Memorization and the Lack Thereof

This is a bit of a rant, but hopefully you appreciate it.

Memorizing things seems like a good idea. You save some time because you can recall it faster, you seem smarter, you don't have to carry around cheat sheets or google things... the list of benefits is... honestly pretty short.

Now let me go into the downsides:

1. It is worse to be wrong and fast than right and slow. In computing, knowledge is literally always at your fingertips.
2. Having the wrong things "memorized" can cause serious problems if you do something that breaks a network (especially if you are remote and not standing in the same room as the computer you are "fixing". Using cheat sheets completely avoids this problem.
3. If you are implementing something, you use the specification. Full stop. No negotiating. Why memorize a spec if you can look it up and know what it needs to be.
4. The time required to memorize these things is more than the time it takes to be good at things. Don't memorize, take notes, make cheat sheets, and always be willing to get your hands dirty.
5. There's no shame in google, but there is shame in being bad at networking.

So don't be like everyone who has "taken a networking class in college" and couldn't route their way out of a paper bag, but for a 4 month period could tell you all the common port numbers. Learn how to bend packets and make them dance, and look up the music as you go along.