Saturday 25 August 2012

Network Engineering Education

By Graham Alter


From the outside, the complete information technology vocation can seem mysterious. Discussing Information technology brings up multiple images starting from artificially lit cubicle farms to youthful professionals skate boarding through well decorated lounge spaces that look more like a coffee shop rather than a place of work. Both of these are viable, and varieties of both can be found. However, there happens to be quite a bit of difference.

Take a network engineer for example. They are the people who are responsible for keeping data flowing. That means everything from computer networks to phone networks. This computer professional maintains, designs, and implements the hardware and software that let one electronic device communicate with others. That includes the internet.

Looking in almost any medium sized or larger company, network engineers can be found with job titles like network administrator or network operations. Certain businesses that deal with a large amount of data (banks, universities, investment firms) have large numbers of them. The big shots of network engineering have titles like network architect or implementation engineer. Frequently, they are consultants.

A lot of engineers end up with a info tech degree with a advanced degree. Unfortunately, this is merely the start. Subsequent to university instruction, a large percentage of network engineers then pursue a variety of certification courses.

They run the gamut from a certification gained by taking a fairly easy test to monster, marathon tests followed by demonstrations of skill, like rebuilding a sabotaged computer network by hand in a short period of time. There are even some new ones out there that are so advanced that no one has managed to achieve it yet, the Cisco Certified Network Architect. The most respected one in play at the moment for this specialty is the CCIE.

The CCIE is often referred to as the PhD of computer networking. The process of getting this certification is a trial by fire. After the monstrous written exam, the real fun starts. That would be the lab evaluation. The lab segment consists of two parts. On the first day, the applicant must build a high end, state of the art computer network under a time crunch. Then, the instructors spend hours, subtly and expertly sabotaging that newly built network. The next day, the applicant has a limited amount of time to figure out what the problems are and to return the network to working order. It is like high tech hazing.

In relation to income, certification with no work experience means very little. However, with work experience, those certifications can mean serious increases in take home pay. The CCIE can offer an additional thirty five thousand a year in an experienced network engineer.




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