It’s been non stop for 5 weeks of training, but this week we had a week off so I thought I would post this.
I was able to get my work to fund the Python for Network Engineers course taught by Kirk Byers.
https://pynet.twb-tech.com/class-pyauto.html
I had taken the free class a couple of times and learned quite a bit. I thought that being able to take the paid course would give me a better understanding of things related to python and how to handle some of the more complex things that I want to do. I really want to be able to take advantage of more automation in our environment and make things work better/easier with fewer chances for errors. I also want to empower my Helpdesk to be able to do more things, we are a very small shop with a large footprint of stores/offices. We have deployed Meraki to almost all of the locations so being able to take advantage of python/rest apis has been a great benefit so far. However I feel there is more that I can do, I just need some more training. Also the more stuff I can give to my Helpdesk the less they have to call me for and I can try and get some more sleep(as though that would happen).
I have really enjoyed the first half of the class and learned quite a bit so far in just using Netmiko, textfsm, and jinja2. The other part that is nice is the community of people that Kirk has put together so that we can all learn off from each other and exchange ideas and questions. Between using Slack and some group channels there has been a lot of good comments/questions exchanged back and forth.
As for the class Kirk’s videos have been informative and I have found a lot of useful information in them. His examples have been good and have shown some real life information in working with equipment. Not diving into actual network engineering, but showing some information in relation to real life data/examples. I have also found the exercises he has assigned us to be challenging and quite good. I have picked up some good ideas from them and it has pushed my learning and understanding of python.
In all I am really enjoying it and can’t wait for the next half and to see how my python programming improves.
Breathe Underwater 