What was it like to design the network for the world’s largest outdoor festival? Rock‘n’rolling with Patrick Groot Nuelend

Patrick began his career in 1997 at Symbol Technologies, until that company was acquired by Motorola in 2007. From there he transitioned to Zebra in 2014 and then Extreme Networks in 2016. Learn more about Patrick’s journey from our Q&A below!

When I first started with Extreme, I was in a global consulting role where I supported the global sales team. I focused much of my time on presale activities and communicated with our partners from all around the world.

Then I transitioned into a role as the General Manager of Retail and Transportation/Logistics where I helped develop business models specific to the retail and transportation/logistics verticals with the goal of increasing revenue and productivity.

Currently, I am working as a Solutions Architect on our EMEA team where I work as a technical advisor for our customers and act as the solutions lead for solution development. I work closely with the sales team and create solutions portfolios that aid the sales team.

I would say that my biggest career achievement at Extreme would be when I was the lead architect for our client, Zwarte Cross – which is the largest music and sports festival in the Netherlands and largest outdoor motor event in the world. This event brought in over 220,000 attendees, all connected to our Wi-Fi network.

During the festival, I did a lot of work with the press, communications for the event, and set up of our systems. Just thinking about that experience puts a smile on my face, it was so amazing to showcase Extreme! Since the 2019 festival was such a success, we are currently planning for the 2021 festival, which is currently scheduled to happen in September.

I think Extreme is so unique because even since it has grown so much since I started, and still does every day, we still feel like a small company. By that I mean everyone is reachable and approachable no matter what their role or title, or even their location. We are all so connected with one another and I think that is really special.

My favorite part of my job is getting to work with people from so many different locations and facets of life. I love experiencing different cultures, whether working with customers or coworkers, it is fascinating to learn more about them and their experiences.

Although COVID has cancelled a lot of my typical travels, I hope that someday soon I hope I am able to travel for work again and continue meeting new people and experiencing different cultures.

Innovative, motivating, and challenging.

I would say innovative because we are always coming up with new ideas and growing as a company – creating new technologies and ways to accomplish tasks.

Extreme is motivating because of the overwhelming support we get from colleagues – everyone is so helpful to one another and we are always pushing each other to be our best.

Lastly, I would say Extreme is challenging in the sense that when I look at everything as a whole, I always feel that I am never sitting still. I always have opportunities to learn new things and continue growing. There is always another challenge awaiting us and I think that is fantastic!

Visit our careers page to explore opportunities in sales and systems engineering as well as the many other roles in which you can advance and help Extreme drive effortless networking experiences for enterprises worldwide.