second. It taught me fundamentals, humility, and how real users think. Don’t quit something you’re passionate about, even when it gets tough. Everyone in tech has been close to or had an RGE (Resume Generating Event). It’s part of the journey, not the end of it.

DevCentral: Are you a planner or more spontaneous, and how does that positively reflect in your life?

Jonathan: Unfortunately, I’m a planner with spontaneous tendency. Many times I have jump in feet first knowing how to resolve an issue and made it worse. I do at least try to identify if there is a problem and what is the range of those effected. Not, sure what I’m doing is 100% positive but those around me and myself are not bored.

DevCentral: If you weren't in your current profession what would be your dream job?

Jonathan: My dream job would be test driving automobiles like the British guys do on “The Grand Tour”

DevCentral: What is something new you have recently done or tried? How was the experience?

Jonathan: I’m late to the table in getting into automation platform. I started learning Ansible in the past year hoping script config in multiple F5 devices. Learning ansible also improved my Tcl understanding. Coding is my kryptonite, but there is great joy when everything works.

DevCentral: Lastly, what inspires you?

Jonathan: I’m inspired by the constant evolution of technology and the thrill of learning something new, whether it’s breakthroughs that shape the World Wide Web or innovations transforming the automotive world. That same curiosity shows up in my free time, where chess and researching emerging tech give me both challenge and clarity. I’m driven by the desire to maintain a healthy balance between my passion for growth and the quality of life. It’s this blend of curiosity, discipline, and grounded purpose that keeps me looking forward to tomorrow.