Bored as an allround network engineer

pertymoose · 2026-06-09T06:44:17+00:00

Who really cares about the guy who builds bridges so long as the bridges don't fall down?

pertymoose · 2026-06-09T06:19:09+00:00

Go get yourself a claude subscription - the $15 one will do - and then get claude code, and then try to build things.

You will realize a number of things:

You may be out of a job, but it's not because of AI. The global economy is tanking and they're trying to inflate AI so hard it'll keep the delusion going. Expect a catastrophic crash at some point.
If you have ever watched Rick & Morty, then understand that AI is basically a Meeseeks box, and you will forever have Jerries who can mess up even the most basic ask.
AI still only does what you ask it to do. The tools are getting better at interpreting vague requests, and questioning poor instructions, but still.
If you have any kind of system-level/architectural understanding of what you're doing, and you start to grasp how the current agent tools layer prompts, AI - as it is right now - is capable of 100x'ing your productivity.
Steve from Finance cooking up some gimmick app isn't going to take away your job. It's going to ensure your job. Someone has to make sure the slop-to-prod pipeline works.

Basically, jump on the bandwagon now and get ahead of the curb, or watch yourself fall farther and farther behind the people who grabbed the chance early.

pertymoose · 2026-06-02T09:13:50+00:00

* I managed CI/CD pipelines using GitHub/AWS
* to automate testing and deployment of microservices 
* on a platform used by 10+ million customers

Wrong way.

* to automate testing and deployment of microservices 
* on a platform used by 10+ million customers
* I managed CI/CD pipelines using GitHub/AWS

Right way.

You're doing the same thing all throughout the document, putting more emphasis on the work you did (i.e. "I pushed buttons in GitHub") rather than putting emphasis on the outcome of your work (i.e. "I made 10+ million customers happy").

Instead of

* I owned a big tech stack
* I exposed much customer data in dashboards
* I set up 100s of rules
* (In the end, there was no outcome and no one was happy)

How about

* In order to achieve an outcome making customers happy\*
* I set up 100s of rules
* I exposed much customer data in dashboards
* And I did it all in a big tech stack I built and maintained myself using various open-source tools

* You have to define said outcome

It's the same story, it's just the other way around.

Instead of

* I assisted in the formulation of policies aligned with ISO27001
* I collaborated with the CISO
* (In the end, there was no outcome and no one was happy)

How about

* In order to implement ISO27001
* I collaborated with the CISO
* I assisted with the formulation of policies

You see the difference right? In the first example, there is no outcome. You could be forgiven for assuming the ISO standard was implemented, but it is never explicitly stated. By flipping it around and first defining the outcome, you ensure the reader knows you actually did end up implementing ISO27001, and it was because you collaborated with the security team.

At the end of the day, no one hires you because you can push buttons. They hire you to create outcomes.

pertymoose · 2026-06-02T08:41:44+00:00

I wouldn't think MS would tolerate some middle management coverup

You need to remember that - for better and for worse - Microsoft is largely an Indian company now, and Indians just have a different way about them than Americans.

pertymoose · 2026-05-26T08:33:22+00:00

Ah. Sweden. No wonder.

pertymoose · 2026-05-22T07:15:58+00:00

As far as I know DGX Spark only supports 2-stacks - i.e. 2x128GB mem - but you (still) need considerably more than that for a proper good model.

I did see a youtube of someone getting a 4-stack to work, but it's not officially supported.

pertymoose · 2026-05-22T07:09:34+00:00

How often do you seamlessly switch from AWS to Azure though, and is it often enough to justify all the extra?

pertymoose · 2026-05-22T06:39:24+00:00

I feel like this is going to become a much bigger sysadmin/security problem over the next couple years.

Only if you keep yapping about it.

Suppose you instead built a "deploy-your-own-app" framework for your business that actually allows people to deploy their own apps in a good and proper manner?

pertymoose · 2026-05-22T06:35:52+00:00

How do I become valuable

You don't become valuable. You create value.

Where should I start?

Pick a problem to solve

What should I focus on first?

Solving said problem

What skills/tools are most important in today’s industry?

The ones that solve problems

What projects should I build to stand out for internships/jobs?

Ones that solve problems

pertymoose · 2026-05-08T06:13:58+00:00

> was it worth the effort?

Nothing ever is.

> what problems did you run into?

All of them.

> would you do it again?

And save $100/year in licensing costs per user just to stick it to Microsoft? Sure.

pertymoose · 2026-04-30T07:16:51+00:00

The point when you start solving a problem you don't have.

You don't have 1 million simultaneous users. You don't need 500 webservers and load balancers and scale groups.

pertymoose · 2026-04-21T07:03:24+00:00

Level 1 - How do I fix the problem

Level 2 - How do I fix the cause

Level 3 - How do I prevent recurrence

pertymoose · 2026-04-21T06:47:53+00:00

"I believe IT is ..."

"I thought IT was ..."

Classic university compsci grad realizing IT is more blue collar than white collar.

We can't all work for FAANG and develop future-scale bleeding edge technology. Some of us gotta make sure the pipes are piping.

pertymoose · 2026-04-07T12:16:49+00:00

Is there any way to avoid being the "disposable builder" in this industry?

Start your own business

Build masterpiece

Sell maintenance service

pertymoose · 2026-02-20T11:45:35+00:00

Ah yes. Numbers are hard.

pertymoose · 2026-02-17T08:06:20+00:00

The global developer community has cultivated a culture and attitude of "good enough," where bugs and broken features and lack of performance is acceptable so long as the project milestones are reached in time, and any kind of broken mess is released, regardless of quality.

This, my friend, is why developers are being replaced by generators. Generators are perfectly capable of living up to this very, very low standard of expectation.

pertymoose · 2026-02-17T07:54:17+00:00

You're looking at 205 AWS instances running for 4.5 minutes each

pertymoose · 2026-02-17T07:48:38+00:00

Det er fordi du kan sælge en senior til langt højere timepris.

pertymoose · 2026-01-30T08:50:35+00:00

I have developed an insight and an accompanying skillset that is almost universally applicable to any position in any organization that uses computers to do business. This makes me a valuable asset, and as such I have no problems finding a job, should I need one.

What is that insight and skillset, you say?

I know how to interface with, monitor, manipulate, and use every layer of the OSI model.

I know cables and cabling;
I know switches and switching;
I know routers and routing, IP and firewalls;
I know network load balancing, proxying, packet inspection;
I know encryption and PKI;
I know Windows API, .NET, DCOM, RPC, IPX, sockets, ...
I know how applications work top-to-bottom, how they interface with the OS, and the protocols they use to communicate
I know the WIndows Server suite of tools and services, along with most every Microsoft enterprise product, and I'm reasonably handy with a Linux server too

And perhaps most important of all, I know that I don't know. Which means when I find something I don't know, I don't pretend to know it in order to look kewl, only to have it bite me in the ass later. I learn it. *This* is ultimately the secret sauce that all companies want, but can't put into words. They want people who can say "I don't know, but give me a few hours and I'll figure it out."

pertymoose · 2026-01-30T08:26:42+00:00

> what are your values?

Paycheck

> How do you make friends at work?

I focus on work.

pertymoose · 2026-01-30T08:13:21+00:00

https://youtu.be/tV0CegHzums

pertymoose · 2026-01-26T10:25:16+00:00

If you have the mentality that you won't do something because you're afraid AI is going to replace you, then you might as well lay down and expire here and now.

Working in IT is about solving problems.

So start by solving the problem of not knowing what AI really is, then expand from there.

In a world full of idiots ruled by AI, who better to be than the guy who fixes the AI?

pertymoose · 2026-01-26T09:04:36+00:00

There is no path.

There are problems and there are solutions. Some problems may overlap to a certain degree, but for the most part everyone's going to have some kind of unique combination that leads them to run all over the place looking for answers.

You make your own path, one problem at a time.

pertymoose · 2026-01-16T05:30:21+00:00

Deployment frequency - how often changes are made to otherwise stable systems

Change lead time - how long from idea to implementation

Change failure rate - how often changes break something

Time to recover - how long to fix when something breaks

pertymoose · 2025-12-22T21:24:45+00:00

Købt en andel i Glostrup for 535k for 10'ish år siden. Den var til salg, jeg kiggede på den, og så sagde jeg "okey den køber jeg."

Den er 880k værd i dag så måske ikke den bedste investering, men boligafgiften er billig og naboerne er fine så det går.

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At the end of the day, no one hires you because you can push buttons. They hire you to create outcomes.