Automation Debt: The Graveyard of Good Intentions (And Why Your Automation Keeps Failing)
Every network engineering organization has a graveyard of failed automation attempts - the GitHub repos with one person's commits from 18 months ago, the Ansible Tower license nobody uses, the Python scripts only one person understood who left last year. This is automation debt, and it's costing you more than you think.
The First Time You Realize You Can't Do It All: Delegation for Control Freaks
You became a manager because you were great at the work. Now you're drowning because you're still trying to do all the work yourself. Here's what happens when control-freak engineers try to delegate - the uncomfortable reality of letting go, the mistakes that make it worse, and what actually helps you stop being the bottleneck.
When Good Engineers Become Managers: What Nobody Tells Them (And How to Help Them Succeed)
Promoting your best engineer to manager feels like the obvious move. But technical excellence doesn't automatically translate to leadership effectiveness. Here's what actually happens when engineers become managers, the mistakes they almost always make, and how to help them succeed without losing what made them great engineers.
Explaining Network Engineering to Non-Technical People: How to Make Them Actually Understand (Without Their Eyes Glazing Over)
Your executive asks "why do we need this network upgrade?" You start explaining routing protocols and they've already stopped listening. Here's how to translate network engineering into language non-technical people actually understand - and why this skill matters more than your technical expertise for your career.
When You and Your Senior Engineer Disagree: How to Lead Without Pretending You're Always Right
Your senior engineer says your approach won't work. You think it will. Who's right? How do you lead when the person with deeper expertise disagrees with your technical decision? Here's how to navigate disagreements without damaging relationships, pretending to know more than you do, or undermining your authority.
When Your Team Is Right, and Leadership Is Wrong (And You're Stuck in the Middle)
Your team says the timeline is impossible. They're right. Leadership says it has to be done anyway. Your engineers want to fix technical debt. Leadership wants features. You need tools and training. Leadership says no budget. Welcome to middle management - where you're stuck between technical reality and business demands, and nobody's happy with you.
Inheriting Someone Else's Network: What to Fix, What to Leave Alone, and How Not to Destroy Your Credibility
You just got promoted or changed jobs. Now you're managing a network you didn't design, with decisions you don't agree with, and configurations that make you cringe. Do you change everything? Leave it alone? How do you prove yourself without breaking things or alienating the people who built it? Here's what actually works when inheriting someone else's infrastructure.
Changing Culture as a New Manager: When "We've Always Done It This Way" Is the Enemy
Six months into management, I'm learning that changing culture is way harder than changing technology. You have a title but no political capital. Your team might embrace change, but other departments resist. Here's what's actually working (and what's spectacularly failing) when trying to shift "we've always done it this way" culture.
Managing Your Team Through a Major Outage: The Leadership Test Nobody Prepares You For
Major outages aren't a matter of if, but when. And when they happen, your job as a manager isn't just technical - it's keeping your team functioning under pressure, communicating to leadership, and ensuring you learn without creating a blame culture. Here's what actually matters when everything is on fire.
2025: A Year in Review - From Engineer to Manager to Blogger to... Whatever This Is
A year-end reflection on an unexpectedly transformative 2025 - transitioning into management, growing Layer8Packet, launching a newsletter, and learning that sharing the messy middle of a career journey resonates more than having all the answers.
Your First IT Budget: A Survival Guide for New Managers
So you're a first-time manager and someone just asked you to "create a budget for next year." Welcome to one of the most stressful parts of management nobody prepared you for. Here's what you actually need to know about IT budgeting - the categories everyone forgets, the political landmines, and how to not screw this up.
Job Hopping Every 2-3 Years: Career Strategy or Red Flag?
Should network engineers change jobs every 2-3 years for salary growth, or does loyalty to one company build deeper expertise? From both the engineer's and manager's perspective - the real data on compensation, the trade-offs nobody talks about, and how to think strategically about your career trajectory.
Both Sides of the Desk: Asking for a Raise (The Engineer’s Perspective)
Part 3 of the "Both Sides of the Desk" series tackles one of the most uncomfortable conversations in your career: asking for a raise. From the engineer's perspective, how to know if you deserve one, when to ask, how to build your case, and what to do when the answer is no.
Technical Debt: What Engineers Wish Managers Understood
Technical debt isn't just a buzzword engineers use to avoid new projects. It's real, it compounds like financial debt, and ignoring it eventually breaks your infrastructure. Here's what engineers wish managers understood about technical debt - and what managers need to know about prioritizing, communicating upward, and balancing debt paydown with feature delivery.
AI Tools for Network Operations: A Reality Check from the Trenches
Everyone's talking about AI for network operations, but what's actually working? A practical look at AI tools for network monitoring and troubleshooting - the real ROI, team adoption challenges, vendor evaluation pitfalls, and what's worth your time versus what's just marketing hype.
Should You Move to the Cloud? A Manager's Perspective After the AWS and Azure Outages
After recent AWS and Azure outages, every manager is hearing "see, the cloud isn't reliable!" But the cloud vs. on-prem debate misses the point entirely. Here's a framework for making infrastructure decisions based on your actual business needs, team capabilities, and risk tolerance - not headlines.
Both Sides of the Desk: Burnout (The Manager's Perspective)
The second post in the "Both Sides of the Desk" series examines burnout from the manager's viewpoint. From handling team members who are burned out to managing unrealistic executive expectations while fighting your own exhaustion and imposter syndrome - the reality of management burnout that nobody talks about.
Both Sides of the Desk: Burnout (The Engineer's Perspective)
The first in a new series examining critical issues from both engineer and manager perspectives. This post explores burnout from the network engineer's viewpoint - the relentless pursuit of the next certification, work overload, organizational chaos, and the exhausting disconnect between technical reality and management expectations.
What I Look for When Hiring Network Engineers: Beyond the Resume
A hiring manager's honest perspective on what really matters when evaluating network engineering candidates - from resume screening to technical validation. Learn how to stand out in the hiring process and avoid the common disconnect between interview performance and actual technical capability.
5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Network Engineering Manager
Real talk from a new network engineering manager about the unexpected challenges, hard lessons, and things nobody tells you before you take on your first management role. If you're considering management or just started, these insights might save you some painful learning experiences.