Friday, February 17, 2012
First Post!
First!
Just kidding. :)
Who am I? Just a dude.
Why am I starting this post? I have been involved in network engineering for the last 12 years. Most of that time I spent in operations, keeping the lights on for large scale networks. Back then Cisco was synonymous to the term networking, and you live by knowing the best and most about Cisco commands and syntax. CCIE was something that almost all network engineers pursuit or hope one day to achieve. That is what I spent most of time learning in trying to become better at my job.
But things have gradually shifted to a more vendor neutral world in the last few years, as I work on larger and larger networks, it become obvious that Cisco is not the best-of-breed in many of the verticals. Also as the size of the network I managed grow, it became obvious that there has to be a more vendor-neutral way to manage the network.
That is when I discovered Python!
I believe Python is the best tool for the job, and this is the blog where I hope to provide proof to that statement. Hopefully you will find the posts and tips useful.
Lets get started....
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A feedback this morning brings me back some memories in my pursuit. Joe asked which book, 'Think Python' or 'Python for Kids' would I recommend to get started. Here is the post:
ReplyDeleteHi Joe, thank you for reading the review and the kind words. :)
They are both excellent books, but if I had to pick, I would probably go with 'Think Python'. Here are the reasons:
1. Think Python is free so you dont even have to spend a dime to get started, http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/. The price tag is not an indication of value but how an idealist Prof. Downey is.
2. There is almost a community behind 'Think Python', check out the page where it links to an online interactive version, a french translation, etc.
3. It is the choice of many University level intro to programming class, http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs1110/2012fa/ and University of Washington Extension Python certificate. I mean, who would argue against professors at Cornell? :)
Another excellent free resource is Zed Shaw's 'Learn Python the Hard Way', http://learnpythonthehardway.org/. You can choose to read the book first, then if you still need more assistance, pay the $29 for the video and some tutorial.
Just on a side note, coding is hard and frustrating, no doubt. I have been convinced for years that I need to learn how to script but gave up many, many times. At the time Perl is the dominate language that all of my colleagues were using and it almost seemed like magic on what they can do. So I tried really hard to learn Perl, but my brain is just not wired the way Larry Wall intended to be. So I was frustrated and gave up, picked up again, only to give up once more. I felt I let myself down in the process. I also gave myself plenty of excuses, like I will need to focus on getting CCIE first (which I eventually did), my company has plenty of script ninjas, etc. But the reality brings me back to the scripting/programming front over and over again. So I finally just buckled down and get thru the hurdles, bump my head against the wall plenty of time, and feel the 'I finally did it' feeling when I wrote my first useful script that is worth a darn.
So keep at it, keep your eyes on the prize, take a break and come back to it if you have to. The payoff is great, I once talked to a Google Network Engineer and she told me she felt Python is what set her apart from the rest of the crowd. I feel the same way.
Happy coding.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you would read this, if you do.... please reply.
I am new to IT. I was fresh out of college and worked for nearly an year in help desk. Later, my employer pushed me into network operations team. I've started my CCNA Studies. But still I would like to ask you something.
Am I starting at the right place by doing the CCna studies?
Do I need to learn coding right away?
I am not dealing with data centers, just branch offices(a lot of them). I get to work with some cisco 2800 or 2950 routers, cat switches, adding firewall rules, bluecoat and little F5. I felt lucky when i moved into networking this early But I don't want to lose track of the industry and stand somewhere in the dark later on. So, what do you suggest me to do in my network related studies?
Also, let me know what you would do if you were in my shoes.Like, how do you start off? The path you would take, etc..
I thought i should start a blog to track my studies, but haven't posted a single article yet. :(
Btw, This blog is awesome.I mean it!:)I should say it is inspirational.
Note : Am no native english speaker. So excuse any typos or mistakes in the above written para.