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Network Engineer or System Administrator

M

MadOni0n

Senior member
I'm looking at two different jobs. and im wondering about which career to persue. If anyone has any serious info about either, i'd like to hear it! What does each job entail,etc etc.
 
Sys Admin - manage servers

Network Engineer - manage routers, switches, telecom, etc.

What do you have more experience in? Whichever you want to do, certs in that area are a head start. Cisco for Network Engineer. MS, Sun, Linux, etc., for Sys Admin.
 
Sys Admin work is more unix based coding work correct? and networking is more hands on? I'm just starting off in college, so i don't have much experience yet.
 
I'm a UNIX sys admin w/ a degree in network engineering 😛

The job description really varies from company to company but in essence Lifted is correct, sys admins manage servers (any and all aspects from hardware to software) and network engineers manage all the networking equipment. As I said I happen to work with UNIX but there are just as many if not more Windows servers at my place of employment. We have seperate teams to manage them. Typically there are hands-on and high-level positions available in both sys admin and network engineering so pick which one interests you more.

What do you have in mind right now?
 
Originally posted by: Lifted
Sys Admin - manage servers

Network Engineer - manage routers, switches, telecom, etc.

What do you have more experience in? Whichever you want to do, certs in that area are a head start. Cisco for Network Engineer. MS, Sun, Linux, etc., for Sys Admin.
Click to expand...

QFT
 
The place I work has the system administrators running all servers, from Linux, to AIX, Solaris, and Windows. They take care of all things from hard drive replacements to crashing/blue screening operating systems. They also manage the virus protection systems, the MS Exchange environment, and the big production system clusters. The network guys manage all of the Internet-facing stuff, the backbone links between sites, the RDF links between sites, all of the links to outlying offices, and the internal networks.

I suppose I'm still a system admin. I got out of the server side stuff and into the storage networking which seems to bridge both worlds. My network is a bit different from the one that connects computers together, but I still get on the servers to work on their disk needs.
 
Originally posted by: Platypus
I'm a UNIX sys admin w/ a degree in network engineering 😛

The job description really varies from company to company but in essence Lifted is correct, sys admins manage servers (any and all aspects from hardware to software) and network engineers manage all the networking equipment. As I said I happen to work with UNIX but there are just as many if not more Windows servers at my place of employment. We have seperate teams to manage them. Typically there are hands-on and high-level positions available in both sys admin and network engineering so pick which one interests you more.

What do you have in mind right now?
Click to expand...

Why did u change from networking to sys admin? is the job more enjoying? Also, what kind of demand does each job expect (in terms of hrs/wkly) and what would the starting salary and the 5 year salary be? Maybe i'm not looking hard enough, but i dont see either on bls.gov!

 
A lot of admins actually have both these titles/roles in their realm of responsibility. This tends to be more true in a less corporate (smaller business) environment.
 
Network engineers aren't real engineers. They're like garbage men who call themselves sanitation engineers.. The truth is if you don't write a PEng exam and join the professional order in your state/province/country you have no right to call yourself an engineer (unless you're a sound engineer or a railway engineer).
 
Originally posted by: orakle
Network engineers aren't real engineers. They're like garbage men who call themselves sanitation engineers.. The truth is if you don't write a PEng exam and join the professional order in your state/province/country you have no right to call yourself an engineer (unless you're a sound engineer).
Click to expand...

Whats with all the hate?
 
Originally posted by: MadOni0n
Originally posted by: orakle
Network engineers aren't real engineers. They're like garbage men who call themselves sanitation engineers.. The truth is if you don't write a PEng exam and join the professional order in your state/province/country you have no right to call yourself an engineer (unless you're a sound engineer).
Click to expand...

Whats with all the hate?
Click to expand...

I've got no problem with sysadmins. It just brings down the profession when everyone and his brother starts calling themselves engineers.
 
Originally posted by: orakle
Originally posted by: MadOni0n
Originally posted by: orakle
Network engineers aren't real engineers. They're like garbage men who call themselves sanitation engineers.. The truth is if you don't write a PEng exam and join the professional order in your state/province/country you have no right to call yourself an engineer (unless you're a sound engineer).
Click to expand...
Whats with all the hate?
Click to expand...
I've got no problem with sysadmins. It just brings down the profession when everyone and his brother starts calling themselves engineers.
Click to expand...

Thus, the utility of the Professional Engineering certification as a differentiator from other graduates of an engineering curriculum.
 
Originally posted by: orakle
Network engineers aren't real engineers. They're like garbage men who call themselves sanitation engineers.. The truth is if you don't write a PEng exam and join the professional order in your state/province/country you have no right to call yourself an engineer (unless you're a sound engineer).
Click to expand...

Way to ruin someone else's thread, ass. Next thing you know, you'll be crapping on people who want to drive trains.
 
Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Originally posted by: orakle
Network engineers aren't real engineers. They're like garbage men who call themselves sanitation engineers.. The truth is if you don't write a PEng exam and join the professional order in your state/province/country you have no right to call yourself an engineer (unless you're a sound engineer).
Click to expand...

Way to ruin someone else's thread, ass. Next thing you know, you'll be crapping on people who want to drive trains.
Click to expand...

You can actually get a degree in railway engineering, but I think it involves more than driving trains. Those guys would be allowed though, because it's a traditional, accepted profession "the engineer on the train".

A bunch of MCSEs got pwned in Quebec for calling themselves systems engineers: Link (google PDF-to-HTML). The OIQ or Ordre des Ingenieurs du Quebec (Order of Engineers of Quebec) is the professional engineering order of the land.
 
Originally posted by: orakle
Network engineers aren't real engineers. They're like garbage men who call themselves sanitation engineers.. The truth is if you don't write a PEng exam and join the professional order in your state/province/country you have no right to call yourself an engineer (unless you're a sound engineer or a railway engineer).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I like to see you pass a Cisco CCIE exam.

Any job that requires lots of logical deduction and thinking in technical terms can be called engineering.

Just because the engineering society haven't officially recognized the practice, does not mean it doesn't require an engineering process to do it.

Back in the 1930s, there were only 3 types of engineering: mechanical, electrical, and civil.

Now we have a dozen of engineering practices, it won't take long before others are recognized.

Sounds like you have an elitist problem.
 
Originally posted by: MadOni0n
I'm looking at two different jobs. and im wondering about which career to persue. If anyone has any serious info about either, i'd like to hear it! What does each job entail,etc etc.
Click to expand...

Sysadmin knowledge is useful with network engineering and network knowledge is useful for a system administrator. Combine the two as the same entity for now until you have 2-3 years experience in the field after you earn your degree.

Pursue sysadmin certification over the summer in either Sun Solaris or Linux. Take System Networking classes while in school. Then pursue CCNA and Cisco certification in your following summers.
 
Originally posted by: Imdmn04
Originally posted by: orakle
Network engineers aren't real engineers. They're like garbage men who call themselves sanitation engineers.. The truth is if you don't write a PEng exam and join the professional order in your state/province/country you have no right to call yourself an engineer (unless you're a sound engineer or a railway engineer).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I like to see you pass a Cisco CCIE exam.

Any job that requires lots of logical deduction and thinking in technical terms can be called engineering.

Just because the engineering society haven't officially recognized the practice, does not mean it doesn't require an engineering process to do it.

Back in the 1930s, there were only 3 types of engineering: mechanical, electrical, and civil.

Now we have a dozen of engineering practices, it won't take long before others are recognized.

Sounds like you have an elitist problem.
Click to expand...

Maybe he's mad because once upon a time he lost his shot at a database engineer job, after he couldn't spell "Oracle". :laugh:
 
Originally posted by: Imdmn04
Originally posted by: orakle
Network engineers aren't real engineers. They're like garbage men who call themselves sanitation engineers.. The truth is if you don't write a PEng exam and join the professional order in your state/province/country you have no right to call yourself an engineer (unless you're a sound engineer or a railway engineer).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I like to see you pass a Cisco CCIE exam.

Any job that requires lots of logical deduction and thinking in technical terms can be called engineering.

Just because the engineering society haven't officially recognized the practice, does not mean it doesn't require an engineering process to do it.

Back in the 1930s, there were only 3 types of engineering: mechanical, electrical, and civil.

Now we have a dozen of engineering practices, it won't take long before others are recognized.

Sounds like you have an elitist problem.
Click to expand...

I did CCNA, but didn't continue onto CCIE because I went into the sciences. Believe me, I recognize and respect the kind of work that goes into such a certification.

The fundamental difference between these highly-educated (and highly-paid? I hope?) professions and professional engineers is that an engineers #1 priority is public safety and they are personally liable/accountable (not their company) if anyone is injured (literally or financially) due to the failure or improper design of plans they have certified/sealed. Furthermore, they are still liable for their incompetence (if discovered) even if there is never an incident.
 
Originally posted by: orakle
The fundamental difference between these highly-educated (and highly-paid? I hope?) professions and professional engineers is that an engineers #1 priority is public safety and they are personally liable/accountable (not their company) if anyone is injured (literally or financially) due to the failure or improper design of plans they have certified/sealed. Furthermore, they are still liable for their incompetence (if discovered) even if there is never an incident.
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't everyone liable for their incompetence? If I screw up someone's IT infrastructure they can sue me or my company...
 
Originally posted by: Imdmn04
Originally posted by: orakle
Network engineers aren't real engineers. They're like garbage men who call themselves sanitation engineers.. The truth is if you don't write a PEng exam and join the professional order in your state/province/country you have no right to call yourself an engineer (unless you're a sound engineer or a railway engineer).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I like to see you pass a Cisco CCIE exam.

Any job that requires lots of logical deduction and thinking in technical terms can be called engineering.

Just because the engineering society haven't officially recognized the practice, does not mean it doesn't require an engineering process to do it.

Back in the 1930s, there were only 3 types of engineering: mechanical, electrical, and civil.

Now we have a dozen of engineering practices, it won't take long before others are recognized.

Sounds like you have an elitist problem.
Click to expand...

ability to use somebody's product doesn't make you an engineer. Ability to make it.. that is another story.

Sorry, but so called network engineers are nothing more than skilled laborers such as electricians... I've never heard them calling themselves engineers.
 
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