Network specialist pt2

[guidedbyechoes]

Some of you may remember my thread, a while back, about starting my career in networking... since then I have fully overhauled and explained an 85 year old man's home network. This is complete with VoIp, wireless router configuration and 2 computers. His biggest issue was his voip modems was failing as well as his computer so I managed to talk him into buying a new one and trained him to use win 8 in about an hour.


But to the point, I recently enrolled in a technical college and am doing pretty well in it so far. One class has tasked us with finding the KSA's for our " grown up job." After much research I think my main goal is going to be a network engineer. My issue is I don't really know of any place that lists any sort of standards for the position. I can find job listings but, they range vastly. So any direction would be a great help.

 

[mammador]

What do you mean by standards?

In most organisations, a network engineer simply plans a network in terms of user numbers, services and bandwidth, installs the network, and maintains and upgrades it.

So this would cover more or less all of the things you learn in CCNA or (IMHO, since Cisco has the brand name behind it) the inferior A+. You'd be expected then to know subnetting, requirements analysis, all OSI and TCP/IP layers, all common LAN, WLAN and WAN technologies, how to program routers and switches, and how to physically install Layer 1 links. The scope of this would differ from firm to firm, depending on its size. A large company would most likely have a team of network engineers/admins, who administer all networks in their locations. But a small company would only need one or a couple of network guys to manage everything, if they had just a small two-storey building to look over.

 

[guidedbyechoes]

What do you mean by standards?

In most organisations, a network engineer simply plans a network in terms of user numbers, services and bandwidth, installs the network, and maintains and upgrades it.

So this would cover more or less all of the things you learn in CCNA or (IMHO, since Cisco has the brand name behind it) the inferior A+. You'd be expected then to know subnetting, requirements analysis, all OSI and TCP/IP layers, all common LAN, WLAN and WAN technologies, how to program routers and switches, and how to physically install Layer 1 links. The scope of this would differ from firm to firm, depending on its size. A large company would most likely have a team of network engineers/admins, who administer all networks in their locations. But a small company would only need one or a couple of network guys to manage everything, if they had just a small two-storey building to look over.

Well they call them KSA's in the book, (knowledge, skills and abilities), but every company for that position has vastly different requirements. So I was wondering if any one knew of any general requirements. Not just education but communications abilities and what not also.

 

[kevnich2]

This is probably going to be a long post but you didn't list specific questions either. Not sure how old you are or what your long term goals are but I hope your intent is not to come out of whatever technical school your in and think you're going to just jump right into a network engineer's position and go full speed. I see far too many young, naive guys fresh out of school that have an attitude like they should be hired by a company for 100k a year and get right in and making and managing the multi million network in the big companies. Sorry but it doesn't work that way.

Networking like any other applicable tech related job is more what I consider 90% experience and 10% education. The top guys in the field know most of what they know from their experiences. The education and cert's are, IMHO, more to satisfy HR requirements and something to simply put on the resume.

If you're honestly in it for the long haul, I'd suggest getting in with a company doing L1 help desk/tech support and do that for atleast 12 months then work your way up and see if you can befriend one of the network guys at that company to take you on as an apprentice type thing. Doing the Level 1 grunt work is usually where I see most guys fresh out of school roll their eyes and say, yeah whatever. But there's a reason for it...

To directly answer your question - what a network admin/engineer does at one company will usually be vastly different at another company. No two companies operate the same way, which means the networks are usually designed and operated differently as well. Only at very large companies will they have dedicated people that only handle the networking. The smaller the company, the more "hats" they wear and become knowledgeable in many different areas of tech.

The big thing that alot of people seem to miss is the people skills and general communication abilities with others in the company. The more you can communicate with other managers and the C level folks, the better you'll do. The reason for this is because when tech/IT folks do their job correctly, most employees forget they're there and often ask "what do you do here again?" Learn to work as a team and do as much research into finding out how the business itself functions. I do my job a lot better with designing and maintaining things the more I do how the business actually functions and it's operations.

 

[guidedbyechoes]

I'm 28 and from my research you need at least 5-7 years as a tech before they will even consider you. Basically I'm looking for specifics. Like what degrees and certifications are usually preferred. What kinds of equipment should the perspective person be well versed with. And what soft abilities are usually preferred. I know some of them I'm just trying to find a reliable site to cite as research data.

I don't have the proper certifications to start working as even a tier one yet. I could do desktop support but, no one seems to think that has any merit. That I've been doing for about 18 years.

 

[Cabletek]

Some of you may remember my thread, a while back, about starting my career in networking... since then I have fully overhauled and explained an 85 year old man's home network. This is complete with VoIp, wireless router configuration and 2 computers. His biggest issue was his voip modems was failing as well as his computer so I managed to talk him into buying a new one and trained him to use win 8 in about an hour.


But to the point, I recently enrolled in a technical college and am doing pretty well in it so far. One class has tasked us with finding the KSA's for our " grown up job." After much research I think my main goal is going to be a network engineer. My issue is I don't really know of any place that lists any sort of standards for the position. I can find job listings but, they range vastly. So any direction would be a great help.

So when you say network engineer do you specifically mean ethenet networks? Because any telecommuncations comapny wired or wireless is going to have such a position somewhere. Be it cable, telco, cell, fiber, etc..

 

[guidedbyechoes]

So when you say network engineer do you specifically mean ethenet networks? Because any telecommuncations comapny wired or wireless is going to have such a position somewhere. Be it cable, telco, cell, fiber, etc..

Yes, I meant specifically Ethernet. I don't know much about telecom at this point. It's a week one assignment so I'm guessing most people will say network tech or programmer analyst.

 

[Mushkins]

Yes, I meant specifically Ethernet. I don't know much about telecom at this point. It's a week one assignment so I'm guessing most people will say network tech or programmer analyst.

This is a tough question, to be honest. Anyone that has the actual title of "Network Engineer" is going to have at least a few years experience under their belt, and their skillset will have been custom tailored to the position.

You need to focus on the universal concepts: routing, switching, the OSI model, BGP, OSPF, trunking, and all the rest. Whether its Cisco, Juniper, or whatever just boils down to command syntax. Certs, at least at the entry level, are a combination of both syntax for a specific brand as well as understanding of the overall concepts. Someone with a CCNA ploped down in a network made entirely of Juniper or HP equipment is going to be able to feel their way around and pick up the right syntax to get the job done without too much trouble *IF* they understand the concepts.

That being said, actual network engineering entry level positions are a pretty big rarity. Expect to work things like Desktop Support for at least a few years and keep up a few certs that you don't use on a daily basis for a while. Look for positions labeled as Network Engineering Assistant or hybrid roles that do a bit of engineering and a bit of desktop support to get your foot in the door. And don't be afraid to apply for positions that say 2-3 years experience anyway, the worst they can do is not hire you. Good luck.

 

[Enigma102083]

It's clear that the purpose of this assignment is to gauge what you do and don't know about what you want to do with your career and how much you know about how said job works. This thread is full of a lot of good information, you should summarize it well as a demonstration of your researching ability.

 

[mammador]

Why are you still asking questions, when four persons have given you advice?

You're also lucky that the Internet is needed for any organisation, so it's one of the growth ICT sectors. One option is to be the general IT person for a small firm, of say 20 people. This would give you opportunity to handle user/employee queries, plan/design networks, install NAS/cloud services, etc.

 

[guidedbyechoes]

Why are you still asking questions, when four persons have given you advice?

You're also lucky that the Internet is needed for any organisation, so it's one of the growth ICT sectors. One option is to be the general IT person for a small firm, of say 20 people. This would give you opportunity to handle user/employee queries, plan/design networks, install NAS/cloud services, etc.

I wasn't still asking questions. I was clarifying what I meant. I already wrote the paper and most of it didn't come from this site, unfortunately. I ended up looking at various job listings and picking what they had in common as that is what I was asked to do.

The only thing they all had in common was at least 5 years of experience with 4 years of education or equivalent experience, good written and verbal communication and willingness to travel and be on call at all times and be able to work weekends. CCNA and CCIE we recommended and most of the things mushkins recommended

 

[Mushkins]

and willingness to travel and be on call at all times and be able to work weekends.

Isn't that the best part?

Nothing like spending Thanksgiving dinner standing on the porch on a neverending conference call because AT&T has a massive blackout across the east coast. Two years in a row.

It's not on our end, can I go eat my now cold stuffing?

No, no you cannot.

 

[xSauronx]

Isn't that the best part?

Nothing like spending Thanksgiving dinner standing on the porch on a neverending conference call because AT&T has a massive blackout across the east coast. Two years in a row.

It's not on our end, can I go eat my now cold stuffing?

No, no you cannot.

yeah i have avoided applying for some jobs where you are the one-man-show because of that sort of crap. i dont mind scheduled on call where you take it a week at a time, but always on call...ugh, ive seen people who do that. ridiculously stressed

 

[guidedbyechoes]

I'm pretty sure that the person(s) that writes the tests for cisco has a deep seated hatred for humanity.