Thursday, October 29, 2020

Looking to transition to an automation-centered role, ideally 100% remote. What skills/experience should I focus on?

throwaway account. looking to transition to full-time network automation in the next 18 months or less. Ideally I want 100% remote with occasional travel, but anything focused on automation / integration / infrastructure-as-code interests me.

Network experience:

  • CCNA (expired last year)
  • 4 years managing countywide k12 network over DIA & dark fiber
  • Cisco & HPE/Aruba routing/switching
  • Aruba wifi
  • Palo Alto firewall

Automation experience:

  • Solved business problems with Python, netmiko, NAPALM, textfsm, APIs, etc
    • automated config changes / audits
    • polled facts directly from devices using custom textfsm templates (started the foundation of a python API for legacy IOS)
    • automated IOS upgrades
    • complex firewall config changes via API
    • CRUD operations and custom reports from NMS API
    • automated device provisioning workflow using freeztp (jinja2, etc)
  • posted several projects to github (wont link here for privacy)

Options I'm considering:

  • CCNP / ACNP
  • Ansible
  • Turn a couple github projects into pypi modules
  • contribute to existing codebases such as ntc-templates

My free time is very limited these days, so I want to focus on the most important skills. Appreciate any input, especially from those who have made this transition. Cheers!



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