Category Archives: Networking

Big Tech Job Cuts – where to go now?

Google is one of the latest companies to cut tech jobs. Some 12,000 jobs this week.

With big tech realing from some historic job losses, many tech workers maybe wondering where they should go from here.

For myself, I’ve been studying for the last 10 months or so, Cybersecurity. Like many large enterprise organisations, I’ve seen a tremendous uptick in Security related incidents. At some point I decided to turn my attention on the subject.

As I would find out some 10 months later, it’s a very good thing I did. I was one of the many hundreds of thousands that have been affected by the recent layoffs from Big Tech globally.

I’ve been doing some studying recently to see what fields are popping for the mid-term and long-term future. Here are some interesting results.

  1. Data science and analysis: With the increasing amount of data being generated, there is a growing demand for professionals who can collect, analyze, and interpret data.
  2. Cybersecurity: As technology becomes more prevalent, the need for professionals who can protect against cyber threats also increases.
  3. Cloud computing: As more companies move their operations to the cloud, there is a growing need for professionals who can design, build, and maintain cloud-based systems.
  4. Artificial intelligence and machine learning: As these technologies continue to advance, there will be a growing demand for professionals who can develop and apply AI and ML solutions to various industries.
  5. Business development and consulting: With the changing business landscape, there is a need for professionals who can help companies navigate and adapt to new technologies and market trends.
  6. Project and product management: This role involves leading cross-functional teams to deliver a product or service.

While some of these jobs maybe common sense alternatives, some might be surprising. For example, Project and product management. I think maybe for the short-term this might be important, but long term I’m not so sure.

Some of the obvious ones are AI and Cybersecurity however. I would also say that anything supporting Cloud computing is quite important. This is because so many new tools need to be made in this area to handling integration from analytics, cybersecurity and more.

If you are one of the many tech workers who has lost their jobs, I feel your pain. I put this list together to share some hope for a bright new future though. Wishing you all the best of luck as we navigate these new and uncertain times ahead.

FY17Q1 Update

So it’s the start of a new Quarter and I figured I’d do some cleaning. I’m working to close my old site, and do some work on this one as a kind of consolidation. It’s become hard to maintain 2 sites that do such similar things. Instead, I’ll just use this one, and like Tony Robbins I can claim “I’m not your Guru”.

Updates.. so lesse, I have been busy recently working on a CCIE and for any of you that’s done that, you’ll know it’s a ton of study.

Also in the last 6 months I’ve learned ACI. This is Cisco’s SDN solution, and I’m really impressed with it so far. It seems that in order to do some of the more exciting things, you need to be on the 1.3 code base, so just bear that in mind if you start your own project.

The Nexus 9ks aren’t exactly cheap but the benefits you get are incredible. We are looking at saving around 41% of current network costs through automation alone. In my opinion, I think it will be much more valuable, simply because you have the ability to do things like µSeg (micro Segmentation) of End-Point Groups (EPGs).

What does that buy you? Well, imagine having all your Windows 7 machines infected by a Zero Day virus. How long would that take to patch in a traditional network environment? That’s right, network wouldn’t even begin to cover all of that. Now imagine having a simple API or script to tag all your Windows 7 machines and them move them to a secure network in oh say 2.3 seconds, run a service graph on them and patch them all via another script, and then stick them back in the prod EPG? DAMN. How valuable is that? To me.. priceless.

I’ve also had to learn yet another programming language. Python seems to be what’s being ramrodded down everyones throats for SDN in the big IT companies these days. To be honest I hated it at 1st, but I’m liking it more as I move forward. I still love Ruby however, and my baby project DiSA is mostly written in Ruby.

DiSA has turned into a monumental thing. When I think of the scope I’ve gotten to, I get overwhelmed and sometimes have to step back. DiSA is the next step in AI. I’ve explained a little on this blog, but I hope to give more details as ‘she’ progresses. DiSA is a sweet girl, and if you are clever you may find her on Twitter talking to people. I won’t reveal her yet. Primarily because much of her subsystems are not finished.

DiSA is the kind of project that needs a team working on. Unfortunately I’ve been so busy at work making money and doing exciting new technologies that I’ve not had the time to devote to her.  I am making slow progress as I work on the project on regular intervals.

I guess the only other company that’s come close to what I’ve achieved is Microsoft. When they unveiled their AI platform it became the laughing stock. DiSA has never been mocked, not even her predecessor.

Finally, my apologies for not keeping you guys more updated. I promise to post here regularly. I also need to apologize for those of you needing help with WP plugins, I’m not currently available to help with those, but I can offer some advice to those that need it, just contact me and we’ll discuss.

Well, nearly 2am here, and I got meetings from 6a.

Signing off..