5 hours over 2 days and still battling these walls.

What better use of Thanksgiving day than wallfishing Ethernet cables from our basement to our attic 🦃

And more #AutoCon4 photos

More #AutoCon4 photos

#AutoCon4 photos

At #NFD39, we showed how Nokia is advancing autonomous operations through AI-driven root cause analysis, multi-vendor automation, and natural-language workflows with Ask EDA, all built on decades of success delivering mission-critical networks.

Thanks to @packetpushers.bsky.social for interviewing me on Heavy Networking at #AutoCon4. @ecbanks.bsky.social and @drewcm.bsky.social are great people and they built an incredible team. Top notch, recommend, would dine again.

4 miler around Lady Bird Lake this morning to kick off this Austin trip 💪🏼

[NEW POST] A Network Engineer’s Guide to Understanding the Model Context Protocol for AI Integration In this post I break down: - What MCP is - How the architecture works - How MCP could be a foundational part of AI in NetOps networkphil.com/2025/11/11/a...

The RAID controller’s capacitor pack on my homelab server failed, and the replacements online were all used and over $100. Was about to throw this server away and upgrade, then I found some spare parts. She lives to fight another day!

I bet my career on the CLI. Then came the layoff, and job posts read like a foreign language: Python. Git. Terraform. Out of necessity, I skilled up. Now I’m speaking at #AutoCon4 to share why automation isn’t optional, it’s survival. networkautomation.forum #NAF #AC4Speaker

Editing our next episode, pool side. The pool is closed, but the vibes remain 🌴☀️

Stranded at YOW, eating protein bars and cashews behind a gift shop because Americans aren’t allowed to access the airport lounge here 🤷‍♂️

Go @phillies.com ⚾️

Join our NEW #python study livestream this Thursday night at 8:30 PM ET. Skill up, stay employed 💰 Subscribe to our YouTube channel and click the bell icon 🔔 to get notified of future python study livestreams. youtube.com/@artofneteng

Day 2 of @nokia.bsky.social #SReXperts25 Americas. Learned a ton, met smart folks. #nokia #NetworkAutomation #EDA

Day 1 of @nokia.bsky.social #SReXperts25 Americas is in the books. Looking forward to what day 2 holds! #nokia #NetworkAutomation #EDA

@nokia.bsky.social Event-Driven Automation (EDA) hackathon with @netdevops.me at #SReXperts25 is underway! As someone early in their automation journey. I’m excited to keep building, learning, and sharing what I take away from this experience. #SReXperts25 #NetworkAutomation #EDA #HumanErrorZero

I’m attending my first #SReXperts this week, the @nokia.bsky.social flagship networking event that brings together service providers, cloud builders, enterprises, and Nokia experts for deep-dive sessions and hands-on demos. Excited for my first network automation hackathon! #SReXperts25

“I promise myself that I will enjoy every minute of the day that is given to me.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

Just started Who Not How. Jordan didn’t win a championship until Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, and the triangle offense entered his life. Instead of shouldering everything on his own, sharing responsibility made him unstoppable. The lesson: stop asking how — start finding your who.

We didn't know BGP could be so much fun, but look at those faces! @stubarea51.bsky.social, @andylapteff.bsky.social, and Jeff Clark had a blast diving into BGP, and they just scratched the surface. This episode may turn into a series. New episode drops Wednesday morning. linktr.ee/artofneteng

Change freezes aren’t a stability strategy. "Our networks are too brittle to touch," is failure disguised as safety. My latest article in @dcdnews.bsky.social asks the question we avoid too often: "What should safe, resilient network operations look like?"

To succeed in network engineering in 2025 and beyond, go broad.

Each new AI‑driven outage makes one thing obvious: AI isn’t “set it and forget it.” Just like any automation, it demands human oversight, guardrails, and real checks and balances, especially when failure means taking entire systems offline. www.tomshardware.com/tech-industr...

Pretty wild Saturday night uploading transcripts to old @artofneteng.bsky.social podcast episodes. #rager

Have you torn ESXi out of your homelab yet? I did, and replaced it with Proxmox. If you are looking for a free, open-source alternative with no vCPU limitations, here's a video I made at work that walks you through the Proxmox installation process: youtu.be/5Qk8opmjixk?...

Something I heard that my brain won’t let go of: “Photons don’t experience time. The light that was emitted from the Big Bang billions of years ago experiences no time between emission and when it hits our eyes.” WTAF?! @tracketpacer.bsky.social as my resident space/time expert, please explain.

I’ve led data center migrations, survived product launches, and been in the room for outages that made headlines. None of that prepared me for working upside down in a cabinet the size of a coffin, blindfolded by pipes, praying I don’t drop the only wrench that fits. IYKYK.

I could talk to Lexie endlessly about rocket networking 🚀

To infinity and beyond

You know you’re in a fun city when they have weed trash cans at the airport. How much weed used to get thrown in the trash for them to need dedicated weed trash cans? 😂

Dear Chicago, I’m leaving today and didn’t get to try your pizza or Italian beef sandwich. Guess I need to come back 👍🏻

Chi-Town

Headed to Chicago to direct a photography/videography shoot in our data center. Look out Steven Spielberg! But first, lounge fuel and @artofneteng.bsky.social editing.

Anyone here ruck? Trying to pick a weight for a vest. Is 50 pounds too heavy?

Today I read another few pages of my new Python book, installed Microsoft Visual Studio and it’s python extension. Please clap.

🎇Happy 4th of July, from the Jersey Shore ☀️

When you set goals and you get after them, they can change your life. This summer, I set two short-term goals: - Learn the basics of coding in Python. - Lose 30 pounds. Since May 23, I’m already down 13 pounds. That’s nearly halfway to my fitness goal, in just 36 days. #goals

Attempt #…who even knows at this point. I’ve started learning Python more times than I’ve rebooted my router. But this time? This time is different. I don’t have to learn it, I want to learn it. And when I’m driven by curiosity, nothing can stop me. #Python #LearningToCode

Light reading at the barber shop

We have a surprise visitor living in our yard, meet Bobby Bean, as named by our kids. She’s a tiny fawn who’s been resting safely near our fence for the past 24 hours. We’re giving her space, watching from a distance, and doing our best not to get too attached.

While my friends and colleagues fly to Prague for #AutoCon3, I’m at home fixing a broken cabinet. ~ sigh #NetworkAutomation #NAF #FOMO

Today’s house project. Clean pool deck and fence.

Before I stepped into the tech, I was a waiter. And while that may seem completely different from what I do now, the lessons I learned then shape the way I work today. - Anticipate Needs Before They Arise - Stay Cool Under Pressure - Communication is Everything

All the leg room

I’m launching a new data center centric podcast. Anyone want to help me pick a cool name?