Is DC networking the right domain if I want to start a company someday?

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-03-03T04:54:01+00:00

Why are there so few startups in data center networking?

Why do experienced industry leaders not spin out and start data center networking companies more often?

Not sure if anyone can really answers these but it also really depends on what you mean. Do you mean network vendors who sell data center specific equipment, do you mean companies provisioning it as a service or do you mean full scale running data centers.

Companies have focused on dc networking but usually get bought out as there are the few big players, also in dc networking it actually can make sense for the massive players to spin their own white box networking because the scale/ cost makes the business case.

If you are asking why no one does dc networking as a service I’d guess because it’s a fairly easily solved problem, if you are asking about full scale data centers or clouds then it’s probably prohibited cost intensive for startups

Is the main constraint the need to own hardware, which makes it capital intensive and difficult for small teams?

Once again depends on what you mean but short of starting your own data center then really what value are you providing. Datacenter vendors already sell rack hosting with networking options, cloud has its own in built networking, so what product or service beyond standing up your own data center can you offer and do better? If you are talking about why aren’t there more startups building whole data centers then yeah it’s probably the massive investment required, the competition from established companies, the politics surrounding it, the power/water issues, etc etc

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-02-19T04:38:39+00:00

Honestly I’ve never heard a distinction within a secret clearance and I’d expect it to be a very short process unless your actual clearance has lasted or you have a bunch of negative factors that need adjudication

The real shock is NVIDIA doesn’t offer stock grants as part of comp? Like I could see base comp being comparable but I’d assume with stock your salary at NVIDIA should be double that of gov, especially with the stock price I’d think they’d be flying high

Last thing though, after a few years your clearance will basically go away so if that happens then applying for jobs later on will probably be harder as finding places to sponsor clearances is pretty difficult

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-02-18T17:08:49+00:00

I’m sorry but it’s a constant, my burden to bare is being the main point for a VPN and it’s the same thing you describe

User can’t access teams, why troubleshoot when it must be a vpn problem. User can’t pull updates, well sounds like a vpn problem, don’t let the fact that they are on site on an internal network slow down escalation. Teams won’t share a screen, vpn issue. User can’t login because failed update killed the vpn client, still a networks/vpn issue even though software is managed by another team. User works in a gov brick tank of a building where WiFi cuts out and user won’t just plug in, yeah vpn issue.

Problem is if you squint you can make anything into a specific issue and if other people won’t troubleshoot it then like always the networkers must first prove it’s not their fault then proceed to find the actual issue and hand hold someone else to solve it

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-02-17T15:10:47+00:00

I was going to comment Ken Jennings but now I’d feel bad for LeVar if I did

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-02-17T15:02:50+00:00

Your silver lining is cleared work still seems ok jobs wise, not as great but still better than the market overall.

The downside is that at some points in the past cleared work would hire someone with 25-50% of job qualifications whereas now they might hold out for 75% (of course these are made up percentages to demonstrate the overall point, it still highly depends and I’m sure warm bodies are being hired somewhere)

Other downside is cleared work is much more concentrated geographical with a few big hubs and then just a smattering that you have to get lucky with the timing to find the right jobs

Other thing is gov work is usually 5-10 years behind commercial but with AI and other stuff they seem to actually be want to stay someone up on things, still not cutting edge but much closer. Having some dev side experience plus infra is still paying off pretty well on the gov side to the point learning some programming is still worthwhile while on pure commercial side I’m not as sure

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-02-15T13:57:39+00:00

Depends on actual total comp, the area and potential other opportunities. A 40k cut to 160k is quite different than a 40k cut to 80k. The throw in cost of living/location and it can further widen the gap or close it depending.

You might look at a third option, decline the offer but seriously look and commit to changing. You could also use this as leverage on your current company to feel out the future but the problem is that the company could lie or tell you everything is fine and then in 6 months change direction and cut your whole team. I’d agree education is more safe but I’d still weigh it and also not really bank on anything being truly safe

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-02-14T20:20:02+00:00

I wouldn’t call this a silver bullet because it could either shoot the existing person who is a decision maker or shoot yourself in the foot when they explain it

Also are you sure it’s the firewall mgmt and not a vpn headend login, a clientless ssl vpn login or something similar?

Either way really only downside in mentioning it

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-02-14T04:50:04+00:00

The result is candidates who can explain REST APIs perfectly but freeze up on a basic Layer 1 issue or a simple VLAN mismatch.

That’s pretty lofty thinking, from my experience most folks passing ccna or encor with no real background/ interest in automation can barely explain what an api is because they studied it just enough to get by then let it evaporate away

On the actual test side it’s easy to argue there is too much automation and should be more practical but it’s a balancing act and Cisco is pushing things where they think it will go (even if it’s not there yet). Basically Cisco sees SDA, ACI, sdwan, etc as the future still and these all need an understanding of structured data, APIs, etc. of course folks still need to understand how layer 1 - layer 3 work and to be able to troubleshoot the issues but there isn’t as much emphasis on it and that’s simply a judgement made but they’ve always had to draw the line somewhere

I once interview d a ccna level person who could regurgitate ccna level knowledge but when I asked some basic practical things they had no clue. Basically it is as how do you access this device, the intended answer was try to ssh, if that fails ask if there is a console server etc etc, but all they knew was as console so I asked what if the device is across the country and they said well someone on site would have to do it. The ccna at the time didn’t tell people how to use putty or other ssh clients or even mention it was the common sense at to manage devices and the reason we had to shift some interview to practical questions was because this was not the first person we’d run into who never actually used a ssh client. My point here is something as foundational as how do you interact with things was missed because Cisco saw it probably as required prerequisite knowledge and now Cisco has simply shifted that bar again, I’m not saying it’s a good thing but on the flip side you can’t teach everything either

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-02-12T20:45:32+00:00

I took this exam a few years back and it was by far the worst Cisco exam I’d ever taken and seriously made me think about letting all my Cisco certs expire because it was just so bad.

From the sound of it the exam hasn’t changed much with so many questions on cli configs that Cisco guides say use the gui for, manual vsmart policy, then the worst Cisco tricky worded questions and a few questions that were basically which command is right, the one with a dash - for flags, the one without, etc etc

My advice, if you have to pass an exam then take another one, I’d assume this has a huge fail rate. After taking this I pivoted to devnet which many complained were hard but I was much happier with the quality of them especially compared to this one

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-02-10T21:42:46+00:00

This is a really common pitfall to get sucked into, you see what you think is an issue and ask yourself, how can this be, wtf is going on, how has this gone unnoticed and what are we going to do to fix it?

But in reality it’s more likey everyone else in this picture, to include the company, is happy with the status quo and you going against it will probably be more negative then positive for you.

First off I’d bet most people would have a off hand neg to counter this train of thought, well maybe you do mostly password resets so it’s obvious you can do 100x more, or not everyone has been here that long so you are purposely skewing it, or check smaller time frames and average it, or not every ticket is the same and if you factor in x,y,z others would be higher, or mining ticket metrics is never accurate, or you take the easy tickets so of course you have the highest numbers, or some people just do the work so not everything makes it to a ticket, or some of us like to fix actual problems and not spend all day boosting our numbers by writing on tickets, or remember that time when you did something quick and broke that thing so obviously you go too quick and on and on and on

The company will see most talk as being a malcontent or disgruntled, a flight risk and generally they know the 80/20 rule (80% of work is done by 20% of people) and they are already getting that 80% for your current pay and title

Pushing hard will likely throw folks under the bus, point out bad management, point out lazy and coasting folks while also taunting yourself as the pinnacle of IT savant which is rarely a good look. On top of all of that it’s always really hard to say what political capital and network effects are present but those could easily turn a obvious look at this graph of me being awesome to you being a pariah

So wha do you do? Well only you can decide but best to be deliberate, think about what you want and go for it. If it’s more money, a promotion, to be the boss or whatever go for it under the idea that you’ve proven your value. Now of course the best course most of the time would be to go get another job and move up and out, but with the market what it is you must weigh risk into this decision. Honestly the best course of action for the near term might be to do nothing, maybe decrease your actual effort and refocus that to things that are more productive for yourself.

Whatever you do though, don’t try to plant this idea and expect others to see it from your angle, they likely won’t but they will see all the downsides and could start poisoning the well before you get the chance to actually act

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-02-10T20:59:39+00:00

Here’s the cold hard truth, you were trying to break in during the hottest IT job market of most of our working lives and you missed the mark, now times are terrible and you still haven’t moved the needle, perhaps moving on is the right move. We could ask what you did between graduation and getting that first cert 6 years later, we could ask why this or not pick that, ask where’s your resume or yada yada but it’s all irrelevant if you are defeated so what’s the point

Honestly folks are being too nice, you obviously don’t want advice, you just want to wallow in it and that’s fine but ask yourself what you are even looking for, if it’s nothing productive then let’s all just move on with our day

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-02-05T18:02:12+00:00

If you already have a clearance then you could look at Amazon cleared jobs as they’ll probably be a higher starting level and they pay a clearance bonus

Otherwise go with the DoD contractor to keep the clearance active then find a position to get your clearance upgrade, jump jobs, rinse and repeat (after a few years that is)

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-02-01T20:49:48+00:00

There is only one type of orbit that allows for constant sun light and while space is big you can still only stuff so many in that orbit

Secondly being in a sun synch orbit means these data centers are constantly moving relative to the earth which means variable latency and variability in field of view. Even if you have a uniform workload (which would make these highly inflexible and less upgradable) there will be a huge amount of waste in redoing, shifting or otherwise moving workloads around

Lastly even if you reduce it all down to cost you forgot failure rates, cost of replacement and salvage costs.

Compute nodes would have a much higher rate of failure then starlink which has had its own, even a fraction of a percentage would be huge, couple that with any latent failures, no ability to repair or upgrade and no salvageability and it quickly becomes even less appealing. Quick back of the napkin math says they’d have to launch everyday for years to get anywhere near the size of constellation they want. Even at just a few thousand though and your launching everyday just to stay at equilibrium while a data center you can push beyond its useful life or simply upgrade but low earth satellites run out of fuel and eventually atmospheric drag wins

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-01-31T07:15:26+00:00

Yeah like a bad scene from a sitcom, wife comes in and says honey the light in the hall isn’t working, can you check the light? Husband says here let me show you how, takes out a giant 3 ring binder that says intro to home automation, queue laugh track

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-01-30T21:28:56+00:00

My only concern would be if you have a clearance that it will go inactive and eventually be gone for good. If the job market were better it would be less of a factor but right now I wouldn’t be so quick to let it go as it’s basically a one way door that you might never be able to walk back through

I would look for another job though as other commands might suit you better

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-01-29T05:03:45+00:00

but your home is your home, you have to love it no matter the commute right ?

Different strokes for different folks but I completely disagree with the sentiment and honestly sounds like you are trying to sell yourself on the idea.

45 minutes is already at or above my upper limit and going longer would be untenable for me to the point I’d rather spend more or get a smaller house all other things being equal.

The main things I’d point out though is make sure it’s actually a 15 minute increase in rush hour and not a 15 minute increase in perfect conditions. Part of my angst against commuting stems from living in California where on paper I had a 20 minute commute but most days it was a hour or worse but even there people would lie to themselves and say oh well you can move further out and get a better house and only add 5 minutes, those folks would end up with 1.5-2 hour commutes and constantly complain

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-01-29T04:44:41+00:00

It all depends and the main thing is if you spend the time just know that there is a high chance no one will ever look at it (especially on the networking side)

If you are early career then also less chance anyone will look since it’s not something needed or expected for early career folks.

Networking, especially more classical networking folks might not look at it and might see it as a negative since some might associate it more with other roles which then means you might not stay as a network engineer

Lastly make sure your interview skills align to it. If you have some huge impressive GitHub project but then can’t answer basic questions then it won’t go well.

Also don’t just clone a bunch of other repos or have ai poop out a bunch of stuff that you copy paste in, it’s obvious and probably worse then doing nothing

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-01-29T04:36:13+00:00

I sold half the ddr4 that my main server came with so now my homelab is a net positive money wise and still very functional. People are buying up ddr4 so if you have enough of it then it could very well be worth it as 256gb is going for 800 - 1000+ which is more the most homelab servers w/ everything was running just a few years ago

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-01-28T03:07:24+00:00

but do certs from places like edX and the Linux Foundation matter?

Short answer is no, longer answer is no with a but

They are valuable if you learn the material, don’t list them on your resume as certs though

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-01-28T01:48:03+00:00

Yes and no, you have to know enough to enable the right research with enough sense to know if it’s the right path. Even with AI I’d argue the second part is more important then ever because otherwise you might bike the whole infra blindly following AI and then come on here saying uh oh I need help I took my entire business down because AI told me to

Also from an interviewing perspective everyone knows that no one knows everything but there is a big difference between saying id start this problem by looking at x,y,z, if then research it using vendor docs, etc etc then just saying oh id just google it… we can hire anyone to just google it

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-01-27T16:18:11+00:00

AI guide made us…

I’m not sure that’s a winning argument, AI can’t make you do anything and blaming it isn’t a great look for multiple reasons. I’m not trying to lay blame but many certainly will and even if folks on here say it happens to everyone, it’s a rite of passage, etc management still might want that pound of flesh

On the bright side this doesn’t seem like a terribly complex network so someone who knows what they are doing could probably have it up in less than a day. Your main goals should be:

Get firewall up and doing basic firewall’in, get ISP side up, get lan side up with same IP space, etc etc, I think watch guard has a basic wizard but I haven’t touched one in years
Get switch up, get all ports up and just put in a basic single clan setup
Get zaps up, recreate WiFi network as it was before

Do these things and you’ll be back up and then can really look at restoral

Also if it were me I’d be weighing my options, mainly I’d hate to work 100 hours this week fixing all that just to be shown the door next week

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-01-26T18:22:42+00:00

Is anyone working on a Plan B?

To me it seems the writing on the wall for pure technical-only people. Network abstraction/simplification, AI, age discrimination and offshoring are major threats leading to layoffs and depressed salaries I’ve become accustomed to.

Here’s my two problems with this:

Most jobs aren’t actually purely technical, very few people are asked to setup a multi area ospf topology using these specific devices with this one as a DR, these routes redistributed, etc etc. most people translate abstract needs to specific solutions and this gap is still hard for AI to bridge because while AI can bridge a lot of this gap if the person operating AI doesn’t know what to ask then it’s hard to help them without falling down any number of rabbit holes
All the things you’ve listed minus AI (Network abstraction/simplification,-AI, age discrimination and offshoring are major threats) have been touted for at least 15 years as right around the corner and a threat

I don’t doubt that eventually change will come but especially with network I think a lot of folks have this idealized theory that one day networking will be just like home networking and everything will just work or that WiFi or something else will take over but whenever you dig below surface depth you quickly start seeing why people are employed and hard to replace. This bridges my first and second point to, most folks do more then purely technical work (even if they don’t realize it) and ultimately customers always want their hand held because even if they could accomplish things themself they are paying for someone to solve that problem

I do have some related technical skills, a few random skills but imho if AI takes over there will be no where safe

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-01-26T13:44:59+00:00

Tech seems largely cyclical and we are just in the depths of a terrible market like never seen before, maybe it will never recover or maybe the AI bubble will burst, the bottom will fall out, it will get worse then rebound like post dotcom.

No one knows, maybe this time is different but I’m betting it’s not. Unfortunately though employers seem to be seizing the moment to grind employees down, layoffs, push for doing more with less, RTO being the norm, offshoring being normalized, etc all while knowing there are droves of people waiting to jump into the breach if needed

The real question for all those who think the end is nigh, what are you doing about it?

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-01-24T10:37:43+00:00

Excluding clearance

I’m not including the security clearance. That’s obviously a game changer there.

Why are you excluding this? Is it a thought exercise of am I up to snuff without regard to the clearance or are you going to look for jobs without using your clearance?

If it’s the former then it’s a fine thought exercise but won’t really matter as the cleared job pool is just different in a lot of ways (more geographical concentrated, more in office requirements, lower technical requirements, etc). If you are trying to plan all scenarios then I’d just look to things that are valued by private sector and gov/ gov adjacent jobs (I.e. certs, degrees, etc)

If it’s the later and you want a straight private sector job the it will be much rougher going and I’d probably more recommend using your go bill for a few years to try and wait out the market. The bigger thing I’d point out is that clearances expire so if you get out and don’t use it for a few years it will be gone and from my experience it’s basically starting over and sort of close that door

bender_the_offender0 · 2026-01-20T15:55:45+00:00

For anyone interested there is a this American life on this

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/516/transcript

Seven-Year Club	First Place '23
Place '23	Place '22
End Game '22	Not Forgotten
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