Networking: A Beginner’s Guide Fifth Edition- P6:I have run into many people over the years who have gained good even impressive working knowledge of PCs, operating systems, applications, and common problems and solutions. Many of these people are wizards with desktop computers. | Chapter 1 The Business of Networking 7 Monitoring the network its hardware and its software for potential problems and for utilization levels for planning network upgrades Troubleshooting network problems Network administrators may also be called system administrators LAN administrators and other variations on that theme. Typically you should have several years experience performing network-related duties with a similar network for this job. Certifications such as the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer MCSE Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator MCSA or one of the appropriate CompTIA certifications can reduce the amount of experience that an employer will require. Employers usually consider these certifications important because they clearly establish that a candidate meets minimum requirements for the networking system in question. TIP The Computing Technology Industry Association CompTIA offers a number of different vendor-neutral certifications that can help you enter the field of networking. You can learn more about them at http . Network Engineer Network engineers are more deeply involved in the bits and bytes of a network. They are expected to be expert in the network operating systems with which they work especially in the network s key hardware such as its hubs routers switches and so forth. Network engineers are also usually the troubleshooters of last resort who are brought in to diagnose and fix the most vexing problems that surpass the ability of the network administrator to resolve. Aside from often holding a degree in electrical engineering or computer science network engineers typically have at least five years experience running and troubleshooting complex networks. Also network engineers typically carry certifications from networking equipment companies such as Cisco s well-regarded certification program. TIP Learn more about Cisco s certification programs at http . Network Architect Designer Network .
