2026-07-22 –, Hermitage ABC | General Session
Your network never sleeps. Neither does your team — and that's the problem.
IT pros are on call at 3am, absorbing abuse from non-technical staff, and carrying the weight of every outage. The result? A workforce burning out quietly, abandoning their posts, snapping at their families, and turning to substances to cope. According to the CDC, suicide rates among IT professionals are quietly climbing. This discussion needs to happen now.
DJ Eshelman has 25+ years in IT consulting and has lived these stories firsthand. In this session, he breaks down how trauma accumulates in IT, why burnout is a management failure not a technology one, and what network leaders can do right now to stop the cycle.
You'll leave with: practical steps to protect your team, reduce technical debt, and retain the people keeping your infrastructure alive.
The biggest threat to your network isn't the next zero-day or patch gone bad. It's losing the people who defend it.
Why Your Network Is Only As Strong As The People Running It
You came to SharkFest to sharpen your technical skills. But this is the session that might change something more fundamental.
Network engineers are among the most overworked, under-resourced professionals in any industry. The 3am calls, the constant firefighting, the impossible on-call expectations — they don't just create stress. Over time, they create trauma. And that trauma follows people from job to job, quietly compounding until it becomes a crisis.
DJ Eshelman has 25+ years in IT consulting and has lived these stories firsthand. Now as an Independent Executive Director with Maxwell Leadership, he's dedicated to changing the IT Leadership world.
In this session, he breaks down how trauma accumulates in technical environments, how to recognize the signs in yourself and your team, and critically, why most of it is a management problem, not a technology problem.
You'll leave with:
- A clear framework for understanding the IT trauma cycle (aka IT PTSD)
- Practical steps managers can take immediately to protect their teams
- Tools for structured priority management that reduce reactive chaos
- An honest look at what actually retains great technical talent
Prior attendees have had all-day discussions about this talk which tells us it is just that important right now.
Whether you're an individual contributor, a team lead, or a department head, the health of the people running your network is just as mission-critical as the network itself.
The biggest threat to your infrastructure isn't the next zero-day. It's losing the people who defend it.
D.J. Eshelman started working in IT Services in 1997.
He's traveled the world as a leading Consultant for companies like Citrix, where he served as an Independent Resident Consulting Architect from 2011 to 2023, serving dozens of Top 100 companies.
He is the author of "Just Do THIS: A Simpler Way to Succeed in I.T." as well as "Be a Citrix Hero"
He's the founder of the Thrive-IT and Citrix Hero YouTube/Podcasts.
He is a Coach, Speaker, Trainer/Facilitator, and DISC Consultant as an Independent Executive Director with Maxwell Leadership - John C Maxwell's team of over 60,000 certified coaches.
Based out of Nashville, TN - he is working on an epic novel about the life (and traumas) faced by a Network Engineer in a Healthcare company who's been Voluentold to take on leadership. In the meantime, he speaks to audiences worldwide about how to be better not just in technology, but in life!