While I’m talking about AI… (is there anything else to talk about?) I’m known to be cautious about AI and exactly what it can do. My skepticism is misplaced, you might say. After all, isn’t AI replacing thousands of coding jobs? It’s going to come for network engineers too! I’ve been playing with Warp, a […]
Category: Perspectives
AI layoffs meet insomnia and cops
The flip side of my most recent post was covered by the WSJ (again, paywall) in an article from about Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, who thinks that AI will wipe out tons of jobs–a prospect he seems quite happy about–joining the ranks of Mark Benioff in celebrating putting millions of people out of work. Since […]
Bubbles, dotcoms, and AI
Today the Wall Street journal published an article (paywall) asking if the AI-boom data center mania might be inflating a bubble along the lines of the “internet’s infrastructure build-out in the late 1990s”. Well, gee, ya think? I lived through that bubble. Right when I was graduating college, the Internet (I still use the capital […]
The joy of expertise
I’ve been working in the lab again, and I attempted to log in to one of my switches (IP addresses have been changed to protect the innocent): $ ssh admin@10.10.18.73 Warning: Permanently added ‘10.10.18.73’ (RSA) to the list of known hosts. admin@10.10.18.73’s password: Permission denied, please try again. Huh? I checked caps lock, and even […]
Topological Qubits
I’ve been very unconvinced on the reality and benefits of quantum computing. Sure, a lot of people with fancy degrees from fancy places say it will work miracles. Sure, they make really impressive machines with cooling units that look like they’ll beam you into the movie Tron. Sure, Microsoft just released a new chip with […]
Agentic AI for networking
As I’ve pointed out in several posts, and as you’ve certainly noticed, there is a teeny bit of hype surrounding AI these days. We’re told network engineers will be obsolete as our AI buddies take over our jobs. Want to roll out a network? No problem, your receptionist will do it for you while sipping […]
VRRP, IPv6, and the “Why” Question
Ivan Pelpnjak has an interesting post (H/T to Ethan Banks) critiquing Cisco’s VRRP v3 CLI implementation for IPv6. It got me thinking about a question I was told never to ask: “Why?” Never ask why? Back when I really wanted to get into networking, I took a five-day bootcamp with Global Knowledge taught by a gentleman […]
Are network engineers obsolete?
Continuing on the theme of AI: I can tell you what the MBAs are saying. Remember, the MBAs know more about network engineering than you, despite your training and experience, because, well, they’re MBAs! The went to Stanford! Or Kellogg! Or San Jose State! The MBAs are sure you’re going to be replaced by AI. […]
The Next Big Thing, TLDR version
At the last Cisco Live in June, I was asked by marketing to do a “center stage” presentation. My days of getting normal sessions at Cisco Live seem to be over. Perhaps I’m too far into the management track (although that’s changing) to impress the Cisco Live Session Group Managers. Eager to speak again, I […]
Cisco Live, again and again
It’s funny that I remember a time when Cisco Live used to be a privilege, before it became a chore. I’ve been to every Cisco Live US and every Cisco Live Europe since I started here in 2015. I enjoy the show primarily because I enjoy meeting with fellow network engineers, and there is still […]