Two Network Geeks, One Table: Eva Santos in the VibeOps Lounge

Sometimes the best connections in technology happen when you least expect them.

Two network geeks. One table. A little coffee. A whole lot of packets.

I met Eva Santos, CWNE #521, at SharkFest. We happened to find ourselves sitting at the same table, otherwise alone, and started talking. And when I say talking, I mean geeking out: Wireshark, wireless networking, packet captures, artificial intelligence, and this idea I had been working on called Packet Buddy — using AI to talk to packets.

Eva’s wireless knowledge was immediately apparent. She wanted to understand how Packet Buddy worked and how we could apply those ideas to wireless troubleshooting. I wanted to pick her brain about Wi-Fi.

We laughed. We connected. We spoke the same technical language. Two engineers finding their people.

Now Eva joins me for VibeOps Lounge 006: From Walmart Freight to Wi-Fi & AI with Eva Santos. She brings her story, real troubleshooting experience, and a demo of ChromeOS Wi-Fi Fixer.

Watch the full episode on YouTube.

From moving freight to understanding packets

Here is the part I did not know until we recorded this conversation: before becoming a Certified Wireless Network Expert, Eva was working freight at Walmart. Moving boxes. Shipping. Physical labor.

Through hard work, curiosity, determination, and a willingness to learn, she became CWNE #521. Today, she is a Service Delivery Engineer at Nile.

When she shared that story, something clicked for me. We had more in common than Wireshark and AI. We both came from blue-collar beginnings. We both found our way into technology. We both discovered that curiosity can take you places your résumé never could have predicted.

And neither of us has forgotten where we came from.

That is what makes this episode special to me. You can hear Eva’s career story starting at 1:22, followed by her experiences across CDW, Cisco, and public and private sector networking.

Eva brought the packets

The conversation gets wonderfully technical. At 8:26, we talk about SharkFest and becoming a packet head. At 9:58, Eva shares a wireless deauthentication problem that a single packet capture solved.

Then comes the story at 11:04: rogue containment disrupting a city’s bus Wi-Fi.

These are the conversations I love. Real logs. Real packets. People who have worked through the problem and can explain what they found.

Making Chromebook Wi-Fi logs useful

Ever tried reading a Chromebook’s network logs to figure out why a client will not roam?

At 17:14, Eva explains why ChromeOS Wi-Fi logs are so difficult to read. That pain point led her to build ChromeOS Wi-Fi Fixer, a tool that turns raw ChromeOS diagnostics into readable connection timelines and signal data.

We get into the process of building it with Claude Code at 19:03, including the trial and error and the tokens it took to get there. The demo starts at 20:25, with per-access-point connection timelines, signal information, and roaming data.

Eva knows the troubleshooting problem because she has lived it. That knowledge gives her a clear target for the software she wants to build.

• Try ChromeOS Wi-Fi Fixer.
• Explore the source on GitHub.

Find your niche before the token buffet closes

For early-career engineers, this might be the most useful part of the episode.

At 23:50, we talk about finding your niche: your pain points, your knowledge, and the problems you are in a position to solve. Wi-Fi engineering and AI meet in Eva’s work because she understands what engineers need from the logs.

At 24:52, we get into the token buffet. AI can help you build a useful tool. The next question is how much of the routine work that tool can do on its own, without asking a model to solve the same problem every time.

That is the goal we discuss: use the access and opportunity you have today to build something that keeps being useful. Turn the recurring problem into software you can run again. Bring your engineering judgment to the work, test what you build, and keep learning.

Eva’s journey is worth celebrating. So is the practical work she is sharing with the rest of us.

Episode chapters

• 0:00 — AI for Wi-Fi Engineers with Eva Santos
• 1:22 — From Walmart Freight to Network Engineering
• 4:11 — CDW, Cisco, and Public vs. Private Sector Networking
• 8:26 — SharkFest and Becoming a Packet Head
• 9:58 — The Deauth Problem One Packet Capture Solved
• 11:04 — When Rogue Containment Knocked Out the City Bus Wi-Fi
• 13:25 — Evolution, Not Revolution: Prompts, Skills & Projects
• 16:11 — Glean and AI on Your Own Work Data
• 17:14 — Why Chromebook Wi-Fi Logs Are So Hard to Read
• 19:03 — Vibe Coding a ChromeOS Log Parser with Claude Code
• 20:25 — Demo: AP Connection Timelines & Roaming Data
• 23:50 — Find Your Niche: Where Wi-Fi Meets AI
• 24:52 — The Token Buffet: Getting AI Out of the Workflow
• 26:13 — Where to Find Eva Santos

Connect with Eva and join the Lounge

Follow Eva on LinkedIn, explore her GitHub projects, and read her blog at wifrizzy.io.

The VibeOps Lounge is where practitioners share what they are building in AI and networking: interviews, AMAs, unscripted conversations, and live demos. I host it, and the free VibeOps Forum Slack community keeps the conversation going between episodes.

Join the VibeOps Forum. Bring your questions, your experiments, and the problem you want to solve next.

Where the vibes are real & so are the agents.