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Dreams at Cisco</span></span></span></span></p> <div class="blog-post-header"> </div> <article id="post-459762" class="post-459762 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-wearecisco"> <div class="main-content"> <header class="entry-header"> <div class="entry-meta"> July 16, 2024 <a id="post-comments" href="https://blogs.cisco.com/wearecisco/from-email-to-empowerment-realizing-my-dreams-at-cisco#comments">5 Comments</a> <hr> </div> </header> <div class="blog-post-header"> <div class="thumbnail-avatar"> <div class="post-thumbnail" style="background-image:url(https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2024/07/IL20240711181538-IMG_7695-600x200.jpg);"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2024/06/mustafa-headshot-sq-150x150.jpg" width="102" height="102" alt="Avatar" class="avatar avatar-102 wp-user-avatar wp-user-avatar-102 photo avatar-default"> </div> </div> <div class="blog-cat-post-author-container"> <a href=https://blogs.cisco.com/wearecisco><h5>We Are Cisco</h5></a> <h1 class="entry-title">From Email to Empowerment: Realizing my Dreams at Cisco</h1><p class="wordcount"><span class="black">3 min read</span></p> <p> <a href="https://blogs.cisco.com/author/mhepekiz" title="Posts by Mustafa Hepekiz" rel="author">Mustafa Hepekiz</a> </p> </div> </div>  <div class="entry-content"> <p>I woke up early and started to check my emails. While scrolling quickly, I noticed an email from Cisco Meraki. It was an invitation to a phone screening. I couldn’t believe it. I thought I was still asleep.</p> <p><img class="alignright wp-image-459775" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2024/07/7ed2a4c2-b5b5-45ed-8dd3-a6bdadf99dc8.jpg" alt="Caucasian male wearing black Cisco baseball cap working from laptop in tropical-looking location. " width="500" height="667" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2024/07/7ed2a4c2-b5b5-45ed-8dd3-a6bdadf99dc8.jpg 1200w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2024/07/7ed2a4c2-b5b5-45ed-8dd3-a6bdadf99dc8-225x300.jpg 225w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2024/07/7ed2a4c2-b5b5-45ed-8dd3-a6bdadf99dc8-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2024/07/7ed2a4c2-b5b5-45ed-8dd3-a6bdadf99dc8-1152x1536.jpg 1152w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" />But I wasn’t. It was real. I completed all the steps of the interview process, and recently, I completed my first two years as a Cisconian, where I am a Software Engineer on the Customer Solutions Marketing Web Experience team, developing solutions for our web assets using different programming languages and managing some parts of the security side of our assets.</p> <p>I wrote my first code when I was 11 years old with a good old Commodore 64, a gift from my dad. Then, years later, in my native Turkiye, I co-founded a web hosting company where we created a small data center. That’s when I became aware of Cisco technology, its reliability, and its reputation. Seeing how Cisco was on the leading edge of technology sparked my dream to work here one day.</p> <p>I got closer to my dream when I won the Green Card lottery in 2018 and moved to the U.S. in 2019.</p> <p>The first two years in this country were challenging for me and my wife, including driving for rideshare services and updating my skills at a software boot camp. It was a learning process for us, and I’m glad for that because learning is an endless journey in life. That journey brought me to Cisco.</p> <p>I couldn’t sleep the night before my Cisco onboarding. I had to be reminded, “You’re on mute,” the next day because I was so excited to be here. I haven’t been on mute since because our collaborative and supportive culture encourages us to speak up and share our ideas, knowledge, and thoughts to learn from one another and help each other grow. Cisco is made up of good people who create the diverse and inclusive community we have here. My coworkers gave me a virtual hug when I started. I felt at home, and that feeling was priceless.</p> <p>When I look back at my two years here, I have learned a great deal. On the technical side, I have taken many different courses, trainings, webinars, and had valuable team conversations. Instructor-led and on-demand learning helps improve my skills and innovate our work. I’m so lucky as a Cisconian that we have so many different opportunities for training and growth.</p> <p><img loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-459776 alignleft" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2024/07/IMG_1634-scaled.jpg" alt="Caucasian male wearing hardhat, sunglasses, and "somos Cisco" t-shirt at a construction site taking a selfie." width="475" height="633" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2024/07/IMG_1634-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2024/07/IMG_1634-225x300.jpg 225w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2024/07/IMG_1634-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2024/07/IMG_1634-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2024/07/IMG_1634-1536x2048.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px" />I’ve learned even more about how to help others. Through our Time2Give benefit (80 hours of paid time off in addition to regular paid time off), I work with Austin Habitat for Humanity doing construction to help provide affordable housing for others. I slept out last year in Houston for Covenant House, Cisco’s annual event, where participants come together all over the world and give up their beds for one night, raising money to fight youth homelessness. If I hadn’t had these opportunities and others, a piece of my soul might be missing.</p> <p>Trust is also an incredible motivation for me — more than money, more than a bonus, more than recognition. As an experienced engineer with expertise in different areas, my managers, leaders, teammates, and friends recognize what I bring to Cisco, and their trust in me is my critical fuel. And mostly, I hear the following from my leaders, “We trust you; you can do it. Even if you’re in another country or on an aircraft.”</p> <p>Thanks to that unwavering trust, support, and flexibility, I have seamlessly merged my passion for exploration with my professional commitments, working remotely. It has opened up a world where deadlines and dreams ride side by side, allowing me to fulfill my responsibilities efficiently while feeding my soul with the endless beauty of the open road, where I take too many photos in my Cisco swag (I have more than the Cisco Store!) in other parts of the world, like Turkiye, Mexico, different parts of the U.S., on a motorcycle, in our R.V., on the lake, and at the airport. The world is my office, and every destination holds a new lesson, a fresh perspective, and a chance to recharge, especially with our four additional company-wide paid days off — Days for Me — to spend time with our family, dog, and hobbies. Our fur baby, Smoky, is always happy and grateful for those days because I have more time with him.</p> <p>This might sound like an interview answer, but I aim to touch others’ lives at work, with my code, with my hands, and with my ideas. Cisco is the perfect place to reach that goal, with its technology, culture, and people.</p> <p>Let me start my last words with an “if” statement as if I were a developer: If Cisco is a dream for you, don’t stop chasing it. Follow it to our <a href="http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/careers.html?CAMPAIGN=talent&COUNTRY_SITE=us&POSITION=social%2bmedia%2borganic&REFERRING_SITE=blog&CREATIVE=careershome&tags=blg">careers site</a>. Opportunities are waiting, and one of them fits your skills. You, too, might just receive that life-changing email — an email that transforms your dreams into reality.</p> <p><a href="https://app.feedpress.com/e/mailverify?feed_id=WeAreCisco">Subscribe to the WeAreCisco Blog.</a></p> <div id="share_bar_desktop"> <span class = "share_title">Share</span> <div class="twitter"> <div class = "box"> <a class = "share" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://blogs.cisco.com/wearecisco/from-email-to-empowerment-realizing-my-dreams-at-cisco&text=From Email to Empowerment: Realizing my Dreams at Cisco&via=WeAreCisco" target='_blank' data-config-metrics-group='social_shares' data-config-metrics-title='twitter_shares' data-config-metrics-item='twitter_share'> <img class="share_image" src="https://blogs.cisco.com/wp-content/themes/ciscowordpress-child/svg/share_X_white.svg" alt="share on twitter"></a> </div> </div> <div class="facebook"> <div class = "box"> <a class = "share" href = "http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://blogs.cisco.com/wearecisco/from-email-to-empowerment-realizing-my-dreams-at-cisco&title=From Email to Empowerment: Realizing my Dreams at Cisco" data-config-metrics-group='social_shares' data-config-metrics-title='facebook_shares' data-config-metrics-item='facebook_share' onclick="javascript:window.open(this.href, '', 'menubar=no,toolbar=no,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes,height=600,width=600');return false;"><img class="share_image" src="https://blogs.cisco.com/wp-content/themes/ciscowordpress-child/svg/share_fb_white.svg" alt="share on facebook"></a> </div> </div> <div class="linkedin"> <div class = "box"> <a class = "share" href = "https://www.linkedin.com/cws/share?url=https://blogs.cisco.com/wearecisco/from-email-to-empowerment-realizing-my-dreams-at-cisco" data-title=" " data-config-metrics-group='social_shares' data-config-metrics-title='linkedin_shares' data-config-metrics-item='linkedin_share' onclick="javascript:window.open(this.href, '', 'menubar=no,toolbar=no,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes,height=600,width=600');return false;"><img class="share_image" src="https://blogs.cisco.com/wp-content/themes/ciscowordpress-child/svg/share_li_white.svg" alt="share on linkedin"></a> </div> </div> <div class = "mail"> <div class = "box"> <a class="share" href="mailto:?subject=Cisco Blog: From Email to Empowerment: Realizing my Dreams at Cisco&body=I saw this post on Cisco Blogs and thought you might like to read it.%0A%0AFrom Email to Empowerment: Realizing my Dreams at Cisco%0A%0Ahttps://blogs.cisco.com/wearecisco/from-email-to-empowerment-realizing-my-dreams-at-cisco%0A%0A****Disclaimer****%0A%0ACisco is not responsible for the content of this email, and its contents do not necessarily reflect Cisco’s views or opinions. 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Cisco has not verified the email address or name of the sender." data-config-metrics-group='social_shares' data-config-metrics-title='email_shares' data-config-metrics-item='email_share'> <img class="share_image" src="https://blogs.cisco.com/wp-content/themes/ciscowordpress-child/svg/share_email_white.svg"> </a> </div> </div> <div class = "clear"></div> </div> <br> </div> <div class="author-section"> <div><h2>Authors</h2></div> <div class="auth-row"> <div class="blog-row author-bio"> <div class="item-thirds-1 author-bio-box" > <div class="author-image" > <a href="https://blogs.cisco.com/author/mhepekiz"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/blogs-images-new/ciscoblogs/1/2024/06/mustafa-headshot-sq-150x150.jpg" width="150" height="150" alt="Avatar" class="avatar avatar-150wp-user-avatar wp-user-avatar-150 alignnone photo avatar-default"> </a> </div> <div class="author-info"> <h3><a href="https://blogs.cisco.com/author/mhepekiz"> Mustafa Hepekiz</a> </h3> <h4 class="title">Software Engineeer </h4> <h4>Meraki Marketing</h4> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <footer class="entry-footer"> </footer> </article> <hr id="comment-break-line"> </div> <div id="comments" class="comments-area"> <h2 class="comments-title"> 5 Comments </h2> <ul class="comment-list"> <li id="comment-2574347" class="comment even thread-even depth-1 parent"> <article id="div-comment-2574347" class="comment-body"> <footer class="comment-meta"> <div class="comment-author vcard"> <img src="https://blogs.cisco.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cisco_logo.png" width="32" height="23" alt="Avatar" class="avatar avatar-32wp-user-avatar wp-user-avatar-32 alignnone photo avatar-default" /> <b class="fn">Kathryn Zaki</b> <span class="says">says:</span> </div> <div class="comment-metadata"> <a href="https://blogs.cisco.com/wearecisco/from-email-to-empowerment-realizing-my-dreams-at-cisco#comment-2574347"><time datetime="2024-07-16T15:05:46-07:00">July 16, 2024 at 3:05 pm</time></a> </div> </footer> <div class="comment-content"> <p>So glad you got that email and accepted the invite. Proud to know you and watch you do what you love, Mustafa!</p> </div> </article> <ul class="children"> <li id="comment-2574349" class="comment odd alt depth-2"> <article id="div-comment-2574349" class="comment-body"> <footer class="comment-meta"> <div class="comment-author vcard"> <img src="https://blogs.cisco.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cisco_logo.png" width="32" height="23" alt="Avatar" class="avatar avatar-32wp-user-avatar wp-user-avatar-32 alignnone photo avatar-default" /> <b class="fn">Mustafa Hepekiz</b> <span class="says">says:</span> </div> <div class="comment-metadata"> <a href="https://blogs.cisco.com/wearecisco/from-email-to-empowerment-realizing-my-dreams-at-cisco#comment-2574349"><time datetime="2024-07-16T16:27:11-07:00">July 16, 2024 at 4:27 pm</time></a> </div> </footer> <div class="comment-content"> <p>Thank you so much Kathryn Zaki, for all your support and kind words.</p> </div> </article> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="comment-2574727" class="comment even thread-odd thread-alt depth-1"> <article id="div-comment-2574727" class="comment-body"> <footer class="comment-meta"> <div class="comment-author vcard"> <img src="https://blogs.cisco.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cisco_logo.png" width="32" height="23" alt="Avatar" class="avatar avatar-32wp-user-avatar wp-user-avatar-32 alignnone photo avatar-default" /> <b class="fn">Orif Turakulovich</b> <span class="says">says:</span> </div> <div class="comment-metadata"> <a href="https://blogs.cisco.com/wearecisco/from-email-to-empowerment-realizing-my-dreams-at-cisco#comment-2574727"><time datetime="2024-07-26T12:21:26-07:00">July 26, 2024 at 12:21 pm</time></a> </div> </footer> <div class="comment-content"> <p>I was glad to read your short story and biography, it made me feel good! I also dream of joining such innovative and cutting-edge companies! I try too!!! I wish you success and good luck!!!</p> </div> </article> </li> <li id="comment-2575551" class="comment odd alt thread-even depth-1"> <article id="div-comment-2575551" class="comment-body"> <footer class="comment-meta"> <div class="comment-author vcard"> <img src="https://blogs.cisco.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cisco_logo.png" width="32" height="23" alt="Avatar" class="avatar avatar-32wp-user-avatar wp-user-avatar-32 alignnone photo avatar-default" /> <b class="fn">Aristide Katagaruka</b> <span class="says">says:</span> </div> <div class="comment-metadata"> <a href="https://blogs.cisco.com/wearecisco/from-email-to-empowerment-realizing-my-dreams-at-cisco#comment-2575551"><time datetime="2024-08-28T06:12:22-07:00">August 28, 2024 at 6:12 am</time></a> </div> </footer> <div class="comment-content"> <p>Thank you for sharing your experience, it’s very inspiring. I wish you all the best for the future.</p> </div> </article> </li> <li id="comment-2575574" class="comment even thread-odd thread-alt depth-1"> <article id="div-comment-2575574" class="comment-body"> <footer class="comment-meta"> <div class="comment-author vcard"> <img src="https://blogs.cisco.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cisco_logo.png" width="32" height="23" alt="Avatar" class="avatar avatar-32wp-user-avatar wp-user-avatar-32 alignnone photo avatar-default" /> <b class="fn">Dave D.</b> <span class="says">says:</span> </div> <div class="comment-metadata"> <a href="https://blogs.cisco.com/wearecisco/from-email-to-empowerment-realizing-my-dreams-at-cisco#comment-2575574"><time datetime="2024-08-29T09:23:57-07:00">August 29, 2024 at 9:23 am</time></a> </div> </footer> <div class="comment-content"> <p>I’ve been chasinig it. Thanks for the enthusiasm and encouragement.</p> </div> </article> </li> </ul> <p class="no-comments">Comments are closed.</p> </div> </main> </div> <div class="blog-row cui cta"> <div class="item-halves-1"> <div class="cta-container"> <div class="cta-image"> <img src="https://alln-extcloud-storage.cisco.com/Cisco_Blogs:blogs/1/2020/01/IL20200117134331-Life-at-Cisco-CTA-Why-Cisco-150x150.jpg"> </div>  <div class="cta-description"> <h2>Why Cisco?</h2> <p>What makes us unique?</p> <div class="btn--parent"> <button class="btn--primary1" onclick="window.location.href = 'https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/careers/working-at-cisco.html';">  Discover </button> </div>  </div>    </div>  </div>  <div class="item-halves-2"> <div class="cta-container"> <div class="cta-image"> <img src="https://alln-extcloud-storage.cisco.com/Cisco_Blogs:blogs/1/2020/01/IL20200117134449-Life-at-Cisco-CTA-Cisco-Careers-150x150.jpg"> </div>  <div class="cta-description"> <h2>Cisco Careers</h2> <p>Be you. 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