Everyone says network engineers need to automate. Learn Python. Learn Ansible. Build a source of truth. Learn Git. Test your changes. Stop doing everything manually. There’s just one problem: When? At AutoCon 5 in Munich, Andy Lapteff sits down with Dutch network automation consultants Bart Dorlandt and Bart Smeding for a conversation that starts with Python and eventually lands somewhere much more interesting: time. Automation can turn three hours of work into three minutes. But getting there requires engineers to invest time they often don’t have, or don’t feel permitted to protect. Andy knows that firsthand. At one point in his career, his manager gave him an entire day every week to learn automation. Instead, Andy kept using that day to catch up on operational work. Why? That question opens a much bigger conversation about engineering culture, burnout, professional identity, European and American attitudes toward work, change freezes, technical debt, and the endless tension between keeping today’s network running and building a better way to operate it tomorrow. This isn’t another lecture telling network engineers to “learn Python.” It’s a conversation about why that advice is so much easier to give than to follow, and what has to change if we want network automation to become common. Bart Dorlandt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bartdorlandt/ Bart Smeding: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bartsmeding/ For everything AONE: https://artofnetworkengineering.com/ 00:00 Intro 00:31 Two Barts, one Munich hotel 03:37 The easy button nobody gets 06:36 Wi-Fi is solved; the LAN is not 08:00 Eight months for the CLI, never eight for Python 12:07 Five maintenance windows a week 24:02 Read-only first 28:31 Everything breaks; you own the failure handling 30:16 The CLI is an API; you are the human regex 32:43 Change freezes and the feeling of safety 37:24 Source of truth, or Excel 39:35 Maybe we are too Dutch 42:10 Two priorities, pick one 43:58 The Tuesday confession 46:30 Unlimited PTO: we can, but we can't 48:00 Does Europe automate more? 50:19 The first script that worked 51:52 Where to find the Barts

What if you could carry everything AONE ever learned in your pocket? After a conversation about building things, seizing opportunities, and some of the projects we've been working on, @johncapobianco2527 took what he'd learned building his own mobile app and turned The Art of Network Engineering into its own app. This video is my first time seeing it. The AONE mobile app brings together our podcast episodes, transcripts, blog posts, videos, community, sponsors, newsletter, and a growing collection of resources for network engineers, all in your pocket and searchable. This is WAY MORE than a mobile front end for our website. For years, we've tried to make AONE useful for people building careers in networking and technology. We've accumulated hundreds of conversations, stories, lessons, technical resources, career advice, and connections along the way. An app gives us a new way to bring all of that together. And we're just getting started. Watch it, then tell us in the comments: what should we build next? What would help you learn, solve problems, or get where you're trying to go? Let us know in the comments. #NetworkEngineering #AONE #Networking #TechCareers #NetworkAutomation

Discover Drew Conry-Murray's incredible journey from zero tech background to California tech scene leader. His path through tech publishing forged a unique industry voice. #TechJourney #CareerChange #DrewConryMurray #TechIndustry

How does an English major with no technical background become one of the most recognizable voices in network engineering? Drew Conry-Murray didn't start his career configuring routers, chasing certifications, or working in a NOC. He started as a copy editor who barely understood the networking articles crossing his desk. Then someone threw him into a technical interview with a firewall vendor. He had to figure it out. That moment became part of a career spanning Network Computing, Interop, Packet Pushers, Network Break, Heavy Networking, and years of conversations with some of the smartest people in the networking industry. In this episode of The Art of Network Engineering, Andy sits down with Drew to talk about the career behind the microphone: learning networking without formal technical training, developing the ability to ask better questions, surviving layoffs and career uncertainty, building relationships that create opportunities, and adapting as technology changes. And, inevitably, they get into AI. Drew explains why network engineers should become conversant with AI without assuming they need to become AI experts, why understanding software may matter more than writing every line yourself, and why human relationships still create an advantage even as technology becomes more capable. In this episode: How Drew went from English major to networking journalist Learning networking by being thrown into the deep end Why asking good questions is a technical skill The uncomfortable reality that learning in tech never ends Drew's path from Network Computing and Interop to Packet Pushers What losing a job does to your identity Why relationships create career opportunities Whether network engineers really need to learn Python How AI may reshape technical careers Why being good at your job isn't always enough One of the strongest lessons from Drew's career is simple: you don't need to know everything before you start. You need enough curiosity to keep figuring out the next thing. For everything AONE: https://artofnetworkengineering.com/