Why I Created The Routing Intent

We don’t need more tutorials. We need better engineers. Here's how I plan to help.

Leonardo Furtado
May 31, 2025

Hey there, and welcome to the very first edition of The Routing Intent!

I’m Leonardo Furtado, and for the past 30+ years I’ve been building, scaling, and troubleshooting networks that keep critical infrastructure (and the world) up and running.

But this newsletter isn’t about me.

It’s about you, the network engineer, the SRE, the automation lead, or the up-and-coming professional who’s tired of recycled vendor docs and shallow tutorials that never explain what happens after configuration commit.

🧠 Why This Exists

In my career, I’ve seen incredible engineers burn out trying to connect theory with practice. I’ve seen others plateau because they lacked mentorship. And I’ve seen far too many brilliant minds fail interviews, not for lack of talent, but because nobody taught them how to explain a design decision with clarity.

I've also seen so many talented folks struggle to grow within their organizations for different reasons. But you know what? Having a good mentor to help navigate those tricky workplace dynamics would have made all the difference!

So, I created this space to help with that. Starting as of June 2025!

🚀 What I Want to Build With You

I don't want to build just another newsletter. I want something more than that.

The Routing Intent exists to help you do three things exceptionally well:

Master real-world technology — not just in theory, but in production, where consequences matter.
Think like an architect — see beyond commands and configs, and into patterns, trade-offs, and long-term scale.
Advance your career — whether it’s landing your next role, speaking with authority, or leading your team more confidently.

💡 What You’ll Get From Me

Every week, guaranteed, I’ll send you one high-signal edition covering one of the following categories in a round-robin fashion.

🛠️ Tactical clarity — labs, configs, protocols, and design explained without fluff
🧠 Architect-level thinking — how to reason through design, not just deploy it
💡 Deep design reasoning that answers “why”, not just “how”
💼 Actionable advice to help you grow or pivot your career
🎯 Career tools — interview prep, workplace strategy, and how to grow where you're planted (or move where you're valued)
💬 Mentorship in your inbox — real stories, real lessons, real guidance
🚀 Confidence to step up — because most engineers don’t need more certs — they need clarity, conviction, and support

Don't be scared if you see me sending more than one high-signal edition per week! Instead, feel happy about it, knowing that I enjoy writing. A lot. Embrace it!

🚀 What’s Coming Next

In the next few issues, I’ll cover:

“Network Development Engineer careers at a FAANG (Magnificent 7)”
- In fact, I will share these quite often: several topics!
“Why BGP Lies — and How to Catch It”
“Converging Paths: Debugging MPLS at Scale”
“My Favorite Interview Question (and Why It Works So Well)”
“How to Think Like a Network Architect”

If any of that sounds useful, you’re in the right place.

And if you want to explore each topic in greater depth, you can upgrade to the Premium tier.

💬 I Want to Hear From You

What’s one networking topic you’ve always struggled to fully understand?

Hit reply and let me know! I might cover it in a future edition. Seriously. I read every reply.

Until next week!

Stay sharp,
Leonardo
The Routing Intent
“Design Networks. Navigate Your Career.”