Site Operations at PayPal covers Incident Response, Network Monitoring, Site Reliability, and a whole lot more. Security is an ever present concern. AI and Machine Learning are disruptors on the horizon. As the person who runs the Network Command Center – the “Engine Room” at PayPal – TJ Gibson has a lot on his mind.

In this episode of Living on the Edge, TJ walks us through the complexity of running a large corporate network as part of a team of 600 engineers. We talk about the growth of Site Reliability Engineering from its early days as a “bug fixing team” to its current place at the heart of the organization, and throughout the business.

TJ has an interesting view on the three phases of a technology career, and how value is derived at each stage. From deep domain knowledge, to knowing - and being known - as a key contributor, and then taking a broader view that focuses on linking business outcomes and technology solutions. He also shares his thoughts on how SRE as a discipline will continue to grow as a career path for network engineers.

Mentors are important in any career, and TJ gives a hat tip to one of his first managers, Roy Santarella at Vigilant Minds, and also to Wes Hummel at PayPal.

Contact Details and Publications Mentioned in the Podcast
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjgibson/
USENIX SRE Conferences:  https://www.usenix.org/srecon
Range by David Epstein: https://davidepstein.com/the-range/
Freakonomics by Levitt & Dubner:  https://freakonomics.com/books/

The Cisco Certification path has changed significantly over the years. Jason Gooley, a Tech Evangelist at Cisco, has seen that certification journey from several viewpoints – as a student, a mentor, and as the author of several textbooks.

In this episode of Living on the Edge, Jason talks about the evolution of the CCNA/CCIE programs, including the “Cert-pocalypse” in February 2020, when the program was streamlined to focus the program to a narrower core, while adding in the DevNet certification. He shares his own stories from the edge, including a very recent snafu, and talks about the current trends in DevOps automation, SD-WAN and resiliency vs redundancy. 

As a Session Manager for one of the Cisco Live groups, Jason also talks about his hopes for this year’s virtual event, and how they hope to create a sense of community despite the distance. And then there’s the great concerts we’ve had at previous Cisco Live, from Aerosmith to Bruno Mars and the Foo Fighters. It turns out Jason is a big music fan, and in his spare time volunteers with several music-oriented philanthropic foundations.

Giving back to the Networking community is important to Jason, and he gives a hat tip to those who have helped him in his career, including Andre Laurent at Cisco, Anthony Sequeira at ITProTV, Brian McGahan  and Rohit Pardasani from INE, , and Jim Cook.

To get in touch with Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jgooley/

Twitter @Jason_Gooley

Find his Cisco publications at https://www.ciscopress.com/authors/bio/1575aad0-bb40-4aa9-acfe-19ff72cfb67b

Volunteer Groups that Jason works with:

Chicago Network Operators Group: http://chinog.org/

MetalDevOps: https://www.metaldevops.com/

David Ellefson Youth Music Foundation: http://ellefsonyouthmusicfoundation.org/

Old Bridge Militia: https://oldbridgemilitia.org/

Podcast Produced by Steve St. Clair / Trouble Group

Adaptability has been a watchword for Michael’s career in Fintech networking. And as an early adopter of new technologies, avoiding shiny objects has been key. We discuss the value of CCNA and CCIE certifications; what Network Function Virtualization brings to the table, and how SD-WAN has evolved during the pandemic.

Michael Wynston, Director of Global Network Architecture at Fiserv, shares his experiences and viewpoints with the Living on the Edge Podcast. We covered a number of topics:

·        Cisco Certification program - still the foundation that every network engineer should build from - and the additional layer of interpersonal skills. “Never stop learning”

·        Adaptability as the underpinning of a Network Resilience plan

·        Using Network Function Virtualization to increase flexibility in the IT infrastructure

·        SD-WAN’s evolution during the pandemic, and its application to Work from Home

·        And the importance of avoiding “Shiny Objects” in any project

Michael gave a hat tip to Vincent Patrizio, one of his early mentors at Merrill Lynch, and recommended SDxCentral as a key resource to keep up with the latest technology news.

Listen now on your favorite Podcast App:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/avoiding-shiny-objects-talking-sd-wan-nfv-ccie-michael/id1535992671?i=1000502383309

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3eaj8SeeE1LWRBkQf8djOQ

Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xNDA3MjE3LnJzcw/episode/QnV6enNwcm91dC02ODQyNTY2?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwiAxdHHpdDtAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ


Podcast Produced by Steve St. Clair / Trouble Group

How is the cable industry adapting to the current technology trends? With his background at both Charter and Cox, Jay shares his views on automation, edge networks and 5G. Are they an opportunity or a threat? Friend or Foe? The answer, of course, is “yes”.

On this episode of Living on the Edge, Jay Rolls, former CTO at Charter Communications, talks about the road that brought him to the cable industry, from cryptography at the CIA, to the Defense Data Network in the early days of the Internet, and then after several more moves, on to Cox Communications where he became Sr. VP of Engineering. He discusses the challenges of managing a large engineering organization, and recalls a time when a creative approach from his team of network engineers got them out of a sticky situation. And Jay describes the way that the cable industry is adapting to the growth in edge networking, cloud services and 5G.

Jay gives a hat tip to Alex Best and Chris Bowick at Cox Communications, and Adam Grosser from his time with @Home Networks. He shares some of his favorite resources, including:

Light Reading https://www.lightreading.com/

IEEE Spectrum https://spectrum.ieee.org/

Society of Cable Telecommunication Engineers https://www.scte.org/

Listen now on your favorite Podcast App:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-trenches-how-cable-industry-adapts-featuring-jay/id1535992671?i=1000498147952

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3RgcMyiUUP7lsJiLNMRctR?si=uYvT5XC0RNqlr3ycQ2ldlQ

Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xNDA3MjE3LnJzcw/episode/QnV6enNwcm91dC02MzA5NzYz?sa=X&ved=0CAcQuIEEahcKEwiItryHmvvsAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAg


Podcast Produced by Steve St. Clair / Trouble Group

Todd Rychecky is VP Americas at Opengear. He discusses the evolution in out-of-band management, and how increasing automation makes console servers more relevant than ever.

As the leader of the Americas Sales team at Opengear, Todd is a trusted advisor on network resilience solutions to many large enterprise and hyperscale organizations. On this episode of Living on the Edge, Todd recalls how serial ports were “old news” twenty years ago when he started selling console servers. And yet today, they seem more relevant than ever. He walks us through the growth curve, from the original dumb terminal servers to today’s advanced Out-of-Band and NetOps solutions, and how companies are now looking for “zero touch management” solutions.

Todd also shares some of his favorite resources, including:
 
 SDxCentral https://www.sdxcentral.com/

Data Center Knowledge https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/

ZDNet https://www.zdnet.com/

TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/

Wired https://www.wired.com

Packet Pushers: https://packetpushers.net/


To get in touch with Todd, visit his LinkedIn profile and send him an InMail or connection request.

Listen now on your favorite Podcast App:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/zero-touch-management-future-out-band-featuring-todd/id1535992671?i=1000495359937

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/24pCNTWNcjx1u3P18vTyKt?si=155Cn1--TlGihQk3RgNj2Q

Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xNDA3MjE3LnJzcw/episode/QnV6enNwcm91dC01OTYzNzM0?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjQgpO4hNLsAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQBQ


Podcast Produced by Steve St. Clair / Trouble Group

Discussing the evolution of SD-WAN, how increased automation will change network management, and why a strategic approach to Network Resilience may be the natural extension of SREs - Site Reliability Engineers.

On today's Living on the Edge podcast, Roy Chua, founder and principal at AvidThink, and co-founder of SDxCentral, shares his views on the evolution of SD-WAN, how the adoption of NetOps practices are impacting IT organizations, and why Network Resilience could become the next focus for companies looking to minimize downtime. He also introduces the concept of the Fabric for Universal Networking - or F.U.N, for short!.

Roy gives a hat tip to Michael Howard of Infonetics, and shares some of his favorite resources, including:

Fierce Telecom https://www.fiercetelecom.com/

Fierce Wireless https://www.fiercewireless.com/

Light Reading https://www.lightreading.com/

RCR Wireless https://www.rcrwireless.com/

SDxCentral https://www.sdxcentral.com/

Packet Pushers Podcast: https://packetpushers.net/

Tech Field Day https://techfieldday.com/

AvidThink is an independent research firm focused on infrastructure technologies, including IOT, SD-WAN, SDN, and Edge networks. To find out more go to https://avidthink.com/

Listen now on your favorite Podcast App:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-on-edge-network-resilience-podcast-by-opengear/id1535992671

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3a961KUK3AXKlBF5ckZrgZ

Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8xNDA3MjE3LnJzcw/episode/QnV6enNwcm91dC01ODIxMzYz?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjW5-3g-8DsAhUKLsAKHUMiB30QkfYCegQIARAF


Podcast Produced by Steve St. Clair / Trouble Group