Jul 30th, 2008
Learning Juniper
Not that I am a novice to the networking world. I managed the networking part of an operating system development several years before. I got an advanced CS degree and befriended some of the best minds in the networking industry. But man, this is a place that everybody speaks RFC numbers and other 3- or 4-letter acronyms as part of a normal conversation.
So I dug out old Tanenbaum and Radia Perlman (whom I had the honor to work with at Sun). I reviewed the differences between a switch and a router. While I was on it, I also reviewed her minimum spanning tree algorithm. It feels like re-acquainting an old friend.
Reviewing old books stirred up memories. I remember the yellow monster Ethernet cable that crawls the ceiling, when it was CDMA/CA and not yet 802.11. And the debate over token-ring and ethernet was raging. How the world has changed to the ubiquitous RJ45s leading to small and big switches, and now even more ubiquitous WiFi and hotspots.
And so much has not changed. Computers are still in von Neumann architecture. For most parts, people are slugging away the same technological bottlenecks and processes inefficiencies, just in different settings and optimized for different economical incentives.
Learning a company requires a different approach. There is the mechanics of the company — IT, approval process, facility, etc. — that are probably the easiest to learn and best documented. And that’s a small fraction of a company.
I asked, “How does it work?” They will bestow me a monologue on the innard of the machine — as they observed it and frequently with added colors. This is similar to the story of a group of blind people describing an elephant by feeling it. Everyone tells a drastic different side — an elephant is like a big hose, a column, a flat wall, etc. — all depends on where was the person.
Then I asked, “How does it really work?” The response I got will either be a confused look or an understanding smile. This is when I make a list of people to buy beers for.
Like any living organism, a company changes but only when people inside want to. I believe I was hired as a change agent, not a steward to guard the current state. I am ready, almost.