[ripe-list] RIPEng

On Sat, Feb 3, 2024, at 2:44 PM, Randy Bush wrote:
> at ripe and nanog we talk about bringing up the next generation.  at
> fosdem they're doing it.

This topic came up on stage (and in the hallways, based on what I overheard) at NAF's Autocon 0 in November. There, I heard about CS grads who had come out of a 4-year program knowing so little about networks that they could not describe the relationship between an IP address and a netmask, or explain in broad strokes the function of a router. (Same story with coding bootcamps.) On the other side, network engineers can obtain certifications that cover zero software development ideas.

The central question of that conference was why networks are not being automated in the same way that systems have been for quite a while now, and some folks pointed a finger in the direction of education. You can't create effective automation or orchestration without creating some software (or at minimum fancy scripts), and their point was that there's very little crossover, educationally, between software developers and network engineers.

At $DAYJOB, I run a team that works on various automation processes for the network, and I concur. When I'm hiring, I need to find people who can competently write and maintain software, but who also understand network concepts and ideally even how to interact with actual routers. They aren't as easy to find as I'd like.

Dan

PS: Incidentally for this audience, NAF (Network Automation Forum) is holding Autocon 1 in Europe at the end of May.
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