Pursuing the Unknown: When Your Greatest Tool Is Your Ability to Learn

One of the biggest misconceptions about being a technical instructor is that we spend our careers teaching what we already know.

For some, that may be true, but for me, the reality is almost the opposite.

Throughout my career as a networking instructor, I've been repeatedly asked to develop courses on technologies for which my knowledge was incomplete—or, in some cases, virtually nonexistent. Every new project begins with the same realization: before I can teach others, I first have to become a student myself.

Over the years, that process has become familiar. I immerse myself in the technology, build lab environments whenever possible, read everything I can find, watch presentations, compare documentation from multiple sources, and experiment until the concepts begin to make sense. Eventually, the individual pieces come together into a complete picture. Only then do I begin creating the instructional material.

Learning has never been an occasional part of my job. It is my job.

Recently, however, I was assigned a project that challenged my learning process in ways I hadn't experienced before.

I was asked to develop a course on Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN.

On the surface, it looked like just another technology to learn. But as I dug deeper, I realized this project was fundamentally different from anything I had tackled before.

For years, my experience has been rooted primarily in Cisco technologies. That background provided more than technical knowledge—it provided a framework for learning.

If I were assigned a Cisco project, I could usually determine within a few hours whether the technology could be virtualized in a lab. I knew which software images existed, what licensing was required, and what limitations I might encounter. I knew where to find the most useful documentation. I understood the terminology. Just as importantly, I had built relationships with countless engineers over the years who were always willing to answer questions or point me in the right direction.

Without realizing it, I had spent years building an entire ecosystem that supported the way I learned.

Then I stepped into Prisma SD-WAN.

Suddenly, much of that ecosystem disappeared.

I didn't know whether the solution could even be meaningfully virtualized for experimentation. The documentation followed a structure and terminology that were completely unfamiliar to me. Even finding the right document sometimes felt like a challenge. And unlike Cisco technologies, where decades of articles, videos, white papers, and community discussions are readily available, I found far fewer resources covering the specific questions I was trying to answer.

More importantly, I didn't have a network of experienced Prisma SD-WAN engineers to reach out to when I got stuck.

For perhaps the first time in many years, I wasn't simply learning a new technology.

I was learning without the familiar foundation I'd come to rely on.

There were moments when the project felt overwhelming.

I would find documentation explaining what to configure, but offering very little insight into why the technology behaved the way it did. Features would depend on prerequisites that weren't always obvious. Questions often led to more questions.

Instead of finding answers in documentation, I found myself building experiments.

I'd create a lab, configure a feature, observe its behavior, capture packets, review logs, change a single variable, and repeat the process. Sometimes understanding one concept required hours—or even days—of experimentation before I felt confident that I truly understood what was happening beneath the surface.

It wasn't always efficient.

It wasn't always enjoyable.

But it was incredibly rewarding.

As the project progressed, something unexpected happened.

I realized the most valuable thing I was learning wasn't Prisma SD-WAN.

I was learning something about myself.

Experience isn't just about accumulating technical knowledge. It's also about developing a process for learning unfamiliar things. Over the years, I'd refined that process without even realizing it. This project temporarily removed many of the tools that made my learning process effective, forcing me to rebuild it from the ground up.

That experience reminded me of an important truth.

Every engineer, regardless of experience, eventually encounters something that makes them feel like they're starting over. New vendors emerge. New architectures replace old ones. New technologies redefine familiar concepts. No matter how many years we've spent in this industry, there will always be moments when we're confronted with something we simply don't understand.

That's not a sign that we've stopped growing.

It's evidence that we still are.

Looking back, I'm grateful for the experience.

Not because it was comfortable.

It wasn't.

I'm grateful because it reminded me of something I think all of us need to hear from time to time: even when we're faced with what seems like an insurmountable challenge, we're capable of far more than we initially believed.

The project reinforced something I had learned many times throughout my career, but had perhaps never appreciated as deeply. With determination, a willingness to ask for help, and a genuine desire to understand, I can learn just about anything. The journey may be longer than I'd like, and it may involve more uncertainty than I'm comfortable with, but persistence has a remarkable way of turning unfamiliar territory into familiar ground.

I suspect that's true for every engineer.

The technologies will continue to evolve. Vendors will introduce new platforms. New architectures will emerge. At some point, every one of us will find ourselves staring at documentation that feels overwhelming and wondering where to begin.

When that moment comes, don't measure yourself by what you don't know.

Measure yourself by your willingness to learn.

In the end, our greatest professional asset isn't the knowledge we've accumulated over the years. It's the confidence that, whatever comes next, we have the ability to learn it.