Intro

If you look in the dictionary for the word “packetologist”, you won’t find it. So what is a packetologist and why am I calling myself that? The truth is, I don’t even know what a packetologist is but it was something that my co-workers called me one day in jest and I liked it, so I decided to run with it. Despite being a means of playing around with me, I also believe they made this term up because they know the passion that I have for most things technology related, especially when it comes to networking. Whenever an opportunity presents itself, I’m constantly trying to learn something new to help make me a better engineer whether it be diving into Wireshark captures, reading blog posts, or teaching my peers what I know which helps reinforce my knowledge and also give back to the community. They see this day in and day out which leads me to believe that’s the reason why they came up with it. Besides, there are plenty of other things they could have called me to be funny but they chose something that directly relates to packets and networking.

So who am I? Some of you may or may not be familiar with me already through Twitter (formerly as @network_keith) or in the #packetpushers channel on IRC as ntwrk_keith. For those of you who aren’t, my name is Keith Miller and I am a network engineer for a consulting company and I help support a campus enterprise network on a military base in South Carolina, USA. I’ve been in networking for 2.5 years now and I truly love what I do. I love the problem solving aspect of IT in general and I am constantly amazed with the technologies and platforms available that allow us to communicate with others around the world in the blink of an eye. I currently work with a multitude of different technologies ranging from VPNs to routing to switching. I have some experience with Cisco ASAs, the Catalyst line of switches and routers including 2911s, 29[5|6]0s, 35[5|6]0s, 3750s, 4500s, 6500s, and the Nexus line which includes 7Ks, 5Ks, and 2Ks. I don’t profess to be an expert on any one thing but I strive to learn something new each and every day and be better for it the next day.

You might be wondering after reading thus far why I decided to buy a domain with this name and what is my intent? Well, I’ve already stated that the term “packetologist” isn’t defined in the dictionary and is a made up term but I do have an idea of what I want the term to mean to me. I want it to mean what any other word that ends in “ologist” means in it’s respective field such as anthropologist, cardiologist, and biologist; someone who specializes and studies the topics correlating to their field of work in order to help diagnose problems and find solutions to those problems. They typically have intimate knowledge of the workings of those topics and that’s my intent. I certainly don’t want to come off as arrogant as I know I’m far from being there at this point in my networking career but it’s a goal of mine. I know that I have the passion and the work ethic to continue growing, and I don’t want to settle for just making things work. I want to question why and how they work and that will help facilitate intense learning. I would like to use this site to track my progress as I continue my career in networking and also use it to help network with others like me. Expect to see posts about certifications and any topics that interest me. As I evolve, this site should evolve as well so we shall see where this rabbit hole leads but I am definitely optimistic.

Thanks for reading!