New Career Opportunities in Networking

A network is the basic foundation of every IT setup. A little glitch in the network can bring the whole enterprise to a grinding halt. One can’t imagine how an organization would carry its functioning without being dependent on a network; from basic intra-office network to connecting to the Internet for global business. And that’s what’s made it imperative for organizations to have all-rounders who can take care of various aspects of network management independently. Even though every organization can’t have a full-time network administrator of their own, they can outsource network mgmt to a third party. That’s why it won’t be wrong to say that a network engineer is one of the primary drivers of an organization's success. Networking encompasses a range of technologies and areas of specializations.  A network administrator has to have specialized skills in one of the many domains and technologies of Networking. They include Wireless, Mobility, Security,  Storage, Server Consolidation, MTLS VPNs, VoIP, Mobile IP and Optimization to name a few. A network professional can specialize in any of these and shape his career. Network professionals are in demand not only from enterprises where they are hired for LAN and WAN administration, but they are also needed by consulting firms to audit and impart consultating services to organizations for their networking requirements. Service providers like ISPs and Telecom companies also demand a great number of  networking professionals.

What is required of network professionals?

Ensuring 99% plus uptime for users, delivering a faster ROI for the company, and better utilization of available resources are just a few of the key responsibilities of a networking professional. The job has only become more complex and demanding with the advent of IP-based networks like VoIP and VPNs. It has also added to the responsibility of balancing technology trends with business objectives of the enterprise. The IT market changes so fast that what’s in demand today may become obsolete tomorrow. For instance, the evidence of changing technology can be seen in wireless security, where Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) overtook Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) in a span of few months. Thus it’s imperative for networking professionals to keep up with changing technologies. Also, it becomes necessary to possess some sort of certification apart from core networking knowledge. Enterprises seek professionals to have solid understanding of the network techniques, network operating systems, backup capabilities, as well as a fair understanding of network infrastructure issues and cabling. Since networking has a diverse range of technology platforms – Microsoft, Cisco, Unix/Linux, Novell, CA, etc., it becomes important for an aspirant network professional to choose a platform early on.

Career path

In an enterprise, a professional will typically start his career as a LAN administrator. Later with some experience he can take responsibilities of a senior level network manager who will be into planning and designing of LAN, including wireless and security. After acquiring some years of experience in planning and designing the network, a professional can take the role of a consultant as he would have experience in implementing the network setup and also have knowledge of technologies and hardware requirements. But to grow, he’ll have to enhance his skill set beyond the knowledge of LAN configuration and administration, and look ahead to technologies that are part of networking. A few of the specialized streams of networking domains, where network professionals are in demand, include Storage, Security, WAN, Virtualization / Consolidation, Wireless and Mobility. The networking domain has a plethora of job titles, many of which refer to very similar and at times identical job roles, like Network Engineer, Network Administrator, Network Analyst, Systems Administrator, etc. Now with specializations coming into picture, new job titles that are coming up in the enterprises include Security Analyst for network security, Network Storage Administrator for storage management and Wireless Network Engineer for a Wi-Fi consulting agency. Let’s have a look at various specialized domains where a network professional can build his career.

To read more please refer to the August'08 issue of PCQuest.