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What does “mission-critical networking” really mean?

At St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, it’s not about uptime SLAs or dashboard metrics; it’s about supporting the research and care that helps save children’s lives.

In this episode, we sit down with Remington Loose and Josh Morris to explore the architecture, scale, and responsibility behind one of the most meaningful networks in the world.

We dig into:

• How research networking differs from traditional enterprise IT
• The massive data demands behind pediatric cancer research
• Designing networks where downtime isn’t just inconvenient, it’s unacceptable
• Supporting clinicians, researchers, and life-saving applications simultaneously
• Lessons enterprise engineers can learn from healthcare environments

From high-performance data movement to reliability strategies that operate without margin for error, this conversation reframes what networking looks like when human outcomes are on the line.

Because in environments like St. Jude…

The network isn’t just infrastructure; it’s part of the care team.

This episode has been sponsored by Meter.

Go to meter.com/aone to book a demo now!

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Erika Dietrick (aka “Erika the Dev”) is back on the show, and she’s days away from a major life change (welcome, Baby Dev). In this follow-up conversation, we dig into the thing that keeps coming up in network engineering careers: programming is no longer a “nice-to-have.”

Erika breaks down her free YouTube course designed specifically for network engineers: Level 1 is “programmatic thinking” (the mindset + foundations), Level 2 is where AI becomes your learning accelerator, and Level 3 is about generating code responsibly, without falling into the “vibe coding” trap.

We also talk about why coding feels so foreign to CLI lifers, why so many “slick” courses lose beginners, and how to use AI like Google-on-steroids. If you’ve ever thought, “I’m not smart enough for this” or “I don’t have time,” this one’s for you.

What we cover:
- Why network engineers struggle with coding (and it’s not your fault)
- The difference between using AI while coding vs vibe coding
- How to build foundations that make AI actually useful
- Why libraries matter, and how Level 2 focuses on network automation libraries
- Career reality: why Python shows up in job descriptions everywhere

Find Erika:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCkWURMuDQZox53bskCFS6vw
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikadietrick/

This episode has been sponsored by Meter.

Go to meter.com/aone to book a demo now!

Support the show

Find everything AONE right here: https://linktr.ee/artofneteng

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We've all worked on those technical projects that felt doomed from the start.

In this episode, we're joined by Eyvonne Sharp and Mike Bushong to dig into what actually derails technical projects, and why the root cause is usually people, not packets.

We unpack:
- Why 80–90% of project failures aren’t technical
- What “executive sponsorship” is supposed to mean (and why most teams never use it)
- The real reason timelines feel arbitrary: information asymmetry
- What “healthy escalation” looks like (and how to avoid the courtroom vibe)
- How to deliver bad news to leaders: few words, calm tone, clear next step, clear ask
- The leadership move that instantly lowers the temperature: removing blame
- Why informal networks matter, including a legendary security-incident save powered by… cheesecake

If you’ve ever felt stuck in status-call theater, pressured to keep the project's status green, or unsure how to talk to leadership when reality hits, this episode is your playbook.

This episode has been sponsored by Meter.

Go to meter.com/aone to book a demo now!

Support the show

Find everything AONE right here: https://linktr.ee/artofneteng