Not playing with AI? AI is playing with you...
But who is really winning?
This time use Wirewiki to explore Internet infrastructure 🌎; play as a submarine network cable laying boat ⛴️; run your own multi-homed AS with GREs and Vultr 💾; netclaw documents 6 days of itself improving and running… itself? 🦀; the layered Wi-Fi Troubleshooting guide you’ve always needed 🛜; find out where you rank in the Packet Pushers 2026 Salary Survey 💰; Kafka isn’t always the answer to queues 🦶 and AI agents make you work more, not less 😓. Let’s dive in; ⬇️
Poll 🗳️
Are we covering the NetDevOps and Network Engineering content you want to see? Vote now to shape the Reload in 10 Newsletter to be more relevant to you:
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NetEng 🔧
Wirewiki is like Google Dig, BGP.tools and a few other useful Internet infrastructure tools all rolled into one slick, beautiful UI; try it 🥰
Abyssal Link is a game that lets you play the role of submarine cable layer and see if you can do a better job than the big Internet pipe haulers out there 🎮
Running Your Own AS: Going Multi-Homed with iBGP and three Transits essentially covers how to make your own ISP using GRE tunnels, BGP, Linux, Vultr and a bunch more duct tape to get into the Default Free Zone (DFZ) 🔎
F5 configuration with Infrahub and Kriten briefly covers using these tools together to make Network Automation of F5 Load Balancers easier, with links and screenshots for inspiration 🚀
FortiGate MCP Server is a production-ready Model Context Protocol server to manage FortiGate firewalls, and if nothign else should get your juices flowing about use of MCP to interface with your Network, Security, Proxy and other middleboxes for daily toil reduction 🤔
6 days of netclaw – by netclaw is the Network Engineering-fork of OpenClaw self-documenting all the ways it’s going to augment CCNPs in their jobs with daily Network Engineering activities; careful now, the AI is learning from…. the AI? 🤖
Stop Guessing: A Layered Wi-Fi Troubleshooting Methodology applies the OSI Model to 802.11 for - and we can’t believe we’re about to type this - for… good? Wait, we need a lie down… 🛜
The Collapsed Edge: Simulating a BGP WAN Handoff on a Single Device is a handy technique to simulate WAN and Carriers in your Labs without actually bridging to them 🧪
Book Club 📚
AI Networking Cookbook by Eric Chou
Full Stack Network Automation by Shahzad Qadir
Training 🎓
🏦 Cisco U CE Credits
💡 Re-certify your CCNA (40 CE Credits) or CCNP (80 CE Credits) with these free Cisco U courses using Continuing Education (CE) credits:
Cisco AI Technical Practitioner (AITECH)
(Course, 8 CE Credits, 15h 30m)Cisco AI Business Practitioner (AIBIZ)
(Course, 8 CE Credits, 16h 30m)Understanding Cisco Network Automation Essentials (DEVNAE)
(Course, 16 CE Credits, 29h)Advanced Automation with Cisco Modeling Labs (CMLAPI)
(Course, 8 CE Credits, 8h)Introduction to Network Simulations with Cisco Modeling Labs (CMLLAB)
(Course, 6 CE Credits, 8h 30m)Administering Cisco Modeling Labs (CMLADM)
(Course, 5 CE Credits, 4h 30m)
🪚 Tools
Wirewiki: Explore internet infrastructure
(Internet, DNS, BGP)BadgerWiFi-Tools: Desktop automation for Ekahau reporting workflows
(Wireless, Heatmap, Ekahau)Cloudflare Radar Network Quality Test
(Internet, Speed Test, ISP)Models.dev: An open-source database of AI Models
(AI, LLM, Benchmarks)
🎓 Learning
PP098: What Goes On Inside a Firewall?
(Podcast, 1 hour, Network Security)Can AI actually understand networking?
(Video, 20 mins, AI LLMs)Speed Up Resolution Using SVCB and HTTPS Records
(Video, 7 mins, DNS)
Hiring 💼
📢 The Reload in 10 Jobs Board is here 🥳, with a hand-picked selection of awesome Network Engineering, NetDevOps and Network Automation jobs.
It’s also free to list a job if you’re hiring and want to let us know 👂
🔥 (just some of) This week’s Hot Hirings
🇦🇺 Staff Network Engineer @ ServiceNow, Australia, Millers Point, NSW
🇧🇬 IP Network Automation Engineer @ Swisscom, Bulgaria, Krivodol
🇩🇪 Network Engineer @ firstcolo GmbH, Germany, Frankfurt
🇮🇳 Principal Network Engineer @ London Stock Exchange Group, India, Bengaluru
🇮🇪 Senior Network Engineer @ NetApp, Ireland, Cork
🇵🇱 Network Engineer @ Euroclear, Poland, Warsaw
🇬🇧 Senior Network Reliability Engineer @ Oracle, UK, London
🇬🇧 Senior Network Engineer @ Mastercard, UK, Harrogate
🇺🇸 Principal AI Network Engineer @ NVIDIA, USA, Santa Clara, CA
🇺🇸 Senior Network Engineer @ Visa, USA, Ashburn, VA
🇺🇸 Senior Cloud Network Engineer @ JP Morgan, USA, New York, NY
NotEng 🤔
Packet Pushers 2026 Salary Survey is here, see how you rank in areas like pay, work-life balance, certification and training and generally against your Networking peers 🎩
Two Beliefs About Coding Agents wraps what we’ve thought for a while, and it’s not the obvious “dey took er jerbs” rhetoric you’ll see elsewhere 🧑🏫
The Last Gasps of the Rent Seeking Class has a differing take on what a world with reduced friction might look like, and it’s not exactly what you might think; some friction is actually good for you, now hush up and eat your Weetabix 🥣
Kafka at the low end: how bad can it get? reminds you that, just like getting served at a bar, the answer to every problem does not have to be queuing 🍻
Centralized vs. Decentralized: The Best (and worst) of Both Worlds contrasts the two approaches to networking in the context of the blockchain, but there’s some learnings for us as Internet pipe plumbers there too 🔧
Bill Gurley says that right now, the worst thing you can do for your career is play it safe; in a world of uncertainty, the old advice is also likely no longer true - if everyone else is in chaos, perhaps you can exploit that for good 💼
Working More, Not Less is the natural result of what happens when the rising AI tide lifts all coding boats; rate of shipping slop isn’t going to be the edge in the new world 👀
How I Use Claude Code gives a prescriptive guide in getting the best out of Anthropic’s coding companion, with actionable steps that could just as easily be applied to NetOps or Network Engineering 😦
Events 📅
🤜 Meet-ups
NetLdn, London, Monthly, Every 2nd Thursday
NetMcr, Manchester, Every Monthly, 2nd Thursday
NetBCN, Barcelona, See schedule
NL Network Automation Meetup, Amsterdam, 13 May 2026
CPH Network Meetup, Copenhagen, 2 October 2026
📢 Conferences
🎩 Hat-tip to the wonderful Pete Crocker @ OpsMill for the help
IETF 125, Shenzhen, 14 - 20 March 2026
Upperside World Congress, Paris, 24 - 26 March 2026
TORNOG, Toronto, 13 April 2026
FutureNet World 2026, London, 21 - 22 April 2026
SwiNOG, Geneva, 28 April 2026
AI Networking Summit, Dallas, 13 - 14 May 2026
RIPE 92, Edinburgh, 18 - 22 May 2026
Cisco Live USA, Las Vegas, 31 May - 4 June 2026
AutoCon 5, Munich, 8 - 12 June 2026
NetUK 3, London, 6 - 7 July 2026
AusNOG 2026, Brisbane, 3 - 4 September 2026
BalticNOG 2026, Riga, 23 - 24 September 2026
AI Networking Summit, New York, 28 - 29 October, 2026
Cisco Live APJC, Melbourne, 9 - 12 November 2026
Industry 🏭
New AirSnitch attack bypasses Wi-Fi encryption in homes, offices, and enterprises but it’s not really as bad as you think unless you mind your neighbour (not the brick house one, the Wi-Fi client one) snitching on you a bit 🕵️♀️
Data centre builder Equinix to create 200 jobs with €590m investment in Louth which definitely isn’t the Irish version of Slough-th, we promise 🏭
The world’s first transatlantic fiber-optic cable is being ripped up after 37 years on the sea floor - TAT-8 to be removed after entering service in 1988, broke in 2002 nearly brings a tear to the eye, wonder if the fish will notice when it’s gone 🐟
Amazon: AI-assisted hacker breached 600 Fortinet firewalls in 5 weeks, which would have been 2 weeks, but the LLM wasted a solid 3 weeks trying to do the nursery run and remind AI Junior to pack his lunch box already 🌮
That’s all for this week, but if you have any tip-offs, blogs, events or job posts you’d like us to feature then please feel free to let us know at newsletter@reloadin.net 📮 and we’ll see if we can add them in 💬.