Cisco DevNet is becoming known for simplifying the life of the developer. Part of this shift is how the company is starting to interact with developers in general. Open source and collaboration have become the new normal. As such, DevNet is proving Cisco Systems Inc.’s commitment to that end, including a recently launched initiative to share code and a hosted sandbox environment to test and learn in.

Another way DevNet is helping developers and engineers is automation that is getting rid of mundane tasks. Sometimes these tasks include just copying and pasting command line interface from device to device.

“… That’s the productivity game we are driving by simplifying where one API call can go across all the devices and make that change happen,” said Shubha Govil, director of product management at Cisco DevNet.

Govil spoke with John Furrier (@furrier), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Cisco Live event in Orlando, Florida. They discussed DevNet’s focus on developers, favorite demos seen at the event, and the evolving role of network engineers. (* Disclosure below.)

The end for network engineers?

With the increase in the automation of mundane tasks, many news outlets are portraying doomsday scenarios of network engineers needing to either learn to code or leave their company, according to Govil. But that does not seem to be the case, as they are in some ways more relevant than ever. The expertise of network engineers from their years of working is imperative for making applications with no latency that respond to customer use cases.

Cisco clearly values the work of its network engineers, and despite the recent shift in business from network to software and developers, the company still promotes the power of the network, Govil pointed out.

“I think the biggest story I would like to call out is that network is open for business. Network is really open for you to really come and make your intent, your use cases, your business outcomes possible,” Govil concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Cisco Live event. (* Disclosure: Cisco Systems Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Cisco nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE