It’s time. Time that I make a conscious effort to start learning concepts and leveraging tools to dive into network automation. I have heard a lot of advice for a while now that a great way to become a better network engineer is to automate repetitive tasks so that you can spend time providing value elsewhere. The concept of providing value is important to me. Whenever I struggle with thoughts around not knowing where to start, I figuratively step back and tell myself to just find where you can use your skills (and build new skills) to provide value. I also want to position myself to continue to remain relevant, and learning automation seems like a great way to go.
As you can probably gather from the title, I’ve been down this road before. I’ve dabbled for a bit and dropped it, but now is time to break the cycle. I am currently working toward achieving the CCNP Enterprise certification and do not plan on taking time away from that goal to study automation. As much as I would love to dive into Cisco DevNet and eventually work toward the DevNet Associate Certification, I do not plan to start that yet. While I work toward CCNP Enterprise, I would like to start my automation journey and find some quick wins. I feel (it might be ‘right’ and it might be ‘wrong’) that I can do that by getting familiar with Python. I have decided to start with going through Al Sweigart’s “Automate the Boring Stuff with Python” book and Udemy course. I am really excited to dig in. I plan to build upon this series and really hope that I can look back on this first post sometime in the future and be proud of my progress. I also encourage you to learn along with me. Or better yet, TEACH ME EVERYTHING YOU KNOW!
Netication 