San Francisco City Network

[mikester]

Anyone see this? Apparently the 'Lead' network engineer in SF has locked everyone out of managing the network gear.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/07/18/30FE-sf-network-lockout_1.html

Here are my comments regarding the article:

The Managers and Terry's actions are inexcusable. This article also makes many points that there are many Network Engineer types who behave in this way. There are two types of engineers out there - good ones and bad ones. This is an example of a bad one. They purposefully do things complicated to make themselves appear invaluable. They make what should be a simple network into some sort of unobtainium that nobody but them can understand. Networks are not difficult and any good CCIE knows this. Networks that are complex fail - period. They fail for various reasons and one is supportability. A simple and intelligent network design is supportable and understandable by even the most basic of Network Administrator. I know people who have worked with Terry in the past and they confirm the attitude ques listed in this article. Terry was a perfect example of what not to do. I am a Network Engineer, I've worked in both the public and the private sector in infrastructure and security positions. Both sides here are wrong and for it to end up in jail and court could not be more lame. If anyone is to blame here the most it is the manager's as it never should have happened to begin with. I work with a professional team of engineers and I would never dream of completely locking any of them - even the less skilled of them from the networks that I manage. It's stupid, it's childish and it only causes problems as we see here. My team and I strive to ensure that we each understand what is happening on the network do design reviews for each project and go over pending designs twice a month. Everyone knowns SOMETHING about every project. Best of luck to both parties.