Heavy Networking 502: Get Off My VLAN! Old Network Engineers On What New Engineers Should Know

I see abstractions. I see automation. I see orchestration. I see people who think that because they can use a fancy management tool, they are an infrastructure expert. For networking, this drives me a little nuts.
Technology fundamentals are the foundation of network engineering. By contrast, Ansible and Terraform are tools that help you build a network, but in no way replace those fundamentals.
Sometimes I worry that tooling is replacing actual knowledge of how a network works. Abstractions–management layers, web UIs, magical scripts–may be replacing deep knowledge.
Welcome to Heavy Networking, grumpy old network engineer edition. I’ve gathered a couple of other grumpy folks to chat about what young networkers should know but don’t.
Our guests are Chris Young and Ivan Pepelnjak.
We discuss:

* The problems that come with a lack of understanding core concepts
* What newer engineers do know
* Just how deep core knowledge needs to go
* Does Spanning Tree matter?
* Are network engineers expected to be too multi-disciplinary?
* More

Sponsor: ThousandEyes
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Sponsor: VIAVI Solutions
VIAVI Solutions is a network performance management leader enabling IT teams to understand user experience with a patent-pending End-User Experience score. VIAVI delivers  outcomes, not just more data. Learn more at viavisolutions.com/packetpushers.
Show Links:
Chris Young on Twitter
Kontrolissues – Chris Young’s site
IP Space – Ivan Pelpeljak’s site
Ivan Pepelnjak on Twitter