Currently fighting a broken doorbell. My wife jokes that I’m not handy, but I’m gonna just keep fixing broken shit until she sees Handy Andy 🛠️

One million downloads. Not from hype. Not from algorithms. But from serving a community honestly. A million times someone trusted this space was built for them, not at them. This milestone belongs to our community. Thank you for listening, challenging, sharing, and staying ❤️

‘Tis the season to assemble gifts 🎄

Toned out some lines tonight and that sweet sound brought me back. IYKYK #cableguy #telco #toner

running miles this year, and still going. Toughness has its place, but so does accepting help. These viscosupplementation shots allow me to fight back knee arthritis and keep doing the thing that makes me feel great. Grateful for medicine. Grateful for the miles. Grateful.

The best learning moments in my career didn’t happen when things felt tense. They happened when I was curious, felt safe enough to ask “dumb” questions, and yes… when there was laughter in the room. Thanks to those who teach, while keeping it fun, like Mike and Eyvonne.

I was a proud CLI lifer. Automation? That was for devs. Then I got laid off, and every job required automation skills. This is the story of what it took to change my mind, rebuild my career, and unlearn the stories that held me back. youtu.be/tUPUlLKLrKU?... #NetworkAutomation #AutoCon4 #NetEng

Reluctant snow blower mechanic

For years I wore “CLI lifer” like a badge. Automation felt like it wasn’t for me, until the industry changed faster than I did. On my first Heavy Networking appearance, I share what finally pushed me to rethink that story, and embrace change. Episode: packetpushers.net/podcasts/hea...

Managing networks is getting harder: more scale, more complexity, less room for error. My latest blog explains how Ask EDA, the AI engine behind Nokia’s AIOps, helps network engineers simplify operations. 👇 www.nokia.com/blog/ask-eda...

I have a confession to make: I do not own an Ethernet cable tester. The horror! I’m stuck between a cheaper $10 tester and a $50 Klein. Any advice? Cheaper one: amzn.to/4pUyJi2

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.