Valentine’s Day is upon us — and, if you know anything about Cupid, he is great at finding things — like true love. Here at Graphical Networks, we’ve noticed that many of the network engineers who use our software netTerrain had to become, like Cupid, pretty great at finding needles in a haystack before they found netTerrain (aka network diagram software).
We appreciate our network engineers, sys admins, managers and so on that make the netTerrain community what it is today — so much so that that we’ve compiled a list of some gifts we think network engineers would especially appreciate this Valentine’s Day.
Without further adieu, and in ascending order, here are our top five gift ideas for network engineers this Valentine’s Day:
5. Where’s Waldo Book
Where’s Waldo…really? Yep! Here’s my reasoning: network engineers are really, really good at zeroing in on missing items and small details that others may let go unnoticed.
Compared to what they do on a daily basis, a Where’s Waldo book will be a piece of cake.
4.Commissioned and framed map of the network — complete with pirates and sea monsters (thanks, Reddit, for this idea)
We found this idea on Reddit and it’s a great one. While our software may create network maps and diagrams, it doesn’t add in the pirates and sea monsters and other scary sights that are inevitably lurking on every network under the sun.
Why not bring a dose of truth, and humor, with a realistic view of the network?
3.. A vacation far, far away from the network
Prerequisite to the vacation destination? Absolutely no WiFi and no phones (aka no way to be contacted during a network crisis back home).
Network engineers need downtime too — and we don’t mean the kind of downtime they’re used to.
2. Ibuprofen
Forget romance: this is reality. Network engineers battle some serious headaches every day — and sometimes, Ibuprofen is needed. This is a thoughtful gift that says, “I don’t fully understand what you do but I understand that it is slowly draining you and I care.”
1. Network Diagram Software such as netTerrain
Ah: up-to-date network diagrams — the gift that keeps on giving (and a shameless plug for our software netTerrain Logical, DCIM, and Outside Plant).
Seriously though: whether it’s netTerrain or some other kind of network diagram software — give your network engineers a break. Network documentation and automatic network diagrams (sorry — Visio or spreadsheets don’t count) give network engineers less time hunting down needles in haystacks, less encounters with frightening sea monsters hanging out on the network, less stress — and less headaches.
The above is our attempt at creating a list of great gift ideas for network engineers, but we’d love to see it grow. If you have a handy, interesting, or hilarious gift idea — please comment to add at the bottom of this post.