What is Packet Pushers?
Packet Pushers is a community of IT practitioners & vendors who write, podcast, and help each other as industry professionals. The community is built primarily around our podcast network. We have several shows, seen in the top menu bar of this site. Packet Pushers covers networking as well as cloud and related business technologies.
Our content is focused, practical, and deep. At the same time, we like to have a bit of fun.
Packet Pushers is a full-time business supported by sponsorships from IT vendors. All sponsored content is clearly marked as such while still being technical. We ain’t selling mattresses here.
Our sponsors bring on technical folks to discuss their products at a meaningful level. We insist that our vendors offer value to our audience even while performing acts of marketing.
Who is on the Packet Pushers team?
- Greg Ferro & Ethan Banks are the co-founders of Packet Pushers. They grew up in data centers as CCIEs with 20+ years of experience each in production IT environments. They are the primary hosts of the Packet Pushers podcasts, well-known writers, and public speakers.
- Robin Young is our Project Manager. She handles Packet Pushers logistics, graphic design, scheduling, media kit, and business development.
- Drew Conry-Murray is our Content Director. Drew writes news and analysis blog posts, hosts the Network Break podcast, manages the community bloggers, edits whatever needs editing, manages the Human Infrastructure newsletter, releases the shows, and helps plan content strategy and direction.
- Ricki Cook is our longest-running audio editor. Ricki is both a networking professional and world-class audio engineer with real-world experience for the Olympics and many of the biggest music acts in the world. He mixes and edits many of our shows, and is our trusted audio advisor.
Why do you have sponsored shows?
Sponsors allow us to create shows, write blogs, perform research, attend vendor briefings, and travel to conferences. Without our sponsors, Packet Pushers would be a hobby. Instead, it’s a business that supports our families. Literally, Packet Pushers supports our families. That’s not a metaphor.
We have tried the audience-supported model, and it doesn’t work. Less than 1% of the Packet Pushers audience has ever provided financial support, even when getting something of substantial value such as the premium content we make available at Ignition, our membership site.
That’s the way the system works, folks. Someone’s got to pay the bills. If that’s not you, it’s someone else. Otherwise, the thing you love can’t exist.
Can I be a guest on the show?
We look for knowledgeable, independent folks who speak well and have something to add to the conversation. We love bringing new people onto the show. Contact us if you’re interested in adding your voice to our community. Note–if you work for a vendor like Cisco, Juniper, or Red Hat, you should work through our sponsorship program.
I’m a PR pro, and I want my super-smart industry client to be a guest. Thoughts?
We do not accept unsolicited guests pitched by PR folks. We explain more here. We do work with many vendors who’d like to create content that would be useful to our technical audience of IT architects and engineers.
Can I blog on Packet Pushers?
Yes! We welcome bloggers to share their expertise and perspectives with the Packet Pushers community. To find out how to get set up and to see the rules (yes, there are a few rules), please go to packetpushers.net/bloggers.
Why don’t you talk more about certification exams and test topics?
We do cover certification experiences and strategies now and then, but that’s not really what our podcasts are about. Our content is forward-looking and deep. We want to discuss information that isn’t covered anywhere else.
If you want certification training, talk to a training company.
How much time does it take to produce a show?
Roughly 10 hours spread over several people. We spend many hours each week scheduling guests, researching topics, and writing the show outlines. A show recording usually takes between 1 and 2 hours. The post-production and publication process takes between 2 and 6 hours.
What is your policy on comments?
Our policy is, “Don’t be a jerk.” People exchange ideas and share information here as competent professionals. Rude, hostile, racist, sexist, annoyingly pedantic, or spammy comments are not tolerated.
If you need to report a comment in violation of this policy, contact [email protected].
What is Packet Pushers Interactive, LLC?
Packet Pushers Interactive, LLC is a limited liability company registered in the state of New Hampshire, USA. This entity is how we do business.
