I'm worried about Network Engineers.....

About this video

At Cisco Live, described as the largest networking conference in the world with 22,000 attendees, Chuck interviews Cisco staff, network engineers, and longtime automation voices about whether AI eliminates their jobs. Most interviewees are optimistic and already use AI daily for code assistance, documentation drafts (one says a Copilot draft gets him roughly 60% of the way there), verification of half-remembered knowledge, and automation of manual work. The recurring theme is that AI will not replace engineers, but engineers who use AI will outpace those who do not, and that mundane tasks will shift to agents while humans keep deeper network understanding, critical thinking, security skills, and automation. Cisco’s keynote announcements sharpen the tension: a purpose-built Deep Network Model that reportedly performed 20% better than leading LLMs on CCIE test labs, and AI Canvas, demoed troubleshooting live and generating and applying a QoS policy from plain-language intent. Chuck also explores how certification exams may need to change, testing whether candidates can judge AI output rather than memorize. His conclusion: roles will change and keep changing, AI is the next iteration of automation, demand for networking grows as AI runs on networks, and the safe move is to start using AI in your current job now and stay in community with other engineers.

Key takeaways

• Most engineers interviewed at Cisco Live were optimistic, already use AI daily, and framed it as an assistant that handles code, drafts, and tedious manual work
• The repeated warning was not that AI replaces you, but that someone using AI will replace someone who refuses to learn it
• Future network engineers are expected to need deeper fundamentals plus security skills such as red teaming, incident response, and threat hunting, and native automation skills
• Cisco demoed its Deep Network Model and AI Canvas generating charts and applying a QoS policy from plain-language intent, showing configuration work moving toward intent-based interaction
• Certification thinking may shift from memorization toward giving candidates LLM access and testing whether they can spot wrong or disallowed AI answers

Episode details: published June 13, 2025 · 28:38 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are NetworkChuck’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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