The Hedge

Latest Episodes:

Hedge 311: The Dangers of AI Jul 09, 2026

Show notes

We are often told that if engineers who don’t go “all in” on AI will be left behind. While there are a few voices who argue that AI can be a dangerous tool, impacting not only the quality of our work, but the very quality of our thinking skills. Doug Smith, a critic of using AI for engineering, joins this episode of the Hedge to argue the contrary view of AI.

What are the dangers of relying on AI?

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-311.mp3

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You can find Doug’s blog here.

Hedge 310: AI Ops Jul 03, 2026

Show notes

What is AI Ops, and how can it be useful for your network? Akshay Balaganur and Sushanth Mascaren join Tom and Russ to discuss various aspects of AI Ops.
https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-310.mp3
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Hedge 309: DNS Persist Jun 19, 2026

Show notes

As DNS is more widely used to distribute certificate information, proving ownership of a resource becomes more critical. The constant challenges required to prove resource ownership, however, increase delay in connecting or using a resource. DNS persists–as the name implies–creates a persistent connection between a resource and a certificate authority. Henry Birge-Lee, Michael Slaughter, and Shiloh Heurich join Russ and Tom to explain how this new record type works and it’s importance to DNS.
https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-309.mp3
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Hedge 308: Hidden Competence Jun 11, 2026

Show notes

We all talk about how engineers deal with imposter syndrome–but we don’t often talk about the experience of making things work “in the background.” What is competence, and what do we do when competence isn’t recognized? Justin Wilson (j2sw) joins Russ and Tom to discuss.
https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-308.mp3
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Best of the Hedge: Episode 15, Supporting Open Source Jun 05, 2026

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Many companies rely on open source, regardless of whether or not they realize it. In this best of the Hedge episode, Alistair Woodman joins Russ White and Tom Ammon to talk about not only why you should support the open source projects you use, but how you can.
https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-015.mp3
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Reposting a classic episode this week because I was out of town and didn’t get around to editing an episode.

Hedge 307: bgproutes.io May 29, 2026

Show notes

If you advertise routes into the default free zone (or global Internet), you might struggle with seeing and understanding what they look like “on the other side.” While there are many manual tools to help operators with this process, bgproutes.io gives you visibility in the global routing table through interfaces like BMP. Listen to this episode of the Hedge to learn more.
You can find bgprotues.io here.
https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-307.mp3
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Hedge 306: RPKI Transport May 22, 2026

Show notes

Synchronizing information across the Internet, at an initial glance, looks like a fairly simple problem to solve. Just copy a file to a host and create a magic protocol, right? Not really. Each kind of data has a fairly unique set of requirements–and RPKI data, used to provide security information for BGP, is no different. Job Snijders joins Tom and Russ to talk about ERIK, a protocol developed to synchronize RPKI records.
For more information, check out Job’s web site and the IETF draft.
https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-306.mp3
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Hedge 305: From Security to Networking May 15, 2026

Show notes

We don’t often hear the stories of those who move from some other IT career field into network engineering. Ayush Mishra, a student at University of Colorado Boulder, joins Tom and Russ to discuss why he moved from security to network engineering.
https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-305.mp3
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Hedge 304: Deep Dive into a Network Master’s Program May 08, 2026

Show notes

If you’ve ever been curious about what an advanced degree in network engineering looks like, you’ll want to join us for this episode of the Hedge. Levi Perigo from the University of Colorado at Boulder joins Tom and Russ to talk through what earning a Master’s in Networking involves and what kinds of things you would learn.
https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-204.mp3
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Hedge 303: Data Centers? Apr 23, 2026

Show notes

In this roundtable episode of the Hedge, Eyvonne, Tom, and Russ hang out and talk about data centers–why are we building all these things again? Our second topic is the FCC’s ban on non-US made home routers. Was this the right thing to do? Was it the wrong thing to do? Were there any other policy options?
https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-303.mp3
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