Aviatrix wants to elevate the work of cloud networking heroes who labor to keep networks secure, effective, and performant. We’re proud to highlight people who have taught themselves the necessary skills, designed and managed successful networks, and have the expertise to share.
Our next hero spotlight is on Dariusz Terefenko, Senior Cloud Support Engineer. See our previous hero spotlights here.
Background: The Go-To “IT Person”
Dariusz has been fascinated by technology ever since he got his first PC. He quickly became the go-to “IT person” for friends and family.
“That early exposure led me to pursue formal education in IT Management and Distributed & Mobile Computing, culminating in postgraduate degrees,” he said. “Over the past fifteen or so years, I’ve worked in a range of roles—from a hands-on technician to a Cloud Support Engineer. During that time, I’ve developed strong expertise in on-premises networking, cloud networking, virtualization, project management, and beyond.”
In addition to his day job in the cloud domain, he also served as an Associate Lecturer at the Technological University Dublin. “Teaching modules like Cloud Architecture and Advanced Cloud Provisioning kept me sharp and allowed me to pass on practical insights to the next generation of technologists,” he explained. “Helping students ‘connect the dots’ and turn theoretical concepts into real-world solutions was one of the most rewarding aspects of my professional life.”
Dariusz thrives on the variety and complexity of challenges he encounters every day. “Whether I’m troubleshooting a multi-region networking issue or guiding a client through their first cloud infrastructure design or complex migrations, there’s always something new to learn and teach,” he said. “A highlight for me was becoming a Technical Domain Authority (TDA) within my first year at Amazon Web Services—an achievement that not only validated my expertise in cloud networking but also gave me the opportunity to mentor peers.”
He also enjoys seeing the rewards of his labor. “Seeing consistently high customer satisfaction rates is incredibly rewarding; it affirms that the solutions I provide genuinely help customers innovate and grow,” he said.
Cost Control: Research, Automate, Design
Dariusz offered some advice for fellow networking professionals who struggle with a common issue: controlling costs:
Match your workloads to the right services – “Overprovisioning is easy to do in the cloud, so use monitoring and automation wherever possible—auto-scaling policies, scheduled shutdowns of non-production environments, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) can greatly reduce unnecessary spending.”
Get familiar with each cloud provider’s cost-analysis tools – “Detailed tagging and cost monitoring will let you quickly see where your expenses are going. Consider options like reserved instances, spot instances, or savings plans if your workloads are somewhat predictable.”
Never forget about designing for efficiency from day one — “Sound architecture and well-defined governance policies will save far more money in the long run than quick fixes after the fact.”
The Evolution of Networking and the Next Ten Years
Like all our Cloud Networking Heroes, Dariusz has witnessed massive industry changes during his career. “When I started, the focus was primarily on physical hardware—configuring switches, routers, and dealing with cabling,” he said. “Then virtualization and software-defined networking (SDN) started to reshape the landscape, making it easier and faster to spin up and manage complex environments. Now, in the cloud era, we’re seeing a significant shift toward automation and Infrastructure as Code, with solutions that can scale globally in minutes.”
He made some predictions about the next ten years in networking:
“More convergence of networking and AI-driven analytics, enabling networks to self-heal, self-optimize, and predict issues before they occur.”
“The rapid growth of edge computing and IoT will introduce new patterns and demands for latency-sensitive applications, making secure and reliable distributed networks crucial.”
“Essentially, networking will continue to evolve into an intelligent, adaptive fabric underpinning everything from data centers to edge locations,” he said.
The Network is the Cloud: A Global Mesh
To Dariusz, “the network is the cloud” underscores that connectivity isn’t confined to a single data center or on-premises setup anymore. “Instead, the network is a global mesh of distributed services, spanning multiple regions, availability zones, and even multiple cloud providers,” he said. “It’s the backbone that ties together compute, storage, and applications in a fluid, on-demand way. From my perspective, this phrase also highlights how crucial network automation, security, and observability are in an era where resources and users can be almost anywhere in the world.”
Outside of Work
Outside of work, Dariusz prioritizes balance. “I enjoy going to the gym, running, and swimming to clear my mind and stay healthy,” he said. “I also love dabbling in personal tech projects—like setting up home lab environments or experimenting with new tools and frameworks—which satisfies my ‘tinker’ side without the pressure of production systems.”
He also devotes time to reading and ongoing education, both for his teaching role either in past or in current role and to keep pace with the ever-evolving tech landscape. “It’s a great way to stay curious and continuously feed my passion for learning,” he said.
Check out Dariusz’s blog about the Three Stages of Implementing Zero Trust Principles.
Curious about other cloud networking heroes like Dariusz?
We’ll keep highlighting networking professionals on this blog.
Learn more about the Cloud Networking Heroes program and apply on The Cloud Network Community.
