That said, how the heck do you guys retain it all? I constantly am able to setup something, come back 2 months later and just draw blanks. Also, I've been in design meetings and just draw blanks for basic questions. It seems like everything I learn, I replace something else and I'm constantly trying to re-learn things I can't keep in the box! I listen to you guys and it seems like you can stand up everything from memory, without hesitation!

Partly its about 25 years of experience and doing the same thing over and over. Networking is very repetitive e.g. i have been configuring VLANs since 1996 or so. I have seen a lot of "advances" in networking but spanning tree/BGP/OSPF is still 80% the same today as it was in 1999.

Partly it is about lots of fundamental knowledge. I spent my time learning why a protocol works as well as how to use it. I spend many hours reading Cisco Live presentations, IETF proceedings, and hundreds of blogs to find new trends and follow them. After all, you would expect me to be like that, right ?

Partly its about preparation. We spend a fair bit of time writing the agenda, researching & reading on the topics. For sponsored shows, we get the vendors to provide manuals, white papers and other content so that we know what we are talking about. This is makes it easy to look smart, right ?

Mostly it is about stupidity. Really, I should down at the pub, getting drunk with friends but I would rather be here answering these questions. By any measure, I'm stupid to be doing this. I have just spent four hours writing a newsletter please, subscribe here that isn't going to earn me any money (it might one day, but I doubt it).

HTH>