Human Infrastructure Magazine
Human Infrastructure Magazine is a free weekly newsletter about life in IT infrastructure, with a focus on enterprise data networking. It’s a personal look at issues like career development, work/life balance, learning, management, and the pleasures and struggles of an infrastructure career.
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Each issue includes an article/essay about life in IT; a curated selection of links to tech blogs, news, and new products; and a goofy meme or two. We also link to the latest podcasts, videos, and articles from the Packet Pushers–we wouldn’t want to you miss any!
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Human Infrastructure Archive
2023
Issue 313 – July 13, 2023 – Do We Really Want Creativity In IT?
Issue 312 – July 6, 2023 – Why ITIL Remains A Disaster
Issue 311 – June 29, 2023 – Radio On TV?
Issue 310 – June 15, 2023 – Packet Pushers Podcasts On YouTube?
Issue 309 – June 8, 2023 – What’s The Network G In Apple Vision Pro?
Issue 308 – June 1, 2023 – Replacing High-Touch Sales With Surveillance
Issue 307 – May 25, 2023 – How Many Podcasts Do You Want?
Issue 306 – May 18, 2023 – King Cisco And The Viptela Saga
Issue 305 – May 11, 2023 – Blue Skies Ahead?
Issue 304 – May 4, 2023 – Where Do Engineers Get Social These Days?
Issue 303 – April 27, 2023 – We Pick, You Click
Issue 302 – April 20, 2023 – The Case For IT Unionization
Issue 301 – April 13, 2023 – Will ChatGPT Make Tech Blogs Obsolete?
Issue 300 – April 6, 2023 – Holodeck Or Bust
Issue 299 – March 30, 2023 – Your Blog Buffet
Issue 298 – March 23, 2023 – Bill Gates On The Age Of AI
Issue 297 – March 16, 2023 – Sympathy For The Blockchain
Issue 296 – March 9, 2023 – Things To Read And Think About
Issue 295 – March 2, 2023 – Career Advice For The Networking Industry
Issue 294 – February 23, 2023 – Who Are The Most Overpaid Tech CEOs?
Issue 293 – February 16, 2023 – More Than Podcasts
Issue 292 – February 9, 2023 – We Ask Too Much From Security Professionals
Issue 291 – February 2, 2023 – Can NIST Help Make AI Trustworthy?
Issue 290 – January 26, 2023 – Mastodon Poll Results And Lots Of Links
Issue 289 – January 19, 2023 – Are You Fedi-Curious?
Issue 288 – January 12, 2023 – Stop Retreating Into The Future
2022
Issue 287 – December 15, 2022 – Merry Clickmas!
Issue 286 – December 8, 2022 – Pointless Pedantry Prohibits Progress
Issue 285 – December 1, 2022 – 4 Things To Do For Your Performance Review
Issue 284 – November 17, 2022 – Layoffs, Layoffs Everywhere. What Should You Do?
Issue 283 – November 10, 2022 – A Click In Time
Issue 282 – November 3, 2022 – SalesOps And Pester Power For Lead Generation
Issue 281 – October 27 2022 – Hedgehog, Kubernetes, And The Network Automation Conundrum
Issue 280 – October 20, 2022 – All Clicks, No Bait
Issue 279 – October 13, 2022 – Meta’s Metaverse – A Folly Or The Future?
Issue 278 – October 6, 2022 – Click Here
Issue 277 – September 29, 2022 – Avoid The Institutional Death Spiral
Issue 276 – September 22, 2022 – Can A Crypto Coin Save The Planet?
Issue 275 – September 16, 2022 – Links For Your Thinking
Issue 274 – September 8, 2022 – Maintenance Window Gone Wrong
Issue 273 – September 1, 2022 – Lessons Learned Working Abroad
Issue 272 – August 25, 2022 – Should You Pivot, Transition Or Swivel To Your Next Job?
Issue 271 – August 18, 2022 – Zero Trust Is Not A Product
Issue 270 – August 11, 2022 – I, The Braggart–A Network Fable
Issue 269 – August 4, 2022 – Navigating Our Age Of Distraction
Issue 268 – July 28, 2022 – Your Essay Here
Issue 267 – July 21, 2022 – You Don’t Need Another Tool
Issue 266 – July 14, 2022 – Marketing Docs Aren’t Written For Engineers
Issue 265 – June 30, 2022 – How I Survived ‘Covid Live’
Issue 264 – June 23, 2022 – Put In The Work
Issue 263 – June 17, 2022 – Friday Night Links
Issue 262 – June 9, 2022 – Lost Connections In The Connected Workplace
Issue 261 – June 2, 2022 – Documentation Prefixes And TLDs
Issue 260 – May 26, 2022 – Making Mistakes
Issue 259 – May 19, 2022 – For Your Consideration
Issue 258 – May 12, 2022 – All Clicks, No Tricks
Issue 257 – May 5, 2022 – Climate Change And Network Infrastructure
Issue 256 – April 28, 2022 – Multicloud? We’ve Been Here Before
Issue 255 – April 21, 2022 – Navigating The Network ‘Anyverse’
Issue 254 – April 14, 2022 – Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
Issue 253 – April 7, 2022 – Only Links
Issue 252 – March 31, 2022 – Who Are Conference Keynotes For? Not IT
Issue 251 – March 24, 2022 – Mindfulness-Based Leadership For IT
Issue 250 – March 17, 2022 – Satellites And Cyber Attacks
Issue 249 – March 10, 2022 – New Return-To-Office Policies
Issue 248 – March 3, 2022 – The Knowledge Paradox
Issue 247 – February 24, 2022 – Thoughts On Networked Storage And Performance
Issue 246 – February 17, 2022 – 3 Training Programs To Break Into Cyber Security
Issue 245 – February 10, 2022 – Avoiding The Pessimism Doom-Loop
Issue 244 – February 3, 2022 – All The Links Fit To Click
Issue 243 – January 27, 2022 – Technical Documentation: A Love Letter To Your Future Self
Issue 242 – January 20, 2022 – Merchant Silicon Vs. Custom ASICs
Issue 241 – January 13, 2022 – See Your Words Here
2021
Issue 240 – December 16, 2021 – See You Next Year!
Issue 239 – December 9, 2021 – They’ll Remember The Rage Monster
Issue 238 – December 2, 2021 – On Giving The Benefit Of The Doubt
Issue 237 – November 18, 2021 – A Sampler Of Links
Issue 236 – November 11, 2021 – The Changing Landscape Of Project Heroics
Issue 235 – November 4, 2021 – Tips To Reduce Your Zoom Fatigue
Issue 234 – October 28, 2021 – Quick Survey: 2022 Professional Objectives
Issue 233 – October 21, 2021 – Nudging Technologists Toward Self-Sufficiency
Issue 232 – October 14, 2021 – Get Better Results By Communicating In Business Terms
Issue 231 – October 7, 2021 – A Problem In The Supply Chain
Issue 230 – September 30, 2021 – A Bucket Of Links
Issue 229 – September 23, 2021 – Automation For The People
Issue 228 – September 16, 2021 – The Best Technologists First Try To Solve Their Own Problems
Issue 227 – September 9, 2021 – Employees Can Also Play The Ratings Game
Issue 226 – September 2, 2021 – Four Strategies For Getting Stuff Done
Issue 225 – August 26, 2021 – The Most Important Skills For Your Engineering Future
Issue 224 – August 19, 2021 – Commitment and Talent Don’t Always Win
Issue 223 – August 12, 2021 – 2021 Audience Survey Highlights
Issue 222 – August 5, 2021 – Idiots Or Attribution Error? Rethinking Workplace Irritations
Issue 221 – July 29, 2021 – A Links Letter
Issue 220 – July 22, 2021 – When Stretching Layer 2, Separate Your Fate
Issue 219 – July 15, 2021 – Preempting Gray Failures With AI/ML
Issue 218 – July 8, 2021 – Will Productivity Surveillance Ruin Remote Work?
Issue 217 – July 1, 2021 – What Makes A Senior IT Engineer ‘Senior’?
Issue 216 – June 24, 2021 – Business Travel? Yes Please
Issue 215 – June 17, 2021 – Staying Relevant In A Simplifying IT Landscape
Issue 214 – June 10, 2021 – All Links Considered
Issue 213 – June 3, 2021 – A Networking Perspective On Zero Trust Architecture
Issue 212 – May 27, 2021 – Why Don’t Tech Conferences Cater To Introverts?
Issue 211 – May 20, 2021 – Learning In Public Helps Everyone
Issue 210 – May 13, 2021 – It’s Not What You Say. It’s How You’re Heard
Issue 209 – May 6, 2021 – Public Cloud, Lego Bricks, And Metamorphosis
Issue 208 – April 28, 2021 – If You Haven’t Checked Your Backups, They Probably Aren’t Working
Issue 207 – April 21, 2021 – Uncomfortable Outcomes Of Mentoring
Issue 206 – April 15, 2021 – Why Being A Late Adopter Pays Off
Issue 205 – April 8, 2021 – Cisco’s Personal Insights – Good Intentions On The Road To Hell
Issue 204 – April 1, 2021 – New Tech Skills In Two Hours
Issue 203 – March 25, 2021 – Buying Used Cisco Gear From eBay For Your Lab
Issue 202 – March 18, 2021 – Give The Network Designer That Came Before You A Break
Issue 201 – March 11, 2021 – Betting On Virtual Events In A Post-Covid World
Issue 200 – March 4, 2021 – Lesser Known Book Recommendations For Networkers
Issue 199 – February 25, 2021 – Why Customers Always Escalate Tech Support
Issue 198 – February 18, 2021 – Learn Networking Before Automation
Issue 197 – February 11, 2021 – Happiness And Performance Reviews
Issue 196 – February 4, 2021 – You’re In A Bigger Candidate Pool Now
Issue 195 – January 28, 2021 – “Advanced” Doesn’t Mean Difficult
Issue 194 – January 21, 2021 – The Attention Economy And IT Talent Dearth
Issue 193 – January 14, 2021 – Is Secure Software Too Expensive To Build?
Issue 192 – January 7, 2021 – Covid 19 – A Crisis And Opportunity For Rural Broadband
2020
Issue 191 – December 17, 2020 – Jerome, The Cable Monster: A Network Fable
Issue 190 – December 10, 2020 – The List Of Networking Fundamentals
Issue 189 – December 3, 2020 – Why AWS’s Reputation Is Unscathed By Outages
Issue 188 – November 19, 2020 – Open Source Puppies Need Lots Of Attention
Issue 187 – November 12, 2020 – Not Enough Time For The Toilet
Issue 186 – November 5, 2020 – Heavy Strategy And 5G
Issue 185 – October 29, 2020 – No Rush
Issue 184 – October 22, 2020 – Short And Sweet
Issue 183 – October 15, 2020 – Virtual Events Need Digital Transformation
Issue 182 – October 8, 2020 – Advice For Mid-Career IT Pros
Issue 181 – October 1, 2020 – Don’t Become A Developer, But Use Their Tools
Issue 180 – September 24, 2020 – Why Change Review Always Fails
Issue 179 – September 17, 2020 – Transitioning From Junior To Senior Engineer
Issue 178 – September 10, 2020 – Being A Caretaker May Not Be Right For You
Issue 177 – September 3, 2020 – A Technology Career Is Change
Issue 176 – August 27, 2020 – Saying Yes
Issue 175 – August 21, 2020 – Who Wants Subscription-Based Hardware? Not You
Issue 174 – August 13, 2020 – Human Infrastructure 174: A Grande Burrito Of Good Reading
Issue 173 – August 7, 2020 – Why Microsoft Is Chasing TikTok
Issue 172 – July 30, 2020 – SR(x)6 – Snake Oil Or Salvation?
Issue 171 – July 23, 2020 – We Live At Work Now. Get Your Audio & Video Right
Issue 170 – July 16, 2020 – Good Stuff We Found Online
Issue 169 – July 9, 2020 – My God, It’s Full Of Links!
Issue 168 – July 2, 2020 – How To Be A Better Tech Writer
Issue 167 – June 25, 2020 – New-IP & The Future Of An Open Internet
Issue 166 – June 18, 2020 – Making Work From Home Viable Permanently
Issue 165 – June 11, 2020 – Career Advice: Know The Vendor Or The Technology?
Issue 164 – June 4, 2020 – What Does A Network Down Event Cost?
Issue 163 – May 28, 2020 – Forget Transformation. Go For Digital Stability
Issue 162 – May 21, 2020 – Live Tech Events Will Return. Here’s Why
Issue 161 – May 14, 2020 – VMC On AWS Isn’t Cloud, But That’s OK
Issue 160 – May 7, 2020 – Book Review: William Gibson’s “Agency”
Issue 159 – April 30, 2020 – Rebooting Big Tech Conferences
Issue 158 – April 23, 2020 – The Criticality Of The Proof Of Concept
Issue 157 – April 17, 2020 – Field Engineering and COVID19
Issue 156 – April 9, 2020 – Yes, You Should Buy OEM Optical Modules
Issue 155 – April 2, 2020 – Black Swans Vs. White Swans And Disaster Recovery
Issue 154 – March 26, 2020 – The All Links Issue
Issue 153 – March 19, 2020 – Silicon Valley Work-From-Home Tips
Issue 152 – March 12, 2020 – Business Without Labor, Automation Without Workers
Issue 151 – March 5, 2020 – Surveillance As A Service – Whether You Opted In Or Not
Issue 150 – February 28, 2020 – Why Vendor Products Are Unreliable And Insecure
Issue 149 – February 20, 2020 – Advice For Network Newbies
Issue 148 – February 13, 2020 – Write Detailed Plans To Reveal Complex Realities
Issue 147 – February 6, 2020 – Will Software Ever Be As Reliable As Airplanes?
Issue 146 – January 30, 2020 – Surviving A Reduction In Force
Issue 145 – January 23, 2020 – Telemetry Vs. SNMP
Issue 144 – January 16, 2020 – Ambitious Designs Vs. Common Sense
2019
Issue 143 – December 19, 2019 – Don’t Call Me – Text Me
Issue 142 – December 12, 2019 – What Makes A Good IT Leader?
Issue 141 – December 5, 2019 – Crowdsourcing Home WiFi
Issue 140 – November 21, 2019 – How Difficult Is SD-WAN?
Issue 139 – November 14, 2019 – Slippery Standards And Unintended Consequences
Issue 138 – November 7, 2019 – Sportsball Marketing And IT Vendors
Issue 137 – October 31st, 2019 – On Hiring, Degrees, And Certifications
Issue 136 – October 24, 2019 – Cloud Denial: A Network Fable
Issue 135 – October 17, 2019 – Ethics From A Position Of Weakness
Issue 134 – October 10, 2019 – The Kubernetes Special
Issue 133 – October 3, 2019 – When A Vendor Says…
Issue 132 – September 26, 2019 – Coin-Operated Evangelism
Issue 131 – September 19, 2019 – Disrupting The Afterlife – Neal Stephenson’s “Fall”
Issue 130 – September 12, 2019 – Self Investment Is A Leap Of Faith
Issue 129 – September 5, 2019 – Stay In Your Lane – A Network Fable
Issue 128 – August 28, 2019 – Toxic Achievement Culture
Issue 127 – August 23, 2019 – The Blessing Of Disconnection
Issue 126 – August 15, 2019 – Nasty Nerd Knobs Knocking On Your Network
Issue 125 – August 8, 2019 – We Need A Better Name For ‘Soft Skills’
Issue 124 – August 1, 2019 – Sympathy For The Marketing Department
Issue 123 – July 25, 2019 – The Bonus: A Network Fable
Issue 122 – July 18, 2019 – My ‘Do not use underscores in DNS’ War Story
Issue 121 – July 12, 2019 – Changes To Human Infrastructure & Ignition
Issue 120 – June 27, 2019 – How I Would Improve Certifications As A Vendor
Issue 119 – June 20, 2019 – People Are The Real Value Of Tech Conferences
Issue 118 – June 14, 2019 – The Vendor Keynote Playbook
Issue 117 – June 7, 2019 – The Bus Driver – A Network Fable
Issue 116 – May 31, 2019 – The Prefix List – A Network Fable
Issue 115 – May 24, 2019 – For And Against Shutting Down Unused Ports
Issue 114 – May 17, 2019 – The Unglamour Of Business Travel
Issue 113 – May 10, 2019 – Don’t Be Afraid Of SD-WAN Lock In
Issue 112 – May 2, 2019 – Will Networking Become Push Button Tedium?
Issue 111 – April 26, 2019 – Is Deep Networking Knowledge Still Valuable?
Issue 110 – April 19, 2019 – Is Network Engineering Dying?
Issue 109 – April 12, 2019 – How The Network Engineer Position Will Change
Issue 108 – April 5, 2019 – Upgrade Now Or Wait? The Business Case For Wi-Fi 6
Issue 107 – March 29, 2019 – The Technology Case For Wi-Fi 6
Issue 106 – March 22, 2019 – Overcoming The 5 Objections To Tech Blogging
Issue 105 – March 15, 2019 – Low Power 5G And The Enterprise
Issue 104 – March 8, 2019 – What Do Network Engineers Want?
Issue 103 – February 28, 2019 – A Glimpse At Two Approaches To Segment Routing
Issue 102 – February 21, 2019 – I Used To Think – Now I Think
Issue 101 – February 15, 2019 – Network Zen – The Duality Of Bandwidth
Issue 100 – February 8, 2019 – Questions To Ask When Buying Tech Support
Issue 099 – February 1, 2019 – High Marginal Tax Was Good For My Health
Issue 098 – January 25, 2019 – Setting Up A Python Environment
Issue 097 – January 18, 2019 – Aspects Of The Gray Market For IT Gear
Issue 096 – January 11, 2019 – Money, Prestige, Or Knowledge
2018
Issue 095 – December 14, 2018 – Etherealmind’s Networking Truths
Issue 094 – November 30, 2018 – Notes On Whois Privacy Reform
Issue 093 – November 16, 2018 – How Many Network Orchestrators Do We Need
Issue 092 – November 2, 2018 – Always Have A Career Plan B
Issue 091 – October 18, 2018 – Companies Don’t Fail Over IT Security
Issue 090 – October 4, 2018 – Nuanced Problems Deserve Nuanced Solutions
Issue 089 – September 20, 2018 – A Network Fable – For The Right Reasons
Issue 088 – September 6, 2018 – The Most Fragile Engineers I Know
Issue 087 – August 23, 2018 – A Network Fable – The Cutover Done Wrong
Issue 086 – August 3, 2018 – Overcoming Your Fear Of Change
Issue 085 – July 20, 2018 – Document So You Can Go On Vacation
Issue 084 – July 6, 2018 – Contractors As Tools Not Scapegoats
Issue 083 – June 22, 2018 – The Social Media Resume Burnout And Darth Vader’s Keynote
Issue 082 – May 24, 2018 – Who Benefits From Vendor Best Practices
Issue 081 – May 10, 2018 – Make An Extra Million In Network Engineering
Issue 080 – April 26, 2018 – A Blueprint For Integrity And Performance
Issue 079 – April 12, 2018 – Navigating Vendor Nonsense
Issue 078 – March 29, 2018 – The Limits Of Customer Use Cases
Issue 077 – March 15, 2018 – You Control Your Own Destiny
Issue 076 – March 1, 2018 – Quitting My CCIE
Issue 075 – February 15, 2018 – The Intent-Based Career
Issue 074 – February 1, 2018 – Get Out Of Your Echo Chamber
Issue 073 – January 18, 2018 – Mentor Because You’re Selfish
2017
Issue 072 – December 21, 2017 – End Of Year
Issue 071 – December 7, 2017 – What Network Stability Means
Issue 070 – November 22, 2017 – How Do You Learn?
Issue 069 – November 9, 2017 – Try Something Different
Issue 068 – October 26, 2017 – The Art Of Procrastination
Issue 067 – October 12, 2017 – Why 10 Years Of Uptime Is Bad
Issue 066 – September 28, 2017 – Be More Than Just A Line Item
Issue 065 – September 14, 2017 – Big Data Vs. Big Insight
Issue 064 – August 31, 2017 – Solving The Other IT Problem
Issue 063 – August 17, 2017 – Is The CCNA The Right Start?
Issue 062 – August 3, 2017 – Drew Isn’t Here
Issue 061 – July 20, 2017 – Story Time
Issue 060 – July 6, 2017 – The People Issue
Issue 059 – June 22, 2017 – Pain And Gain
Issue 058 – June 9, 2017 – Transformation
Issue 057 – May 25, 2017 – Let’s Get Real
Issue 056 – May 10, 2017 – Automatic For The People
Issue 055 – April 26, 2017 – Making Choices
Issue 054 – April 12, 2017 – Story Time
Issue 053 – March 30, 2017 – Rhymin’ And Stealin’
Issue 052 – March 16, 2017 – Giving And Seeking Advice
Issue 051 – March 1, 2017 – Who Can You Trust?
Issue 050 – February 16, 2017 – Time To Step Up
Issue 049 – February 3, 2017 – Stupid Management Tricks
Issue 048 – January 19, 2017 – Stupid Network
2016
Issue 047 – December 21, 2016 – ITIL Change Freeze
Issue 046 – December 8, 2016 – Changes
Issue 045 – November 23, 2016 – To Grandmother’s House We Go
Issue 044 – November 10, 2016 – Take A Deep Breath
Issue 043 – October 26, 2016 – Jobs
Issue 042 – October 14, 2016 – Answer To Life The Universe And Everything
Issue 041 – September 30, 2016 – Ranty Issue
Issue 040 – September 16, 2016 – Doing Things Differently
Issue 039 – August 31, 2016 – Complexity Is Simple
Issue 038 – August 18, 2016 – Asking When
Issue 037 – August 4, 2016 – Thinking About The Future
Issue 036 – July 21, 2016 – Control Issues
Issue 035 – July 7, 2016 – Changes Are Coming
Issue 034 – June 24, 2016 – Everything In Moderation
Issue 033 – June 9, 2016 – How Vendor Sales Teams Cost You And Resisting Social Media
Issue 032 – May 26, 2016 – Maintaining The Skills
Issue 031 – May 12, 2016 – Still In The Recovery
Issue 030 – April 26, 2016 – Interop Is Next Week
Issue 029 – April 15, 2016 – Considering Cap Theorem
Issue 028 – April 7, 2016 – We’re Trying To Be Helpful
Issue 027 – March 23, 2016 – Between March Madness And St. Patricks Day
Issue 026 – March 4, 2016 – Hyperconverged For Your Convenience
Issue 025 – February 21, 2016 – Enterprise IT Is Slowing Down Its Spending
Issue 024 – February 4, 2016 – I’m Good At Keeping My Inner Awesome Under Control
Issue 023 – January 21, 2016 – Life In IT
Issue 022 – January 12, 2016 – Predictions For 2016
2015
Issue 021 – December 23, 2015 – Christmas Change Freeze
Issue 020 – December 10, 2015 – Dealing With Layer 8
Issue 019 – November 25, 2015 – Can’t Think Of Anything Smart To Say
Issue 018 – November 12, 2015 – HP Splits And Dell EMC Merges
Issue 017 – October 27, 2015 – Too Many Things To Do And Not Enough Focus To Do Them
Issue 016 – September 21, 2015 – End Of Summer Slowdown Starts About Now
Issue 015 – September 7, 2015 – I Am A Startup
Issue 014 – August 21, 2015 – Status Reset
Issue 013 – August 10, 2015 – Making Websites Is Hard
Issue 012 – June 30, 2015 – Three Years Is An IT Lifetime
Issue 011 – June 15, 2015 – The Cloud In Education IT
Issue 010 – June 1, 2015 – On Having Favorites
Issue 009 – May 20, 2015 – Too Stupid Too Quit
Issue 008 – May 12, 2015 – Where Am I?
Issue 007 – May 4, 2015 – I Like The Interop Conference
Issue 006 – April 17, 2015 – News From The OpenCompute Project
Issue 005 – April 6, 2015 – Changing Views And Problems
Issue 004 – March 23, 2015 – Travelling To Site
Issue 003 – February 23, 2015 – Why Is Quality So Poor?
Issue 002 – January 29, 2015 – Enterprise IT Comes Last
Issue 001 – January 14, 2015 – The First Issue