I’m began this blog to document my journey in networking, more specifically in Wi-Fi, and to assist in my pursuit of the CWNE certification.

I’ve been working in the networking industry since the late 90’s and began working with Wi-Fi in the early 2000’s. If you’re at all like me, you became “The Wi-Fi Guy” incidentally. Initially, Wi-Fi was an ancillary part of my role. Wi-Fi was considered a luxury and if mobility was not required, we really didn’t encourage it’s use much. As Wi-Fi has moved from a novelty item to a mission critical network component, I have had to further my understanding of how Wi-Fi functions. Like for many others, the pandemic tossed us on our head. I provide support for a large K-12 institution. Almost overnight all students were provided a Chromebook to assist in receiving their education. The wireless network capacity however, was not improved. This in addition to being affected by several wireless firmware bugs, a significant negative impact was experienced in our environment. In order to work through these problems, I quickly needed to deepen my understanding of Wi-Fi. One reason was to see if our design, configuration, and implementation could be improved. And also to be able to hold our wireless vendor accountable to ensure their equipment was meeting expectations. The more I learn, the more I hope to learn. As a result, Wi-Fi has become a more dominant part of my daily responsibilities.