I am studying CCNA as part of my Bachelors in Network Engineering. I see so many people ask about Cybersecurity, Software engineering, Computer Science. I very very rarely see anyone looking to become a network engineer. I am very proud to be studying it and enjoy learning the ins and outs. Thank you guys for this refreshing view.
I'm 42 and just started studying for my CCNA, I know cloud has the cooler jobs now a days, I dont care, I like networking and Im starting from the ground up.
Network engineer that made the move to cloud Architect here, I can totally agree that my knowledge in networking has made my job so much easier. Deep Routing understanding is a must for cloud
I have been in network engineering for 16 years and I completely agree with each panel member. It is totally true when it comes to fundamentals networking is a must.
I’m working on my CCNA and Python and currently working as a network engineer. We install servers, cables, security cameras, telco, it’s my favorite job. It’s such a rewarding career too! Ultimately I wanna work towards network automation and SDN
I'm a Cybersecurity bootcamp student with zero prior knowledge and I agree 100%!!! Network fundamentals was the most overwhelming class I took. Emphasis should be on Network Fundamentals - every Cybersecurity class thereafter has reverted back to knowledge learned from network fundamentals. Misconfiguration is one of the reasons vulnerabilities occur.
Really enjoyed this. As an IT professional (with limited networking knowledge) it's nice to hear what networking professionals think of networking in the modern day.
I started out in Networking in the Marine Corps. Got my CCNA and the Old way of Networking that I learned it going away. Now I'm Learning Coding, Automation and Cloud. The Transition has not been Easy. Thanks for the Video!
Appreciate the video guys! I have aspirations of becoming a network engineer and it’s nice to hear that the fundamentals are still very much in demand. Passed my CCNA last July, studying for my CCNP now while working as a network analyst. I’m self-taught with no degree in the field, but if you have the desire to learn you can go a long way! 👍
It's not that being a network engineer is a less shiny role than being a cloud engineer or working in cyber security. It's that being a network engineer pays less. In my city a mid level network engineer with a CCNP makes about $75k per year, when cloud engineers & SOC Analysts make $100k plus.
Great discussion. I think one of the main reasons people gravitate towards software engineering, cloud, devops etc is because most of those positions become fully remote once you have sufficient experience. Network engineering positions around me often require you to be on site or even at several locations. Sys admin position I interviewed for required me to drive 50 miles every Friday to their secondary office. Everyone wants to work in pajamas nowadays.
I honestly thought this was going to be a video about 3 network engineers explaining why they don’t like networking. Instead, they are referencing more about how it’s changed relating to cyber security and cloud. Great perspective! Good video!
As a network engineer in Silicon Valley for over a decade. It is the best IT job in my opinion. I have traveled around the world building remote offices ( also being a tourist)and not just get stuck in the office everyday. I just don’t know how it will be in the next few years with all the templatetation and zero touch provisioning along with AI. It’s been a good career but it is changing. More cloud networking along with SASE zero trust doesn’t leave much equipment on premise.
I love networking, but between the gatekeeping, the difficulty of getting your first networking job, to the cap on the amount you can make even as a CCIE. It’s not as sexy as it used to be to be. You have to have a real passion for networking in order to be successful and like someone on your panel stated a lot of people don’t have the attention span to sit there and labeveryday. They also struggle to deal with the pressure of the role. Lastly, the lack of representation is a real problem. I’m interested to see the diversity at Cisco Live this year. 🤔 Good topic!
Great discussion, for sure. I would recommend making base CCNA Level knowledge part of your knowledge base 100% no matter the IT job role. I would only go beyond that if your job role includes the responsibility of the SLA. In this multi cloud world, there is a need for networking skills, on prem, within the hyperscaler, and between it all. Plus, networking is super interesting!! When we look to hire, we are always looking for that base CCNA level. Even if you are building an app in a dev/ops role, your app communicates to the outside world!
Cyber security is popular but also extremely difficult to break into...Network Engineering doesn't sound as sexy but it lays the foundation for so much of the other IT specialties
As a retired Network Engineer, very interesting topic. Very good discussion. I really like the concept of network engineering as a hobby. I still have a very small network at home, and try to keep up with current trends.
Modern network engineers are demanded to have diverse skill set to accommodate Internet's evolution. The amount and complexity of required skills creates a chaos on the minds of those who merely search for the clear roadmap to begin the journey.
I am emphatic about studying for my CCNA: learning how the network works because I’d rather use the fundamentals as a building block. Having good role models who will help individuals develop the drive to become better in time , regardless of the objective, is key. 🔑 Good mentors are some of the most valuable people who are responsible for developing a skill of becoming better in time rather than being the best paid, or having the coolest title before taking the steps necessary for the journey.
As a network engineer, I find this so real. This is overwhelming, but there's nothing we can do. We need to expand our knowledge to cloud, cybersec, and automation technologies to at least be considered for a job.
The focus also shifted to software defined networking. But, there are still a lot of legacy networks out there, and I don’t see them going away anytime soon.
The problem isn't the people, their drive, or their interests.... The problem is that network engineering jobs just aren't in demand as much as they used to be. If the jobs were there like they used to be, the interest would certainly follow.
The biggest issue with being just a network engineer is that I have worked for companies with 5k employees, multiple sites and three is one network person. ONE.
I just got started in networking , not a lot of experience but I am studying and learning the basics now and planning on taking my CCNA . Do you think it’s a good first cert
I love the plumber metaphor, because its always going to be on point. I agree for the most part of what the panel talked about here. On the last topic, the only answer that I agree, is with Dakota, learning the fundamentals with a CCNA and getting your hands dirty with a lab, does give you enough experience to do two things; You'll know whether you want to pursue this as a career or move on and be successful in other trendy areas, either cloud or cybersec.
I got my CCNA in high school and then my CCIE in 1995. I was 20 earning nearly six figures at that time. This is interesting work that pays well and this is foundational knowledge needed for more complex areas of IT.
Just got my Aruba CX switching certification, always loved networking, hopefully will get plugged to the team in the near future 👍👍network is still needed to plug all these devices together.
Great interview,really got some interesting insights coming from season pros. I’m currently studying for the sec+ but will take on the network+ later on. To be honest I have looked at some network materials and I must confess it’s not as free flowing like other courses I have taken. However I am someone who is not comfortable not knowing, so when the time comes to study networking, I want to be really good at it even if i don’t want a career out of it. I’m open to any mentoring and I hope I get some guidance when the time comes. Thanks 🙏
I've been working at my current job for a few years. Currently experiencing a bit of burnout. Decided a career switch might be in order. Seems like everyone is raving about cybersecurity nowadays. idk what it is but something keeps drawing my attention towards networking. After doing a bit of research I have to admit I am confused on a learning path. Some are telling me just to dive right into cloud networking. I'm thinking focusing on the traditional skills of a Network engineer might be an advantage. Switching to cloud can cost a company a lot of money. So I see plenty of work to still be readily available over the coming years. Any opinions or advice??
This is a great topic, thanks. FWIW, I think networking has enormous fascination for people like myself who have never had to look at it carefully and are considering going into fields using the internet. It's easy to geek out on the endless, endless protocols.
I've recently studied a networking class and what I've seen is that it's either the networking jobs are not paying high enough or the networking position is now a part of the regular systems administration job. So it's a pay and wearing more hats problem.
if you work in an office, you need network switches, firewalls, patch bays, phone systems, Internet conectivity, WIFI, VPNs, ISCSI etc. That does not just exist. its not magic, its skill.
Network engineering is made supper hard to learn and is taught in such a morning way. When I started my IT learning I actually started-with Network engineer and taught my self.
What? We have hundreds of network engineers in our company. I think the big shift I’ve seen is with cloud. With cloud, a lot of infra responsibilities, including networking, has shifted to dev teams as they deploy entire stacks including all their application artifacts. It’s used to be you put in a ticket and would be notified when the network components were there and the network was up. That’s a huge shift, but one that is required to properly leverage cloud for better time to market. Devs aren’t really interested in infra. I’m a cloud lead at one of the largest companies in the world, and what I can see if that developers don’t deploy optimized applications in cloud because of their lack of knowledge and interest in infra and cost can quickly become an issue. That’s when you need the infra expertise. So in summary, I think the need for networking expertise is still there, but it’s shifted and there is less specialization.
IT operations and vendors have replaced a lot of network engineers. You can rent an engineer for a few days a week. A lot of work shifted to operations due to NMS, automation, and redundancy. A network can be run by IT operators, DevOps, vendor account team, and a senior designer. In-house engineers are needed when there are complex SDN issues, routing with providers, client server events, troubleshooting with vendors. There is no reduction in complexity, it just gets shifted or masked. I would argue complexity has increased, and engineers are more reliant on vendors for support.
I started coding and found myself always trying to configuing servers I have gravitated and obsessed with firewalls and how devices talk to communicate
I left because there was so much pressure to memorize implementation parameters. I found software dev to be more creative and less boxed in. But might just be my experience. Taking the CCNA felt like such a study slog for nothing.
I'm an IT newcomer and I have tried reaching out to the IT team in my market numerous times. They are all Network/telecom engineers and they could care less about my interest.
On prem is still very much required in manufacturing. Especially with a 4.0 mindset. We need robust networks at the sites for redundancy and uptime and we can't be reliant on an internet connection for production.
Are there even any jobs for junior networking engineers? Could anyone even become a networking engineer without at least several years of relevant experience? Nope, so the entire premise of the question is already false. No one wants to hire relatively inexperienced people as network engineers. Furthermore, networking isn't really taught. CS programs "educate" people in all things high level, but networking is relatively low level.
Forgot to touch on the "Do more with less" thinking from Management. They will overwork and run you into the ground. Whether it is a Network or Systems Administration. Expect a 24/7 schedule with little to no appreciation.
There’s a lot of knowledge here as an upcoming network engineer. Frankly speaking it’s a network; combination and fundamental learning of these core skills.
The thing I noticed in the utility industry for network engineering is the evolution towards cyber security. Many of the jobs I see want a network engineer to also be the cyber security analyst. This is pushing me away from IT in general. I just want to do networks. I would rather have a cyber guy to recommend changes rather than me trying to make sure things secure. Or rather, I don't want to configure firewalls and deal with certs and want the SIEM. I want to configure the routers, switches, and VPNs. Everything else just feels like extra work that I don't have time for :)
CCNP. I've been in networking for almost 10 years. Something I've noticed are the older and more experienced engineers are getting grouchier and less willing to teach. Sr Net Eng used to do that without thinking. The environment has become less welcoming, so then new guys move to something else like cloud. Even after my time in networks, I'm leaving to go to cloud and devops. The network teams aren't something I've looked forward to going into everyday for years now. I'm just done.
I am 34 yr old from a non IT background. I am very much interested in networking but do you think its worth it in the present market? What's the future of networking jobs?
43K views and not even a single comment , very strange, Thanks for such a great debate, again at the end of day whatever you want to be first understand the basics, Just think in a fraction of second you create an EC2 instance but these all cools stuff is in Datacenter where the physical devices exists and some great network engineers working on them on day to day basis.
I think the reasons are the difficulty because are critical works that need loads and loads of knowlodge and then it needs great previous training, but I suppose at the end you achieve a big salary.
I feel targeted. Currently going for my A+ now and this is gonna be transferred into college so I can start my network engineering bachelors. The goal is to become a WiFi Wizard haha!
I was a network engineer a long time ago. Even then when at the largest ISP in the world a lot of what I didn’t was around writing scripts to automate jobs because I didn’t want to stay late on a Friday night. I wanted to go out with friends. I quickly understood the value and economics of orchestration, common operating systems, and the nature of technology. These arguments are flawed. We still use phones but there aren’t a lot of voice jobs. Cheese has moved ding dongs…
The Cisco days are gone honestly There are no jobs for newcomers. There’s no money to be made. Why aspire to be a network engineer even if networking is the backbone of the industry.
Well it depends. Here in the States, interests in networking is waning. However, abroad, it is still popular. Things also don't help when vendors change/dumb down their certification exams. I'm old school. I.S.Ps for example, still do an excellent job, and have done so, long before cloud providers. I'd rather be rsponsible for what I do, or don't do, to secure my network, rather than leaving my sensitive data in the hands of cloud providers.
I earned my CCNA, put together home labs, and tirelessly applied to network tech jobs with no avail :( There’s too many gatekeepers. Settled with a cloud job instead
How can you want to be a Network Engineer or Systems Engineer when all the job postings are wanting 5-6 years experience just for a jr admin role that pays 50k a year.. Nobody is going to want that.
If companies offered training they would have more candidates then they could handle. Checking in my area of VA the positions ask for 3+ years of experience and certs.
Cloud engineer here .. I think the cloud providers are doing a lot of the work now. But also these cloud hosts are going to jack up prices. Going to be hard to get anything back on prem if it needs to be.
Here's a few cents I would like to share with you,gents. Since network manufacturers like Cisco have been able to facilitate products with a very user friendly GUI for equipment such as routers and switches, configuring those network equipment will not require an engineer to do so, and its sad. Not only it has become easier to build networks, but also the rise of AI will allow non-engineers to deploy and manage networks. And lastly, this one will trigger employers, they are NOT well paid. In fact, the majority of the IT roles are being well underpaid in states where the cost of life is high like Florida, California, and New York. Think about how much does a Net Eng gets paid in those states vs how is the cost of life.
As a network engineer you may also don't know how the electricity works making networking possible. Ingoring low level details is required in order to become a proffessional at least in something. Trying to know everything won't bring you nothing but top level understanding of each layer of infrastructure.
I do I really do I hope I can learn this I love it so far what I like about it it’s the behind the scenes and it’s commands and actually physical with cables servers switches etc I always like it’s factual one thing cleared me is AI will it do the work but then I thought all that AI power needs a network to work
