Author: Zach Thomas

Why restraint is one of the hardest things to learn in networking Early in my career, I thought being careful meant being slow. I associated caution with uncertainty, and uncertainty with weakness. The engineers I admired seemed decisive, fast, and confident — so that’s what I tried to emulate. What I didn’t realize then was…

What I’m changing in how I work After reflecting on a mistake, the next question becomes unavoidable: What do you actually do differently? Insight without behavior change is just self-analysis.So here’s what I’m intentionally changing in how I work. I no longer act on “I know this” Any time I feel that familiar confidence —…

A reflection on confidence, mistakes, and learning to slow down For a long time, I believed that being a good network engineer meant knowing the right answer. Knowing the command.Knowing the fix.Knowing what should be done. And in many ways, I did know those things. But knowledge alone doesn’t always translate into trust — especially in production…