How important is programming knowledge/skills for networking/telecomm professionals?

[Dooling37]

Well, the subject line pretty much says it all.
I'm looking to go into networking/information security field upon graduation in 6 months.
The only languages I know are: COBOL, VB, HTML, and JavaScript.
The bottom line is that I DETEST programming...it's just definitely not for me. I can't stand doing it, and would sooner be a McDonald's employee than write code for a living.
So, what I'm asking is if I go into an IT field other than as a programmer (i.e. network admin., network design), how important is it for me to know programming anyways. For example, as a security consultant, might I need to understand how the code in different viruses work in order to better protect from them, or to understand how scripts and such can compromise security?

Thanks alot for your opinions.
[edit: I realize HTML and JavaScript aren't actually programming languages. ]

 

[oldskool]

I know c/c++, VB, and perl. the only one that I've ever used in real life is perl. and only that because I'm lazy and want to make scripts do all of my work. so IMHO programming is a neato ability and can save some time here or there but definatly isn't a neccesity, to me anyways.

my .02 spend it as you wish

ps I do work in IT "security" at work

 

[Len]

Well,

You can get by without it at first, but it is rather unrealistic to be able to land a position managing a network of 100+ PCs without any programing knowledge. You will deffinatly need some automation if you're for example creating 100 new accounts and passwords and then sending them out to 100 different email addresses or sending out customized monthly network usage reports to the management. I would hate to think how much time you would waste without being able to write a short script. Granted a lot of work is already done for you and you can peek around the net to find a solution that is close to what you need, but you still might need to be able to fine-tune it to your particular application.

For starters your best bet would be at least/most scripting languages such as vbscript for windows networks and perl on the linux/unix side.

 

[Len]

double post

 

[lotust]

Dooling37
help me http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=36&threadid=266188I know your a smart dude, he he No really can some one just give me all the networking links they have for a LAN setup

 

[lerder]

I also work in IT and I can sympathize with your distaste for coding. But to be honest you really are going to have to know at least one form and in the long run it will benefit you and make life more easy for you. I also truly hate coding but it is really an unspoken necessity sometimes.

goodluck

 

[KB]

As a network professional myself, I recommend you get to know HTML and vbscript if you are using windows. They will help you to reduce some of your workload.

 

[pcmark]

I work for an ISP, which certainly involves networking(mostly WAN)and a little telcomm. I have had no need to know any programming languages. I had to learn to use VI,which is a UNIX word editor,that's about it.

 

[Santa]

You don't "need" to know anything but wanting to learn how to do automated scripts and little things like that would be helpful. VB, Unix Shell Scripting are what we use here in our enterprise.

 

[Dooling37]

Well, it's good to hear that most people don't really consider it a necessity for such a career. I'm sure it would be helpful, but I think I'm willing to deal without the ease it would provide. Maybe I can have a kind of sidekick that can jump in and write a quick script when I need.

Thanks for the opinions.

 

[Dark]

Oh BOY. At least someone that shares my dislike I have graduaded 6 months ago in Networking and telecommunication (computer engineering) and I HATE programming (I know C/C++, JAVA and a lot of other programming langages...) The thing is that there are a lot more jobs for programmers even in engineering. I'm aiming at big companies like Nortel and Bell Canada to get stuff in the physical layer.