Swadesh Akula
Naperville,IL
Summary
Very passionate Sr. Network Admin/Engineer with 9+ years industry experience having worked in projects that include Data Center refresh, WAN Redevelopment, Firewalls, Load balancers, Cloud Proxies, ZTNA and Public Cloud. Excellent communication skills with the ability to work with storage, VMware, server and application teams. A proactive team player who also can work independently. Strong expertise in Cisco Firepower (FTD, FMC), Cisco ASA and Next-Generation Firewall technologies including design, implementation and ASA to Firepower migrations.
Overview
8
8
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Sr. Network Engineer
Discovery Financials
Dallas, TX
07.2023 - Current
- Tasks: Worked as a part of network team where my daily tasks included configuring, monitoring and troubleshooting of Campus and Datacenter networks.
- Configured and managed Cisco Firepower (FTD) devices using FMC including access control, IPS and NAT policies.
- Performed ASA to Firepower migrations including VPN and policy migration.
- Implemented HA and failover configurations for Firepower appliances.
- Designed and executed POCs in lab environments validating Firepower deployments.
- Integrated Firepower with Cisco ISE and SIEM tools.
- Configured and managed Palo Alto firewalls and performed ASA migrations.
- Automated network configurations using Python and Ansible.
- Troubleshot complex network and firewall issues.
- Key Responsibilities:
Network Admin/Engineer
Master Card
Richmond, VA
06.2021 - 04.2023
- Supported Cisco Firepower and ASA firewall environments.
- Configured VPNs, NAT, IPS and routing protocols.
- Integrated Cisco ISE with firewall environments.
- Performed troubleshooting and incident response.
- Responsibilities:
Network Engineer
Southern Wines and Spirits
Lakeland, FL
11.2019 - 06.2021
- Configured and administered firewalls including Cisco ASA and Palo Alto.
- Assisted in Firepower deployments and configurations.
- Configured VPNs, NAT and firewall policies.
- Supported data center network troubleshooting.
- Key Responsibilities:
Network Admin
Sonata Software
Hyderabad, India
09.2018 - 10.2019
- Managed Cisco routers and switches.
- Configured ASA firewalls, VPNs and ACLs.
- Provided L2/L3 support and troubleshooting.
- Key Responsibilities:
Education
Masters - Info Tech Management
Indiana Wesleyan University
Bachelors - Electronics and Communication
Sri Indu college of engineering
Skills
- Networking Technologies
- LAN/WAN Architecture, TCP/IP, VPN, VLAN, NAT, STP
- Networking Hardware
- Cisco Switches, Routers, Firepower Appliances, ASA, Palo Alto, Fortinet
- Routing Protocols
- OSPF, EIGRP, BGP, MPLS
- Security Technologies
- Cisco Firepower (FTD, FMC), Cisco ASA, Palo Alto, Fortinet, Zscaler, NGFW, IPS, Zero Trust
- Network Monitoring
- SolarWinds, Wireshark, tcpdump
- Operating Systems
- Windows, Linux, Cisco IOS, NX-OS
- Scripting
- Python, Ansible
Certification
- CCNA – Cisco Certified Network Associate
- CCNP – Cisco Certified Network Professional
- PCNSE – Palo Alto Certified Network Security Engineer
Timeline
Sr. Network Engineer
Discovery Financials
07.2023 - Current
Network Admin/Engineer
Master Card
06.2021 - 04.2023
Network Engineer
Southern Wines and Spirits
11.2019 - 06.2021
Network Admin
Sonata Software
09.2018 - 10.2019
Bachelors - Electronics and Communication
Sri Indu college of engineering
Masters - Info Tech Management
Indiana Wesleyan University