Explore a career in network engineering
What's it like to study networking?
Meet the students
Jonathan has spent the last few years helping friends and family with their computer and networking systems. He then decided to get certified in networking to better his career opportunities and turn his hobby into a career. Discover more about his journey and his advice for future students.
A network engineer must ensure the integrity of network infrastructure in order to optimise its performance for end users.
Often referred to as the plumbers of the technology industry, network engineers must ensure companies have access to, and can share and store information.
They work on a range of networks, the most common being local area networks – LANs – and wide area networks – WANs.
Depending on what company they work for, they’ll also be responsible for corporate intranet and internet connections and virtual private networks – VPNs.
A network engineer’s role includes:
Designing
Installing
Maintaining
Developing
Supporting
The network engineering field is enjoyable, is high paying but also offers a challenge.
A genuine interest in computers and the ability to take things apart and back together again is a good starting point for a career in networking.
A network engineer must possess good soft skills such as communication, negotiation, problem solving and time management.
They are often required to work outside of normal office hours in order to install updates with minimal impact on other staff, therefore a network engineer must be happy working under their own steam a lot of the time.
Did you know certifications can lead to salary increases of 20% or more?
A networking certification will test your knowledge on the theory of computer networking, and also a candidate’s practical knowledge and ability.
On the job training also holds a candidate in good stead such as the starting role of a help desk technician, but your career path will be dependant on the size of the organisation you work for and the scope of its IT systems.
Once a certified network engineer has gained experience they can progress to management roles or move into other IT roles, including project management.
A professional may choose to become a network controller, or, move into a more customer facing role.
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What are the main opportunities in the tech industry?
Meet the experts
Tebogo Mackgatho, CEO at Netcampus explains where the opportunities lie in the tech industry. With big data and cloud computing growing, network engineers are in high demand.
