How's networking for a career?

[d1abolic]

Could some of you who do networking for a living please tell me if it's a good career? How is the pay? Do you work alone or for a company? Are networking specialists in high demand right now, and will they be in the future? Does getting a good job in the field require a university/college degree or are you self-taught? Are places like DeVry a waste of time?

 

[compuwiz1]

Well, let me tell you...networking moves one hell of a bunch of products, thru one hell of a phat pipe.


Oh, you meant the other kind of networking, not network marketing, right? You'll be another poverty stricken, over educated parasite. j/k

 

[flavio]

Giving up on the 3D stuff already?

 

[d1abolic]

<< Giving up on the 3D stuff already? >>

Not sure. I just want to know what my options are for now.

Anyone else?

 

[johneetrash]

bump

 

[Dragnov]

I'm interested in knowing this answer also. I plan on specializing in networking for my major.

 

[DAWeinG]

Whatever you decide to do, just have a lot of experience. If you don't, get some. Example: Volunteer work at your school. Degree + experience is the best mix. With all the competition out there, no one's going to hire you without any experience. Rack up experience points first while getting your degree. *Repetitiveness sinks in doesn't it?

 

[d1abolic]

So a degree is required then? I see no point in going to university just to study networking. That's absurd. Gigantic waste of money and time if you ask me.

 

[Ameesh]

<< So a degree is required then? I see no point in going to university just to study networking. That's absurd. Gigantic waste of money and time if you ask me. >>



i work in networking and if you want to be a tech then no you dont need a degree, if you want to help design the protocols and the standards that people use and take for granted everyday you better believe that you'll need a degree.

 

[Kilrsat]

I can't speak from direct network experience, but I can relaying a little information on what the pricing system our research group is looking at in an upgrade of our internal network.

Project is to rewire about 70 offices (on multiple floors) with cat5e (currently have nice cat3 from the early 90s), a few new gigabit switches, and things of that nature. Best price we could get was $13,000 for the whole project. $~3000 for parts and $10,000 in labor at $65/hr.

Any field that's getting $65/hr can't be too horrible...

 

[d1abolic]

<< i work in networking and if you want to be a tech then no you dont need a degree, if you want to help design the protocols and the standards that people use and take for granted everyday you better believe that you'll need a degree. >>

Sounds like you went for the degree, huh? Personally, i'm not looking to design anything. Like you said, that requires far more education than i have patience to get.



<< Any field that's getting $65/hr can't be too horrible... >>

Well, i imagine the actual technicians get paid far less than that? After all, the company does have to turn in a profit. What i'd like to know is how much of that is passed onto them. Even half of that would be a gigantic amount of money for me - that's over $50CDN.

 

[Kadarin]

Most people in the networking industry aren't sitting there "designing protocols".. And on the other hand, most people aren't monkeys laying ethernet cable. There are (vendor) engineers in the field who work with customers to design networks for specific applications, and choose the equipment to be installed, and then do the initial setup and troubleshooting. There's also tech support (TAC), who respond to customer situations which require either troubleshooting or some config assistance, and who also replicate issues/bugs in the lab. You could be a software or hardware engineer, or you could be involved with manufacturing/testing or QA.

There's a lot to networking. There's routing (Layer 3), switching (Layer 2), and also load-balancing (Layer 4-7, and we all know how many times AT has had issues with their load-balancer..), so you can pick the field you want to study.

It pays well...

 

[d1abolic]

Alright, so let me make sure that i got everything right. I can:

1. Design protocols, etc
2. Design networks, choose equipment, configure
3. Specialize in a specific area and work for large companies
4. Do tech support

Number 2 is pretty much what i have in mind. The rest is kind of far off. 3 could work i guess, but i think that designing networks would make a better job.

 

[Kadarin]

While it would be quite prestigious to have "Sr. Network Architect" in your job title (and email sig), you have to start somewhere..

 

[TheOmegaCode]

I used to be interested in networking (engineering, managing) but now find myself more and more interested in computer research. My friends and I have been reading quantum physics books. I think it would be awesome to work on a research team of some sort, while moonlighting as a professor... This of course would be like 20 years down the road

 

[Russ]

<< 1. Design protocols, etc
2. Design networks, choose equipment, configure
3. Specialize in a specific area and work for large companies
4. Do tech support

Number 2 is pretty much what i have in mind >>



There is a sizable un-tapped market among small businesses that fits quite nicely within your number two.

Russ, NCNE