There are many people who aspire to become network engineers and enter the IT sector with high aspirations and goals, including good salaries and exciting job prospects in the field. However, after gaining some experience in the sector, many professionals feel that they have become stagnant in their roles and are performing repetitive jobs with no room for growth.
One major issue that has been frustrating for many networking professionals is that after gaining enough experience in the field, they realize that it does not translate into career growth. For instance, some network engineers may be at the entry level in their jobs due to inadequate technical knowledge, while others may be failing in job interviews despite having enough knowledge in the field.
It is important to understand the common career mistakes that may limit growth as a network engineer. Let’s get started.
10 Common Mistakes Network Engineer Aspirants Make
Many aspiring network engineers enter the field with great enthusiasm, but there are a few key mistakes that may hinder progress. By understanding and avoiding these mistakes, it is possible to build the right skills and move forward in a swift and lucrative manner.
1. Stopping at Basic Certifications
One mistake that many network engineers make is to stop progressing and growing after achieving basic certifications such as CCNA. It is important to note that basic certifications are just the starting points, and the networking industry is a continuously evolving field, with technologies such as SDN, Cyber Security, data center virtualization, and Network security becoming increasingly important and requiring higher levels of knowledge and understanding.
It is in such a case that advanced training programs prove to be highly beneficial, and institutions such as Network Bulls provide students with the right level of technical expertise and skills, helping them clear advanced certifications such as CCNP and CCIE.
2. Ignoring Hands-On Lab Practice
Networking is a hands-on field that is not theoretical, but requires rigorous practice and understanding. Many IT professionals rely on online tutorials/videos and mocks to a large extent without practicing enough in real-world labs.
The absence of hands-on practice in the field of networking can lead to:
- Poor troubleshooting skills
- Lack of confidence in interviews
- Poor problem-solving skills in the real world
The hands-on practice provided by Network Bulls Labs ensures that the candidates are industry-ready, not just degree holders. With a 24X7 lab facility, networking aspirants can work on simulations of real-world environments where routers, switches, firewalls, and other data center devices can be configured in complex environments.
3. Avoiding Challenging Technologies
Many IT engineers specialize in basic routing and switching technologies and try to avoid other complex areas of networking such as:
- Data Center Technologies
- Network Security
- Cyber Security
- Cloud Networking
Lack of knowledge in these areas can hold many network engineers back in terms of salary increments and career progression in the field of networking. The modern world of business needs network engineers to be experts in multiple areas of networking to manage integrated infrastructures effectively.
4. Lack of Mentorship and Industry Exposure
Though independent study is important, mentorship can greatly speed up one’s professional development. Many engineers spend valuable years of their lives deciding on their career path because of inadequate mentorship.
An experienced mentor can greatly help one in their career in the following areas:
- Career path
- Interview preparation
- Real-time troubleshooting
- Exposure to real client scenarios
Training environments provide exposure to experienced instructors who have real-time experience working on live enterprise networks, greatly reducing the learning curve for students.
5. Focusing Only on Salary, Not Skills
Another major blunder professionals make in their careers is to focus on attaining higher salaries rather than building a strong foundation in their skills.
In the field of networking, skills determine salaries, and not the other way round. For professionals aiming to attain high salaries in positions like:
- Network Architect
- Data Center Engineer
- Infrastructure Consultant
It is important to note that they require strong skills in their field, supported by extensive lab experience. However, when professionals invest in training programs, their salaries will increase automatically.
6. Not Preparing for Global-Level Certifications
Global certifications like CCNP and CCIE open doors for international job opportunities, and many professionals have been slow to prepare for them out of fear or lack of mentorship.
However, expert-level certifications greatly increase one’s credibility, confidence, and salaries. Training environments provide real examination scenarios and enterprise network designs, making preparation easy and systematic.
7. Neglect of Communication and Soft Skills
Many students who aspire to become network engineers tend to focus more on the technical aspects of the field, while at the same time, they ignore the importance of communication skills. While having good technical skills is important in networking, it is not enough to propel a career forward as a network engineer.
If the network engineer is not able to clearly explain some issues, it can cause confusion, which may affect the decision-making process. Communication is also crucial in job interviews because many people know the technical aspects of the job, but they lack the skills to clearly communicate the ideas presented in scenario questions.
When the professional is moving to the next level, such as the role of a network architect, they may be required to communicate the design, write the plans, and communicate the complex technical ideas at the same time.
For these reasons, professionals with enhanced skills such as communication skills stand out in the workplace, especially when they reach the next level and teamwork is required.
8. Excessively Comfortable in a Single Role
Another major barrier to career success for network engineers is getting too comfortable in one role. Although these are critical jobs, network engineers should avoid getting too comfortable in one role, as it could prevent them from advancing in their career.
The field of network engineering is constantly evolving, and network engineers should always be ready to learn new things in order to perform well in the field. In today’s networks, there are cloud networks, hybrid networks, software-defined networks, and many more technologies aimed at increasing security and improving network performance.
For network engineers to perform well in today’s networks, they need to be willing to learn new things like Cyber Security, cloud networks, and software-defined networks, among many others.
In conclusion, network engineers who are too comfortable in one role might find it difficult to move up in their career since their skills might not be sufficient in today’s networks.
9. Postponement of Advanced Certifications due to Fear
It is known that advanced level certifications such as CCNP and CCIE are the hallmark of expertise in the networking industry. However, many networking professionals tend to delay taking these examinations due to the perceived difficulty level and the assumption that these examinations require many years of experience prior to attempting them.
Such postponements often act as significant barriers to career advancement. These advanced level certifications are intended to test the proficiency level of the individual in networking technologies, including complex routing scenarios, enterprise network design, security, and advanced level troubleshooting methodologies.
Professionals who succeed in these examinations have superior knowledge and skills, which significantly improve their credibility in the industry. Many employers favor candidates with advanced level certifications as they display superior knowledge and skills in the respective domain.
10. Not Having a Clear Career Roadmap
Another blunder in networking is a lack of a clear career plan. People often attempt to achieve short-term goals by clearing a certification or changing a job for a higher salary. Though these strategies can be beneficial in the short term, they are not always beneficial in the long term.
A successful network engineer always has a clear career plan. It helps you choose a specific domain in which he or she would like to specialize in the field of networking. For instance, a network engineer can specialize in enterprise networking, data center networking, network security, cyber security, cloud networking, etc. Each domain provides different opportunities for a person’s career and requires different skills in different technologies.
A clear career plan helps a person avoid wasting time on different technologies or trends in which he or she is not interested in the long term.
Top Networking Training Programs That Can Launch Your Career
How Structured Training Can Help Avoid These Mistakes?
To avoid all the career blunders discussed in the previous sections, structured training programs can be extremely beneficial. Rather than studying the concept of networking in bits and pieces, structured programs offered by Network Bulls provide students with a well-defined path through which they can build a good foundation and move on to the latest technologies used in the real world.
Structured programs such as CCIE Enterprise Integrated, CCIE Security V6 Integrated, and Cyber Security + Network Security Expert are designed in such a way that they allow students to gain exposure to multiple technologies in a single program. They are designed in such a way that students gain both theoretical and hands-on experience in the field and are ready to apply this knowledge in the real world.
Advantages of Structured IT Networking Programs
- Clear Learning Roadmap
One of the greatest advantages of structured training programs is the clear learning roadmap provided to students. They do not need to worry about determining the next course of study.
For example, the CCIE Enterprise Integrated program starts off by providing students with basic networking concepts and explaining the working of the network, the way devices communicate with each other, and the concept of IP addressing.
Students are introduced to the concept of enterprise networking, followed by security and automation technologies commonly found in today’s IT infrastructures. Finally, students are introduced to the latest concepts in network architecture and design.
This way, students are provided with a good foundation before moving on to more complex networking concepts.
- Plenty of Hands-On Practice
Networking is not something that can be learned through theoretical knowledge only. Network engineers need hands-on practice and experience in order to understand the behavior of real devices in the network.
For example, many of the Network Bulls training programs focus on hands-on lab training for students. They are often involved in router configuration, switch configuration, routing protocols, network topologies, and troubleshooting network problems.
In training programs like CCIE Enterprise Integrated and CCIE Security V6 Integrated, students are often involved in enterprise network scenarios where they are asked to configure routers and switches and troubleshoot real-world network problems.
- Exposure to Modern Networking Technologies
In today’s world, enterprise networks are far more complex compared to traditional networks. Organizations are using a variety of technologies to create complex networks for their organizations.
For example, in training programs like CCIE Enterprise Integrated, students are often exposed to various modern network technologies like SD-WAN, SD-Access, Cisco Nexus data center solutions, and network automation solutions. In the Cyber Security + Network Security Expert program, students are often exposed to ethical hacking solutions, network defense solutions, and security monitoring solutions.
Exposure to these technologies helps students understand how today’s world of enterprise networks functions and how they can meet the real-world requirements of the industry.
- Mentorship from Industry Experts
Another significant advantage of structured training is the mentorship provided by industry experts in the field of networking.
For example, in training programs like CCIE Security V6 Integrated and Cyber Security + Network Security Expert, students are often exposed to real-world network and security scenarios and how network engineers can troubleshoot network failures and security breaches in today’s world of complex networks.
In addition, mentors can provide students with valuable insight into how to prepare for real-world interviews and how they can make the right career choices in the field of network engineering and security.
Conclusion
If one is looking to grow in the field of networking by leaving behind the entry-level positions in the industry in favor of the highly lucrative expert positions in the field of networking, it is imperative that one invests in the right kind of training in the field of networking.
The growth of a network engineer as a career is not determined by the number of years of experience that one has in the field of networking, but it is determined by the quality of learning that one has been able to attain in the field of networking.
The career of a network engineer can reach new heights of global recognition by the decisions that one makes in life.
