This post was written by guest blogger Jean-Philippe Desbiens, 23, a Cisco Meraki consulting systems engineer.Cisco CCNA certified since age 17, Jean-Philippe is now CCNP certified and studying for his CCIE. He is involved in his community and is always eager to learn new technologies.

Did you know that every two years, a global competition for professional trades is held somewhere in the world? That event, called WorldSkills, happened last month in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

WorldSkills is an International competition that brings together young people from all around the world to fight for the title of "best of the world" in their trades. I was one of them, as I represented Canada in the category IT -Network Systems Administration in 2013 in Leipzig. I finished 6th out of 30 competitors and received a medallion of excellence. However, before getting in the world's top 10, I had to follow a specific and special path.

My journey began in 2008 when I was studying IT at the Centre de Formation Profesionelle (Professional Training Center) des Riverains in Repentigny, Quebec. I was 16 years old and my love of and adventure with the telecommunications industry began. I had the opportunity to take Cisco Networking Academy courses, which gave me a chance to learn and fulfill my need for IT knowledge. It didn't take too long to be spotted as a student who had potential, and one of my teachers told me about WorldSkills. I competed at the local, regional, provincial, and national level in IT Networking and at the age of 16, I placed 4th in Canada. That gave me an opportunity to work as an IT security and telecommunication technician at Quebec's provincial government.

I earned my CCENT certification at age 16 and my CCNA certification at age 17. I was able to continue with the Networking Academy when I entered Coll