Customer-Focused, Collaborative, and Cultured - Julian's 20+ Year Journey with Extreme

For 25 years, Extreme Networks has been helping customers to advance their digital transformation efforts and deliver progress like never before. As we reflect on our 25 years in business, there’s a lot to both celebrate and look forward to. To tell that story, we couldn’t think of a better way than to talk with our employees who have been along for the ride. Throughout 2021, we’ll be talking with some of our incredible employees that have been with Extreme for 2+ decades, and next up is Julian Critchlow, General Manager of Australia & New Zealand.

Julian started his career as a contractor at Cabletron and later became a permanent member of the staff in January of 2000. Since then his role has been constantly evolving until finally through a series of acquisitions, he ended up here at Extreme! Learn more about Julian’s journey from our Q&A below.

What is your role at Extreme and how has it evolved over the years?

My career started in 2000 at Cabletron where I started in the IT department and worked the MIS helpdesk. From there I transitioned into a presales role and eventually became a senior consultant. I came to Extreme officially when they acquired Enterasys in 2014 and I have loved working for such an amazing and accommodating company that will do anything to help its employees succeed. My current role is the General Manager for Australia and New Zealand. I oversee customer success within the region, guide and mentor our account executives, work with our marketing teams, and help the system engineering teams given my technical background.

How do you help Extreme advance?

By focusing on helping our customers. I love that so much of my job is communicating with our customers to identify their problems and then working with the whole team to fix those issues. It is so rewarding solving customer problems. I really enjoy being the connection between customers and engineers, my sales and technical backgrounds have me well prepared to communicate with both groups and be a liaison that passes along messages and gives input.

What has been your favorite achievement at Extreme?

I don’t want to go on about customer wins as it is so predictable, but I would say it truly is winning the deal as cliché as it sounds. When we win, all our efforts come together, it is one of the most rewarding experiences. When we gain customers' trust and help their business achieve their goals, from educating children in K12 to doctors treating patients in healthcare, being a part of that is a huge achievement.

What do you love about your job?

Working with my team and customers. I love being able to collaborate with people and work with others toward a common goal. Overall, I would say my true favorite part is being customer focused and helping people. I love being able to sit down with a customer and talk about their needs and goals and provide the tools to build a network that will meet those needs and help them achieve those goals. I would be lost if I wasn’t working with our customers, it is a part of who I am.

What makes Extreme different from other companies?

Extreme is different from other companies because we truly do put the customer first and create an adaptable solution that meets the changing needs of so many organizations. We have made a real and noticeable difference in the lives of our customers. I also feel Extreme prioritizes employees, constantly giving them what they need to be successful. Extreme’s culture is so special and unique, it is one of the main reasons that I have stayed for all of these years!

How would you describe Extreme in three words?

High-Tech. Fast-Paced. Fun.

We have cutting-edge technology and are constantly coming up with new ideas and innovations - continually growing and always moving. We genuinely care about the people around us and work as a team to accomplish tasks. We do great things AND we have fun doing them!

25 Years Young and Still Growing – Join Julian and the Rest of the Team!

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.