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"They approach everything as a software problem. For many (most?) other companies the network is just something that has to work and not a core part of their bu
by illuminate 13y ago
"They approach everything as a software problem. For many (most?) other companies the network is just something that has to work and not a core part of their business. You need to be able to hire a network engineer that can come in cold, with a bunch of vendor certifications on their CV, and understand your network. Most places don't want to hire a programmer to sit around and code up new spanning tree algorithms for their network. They just want to plug servers in and have it work"
Do you not need network engineers to implement Cisco products?
- mprovost 13y agoYes but they aren't programmers. Configuring routers using vendor tools and standard protocols is a different thing to SDN where all bets are off. It's going to take a different skill set - some people will make the transition and some won't. All of the major network vendors (most notably Cisco) have put a lot of effort into their education programs so that there is a certified pool of talent out there to run their equipment. And all of those people have a vested interest in the status quo. The OpenFlow talks that I've attended have been presented by people that are openly hostile to network engineers which doesn't help the situation.