This article is for those who are looking for career options in computer networking. It’s a high-level write-up on how, what and why Computer Networks is good for you while I also take you through my journey.

Engineering is an area where you not only bear the fruits of what’s done but also envision what needs to be conceived in the future. I finished with my 12th and like everyone I was in the race to find the best school for pursuing my engineering. I was 21 when I graduated from a reputed engineering school in Bangalore and all I took away from the 4 years of my life is how I can survive with the skills I developed. As I recall, this was indeed the game changer for me as I came across this fascinating course “Computer Communications Network”.

Specializing‌ ‌in‌ ‌a‌ ‌particular‌ ‌domain‌ ‌of‌ ‌networking.

The whole idea about how the internet works, how information in the form of packets is carried was a delight in itself. That was good enough to start the engine because by then, I knew what I wanted to do in future. But, was this enough for me to make a mark in the network industry? Probably not.

To be frank, yes, I inculcated the very basics of networks, familiarized with some concepts, but it wasn’t all that was required to push myself into learning more. It was time that I had to acquaint with the new technologies, modern techniques of how industries are building up. I had to decide to pursue higher studies in this field. In order to master a particular field and become industry ready, it’s important to spend time majoring, developing skills, researching and learning more about it. I decided to take up Masters in Computer Networks at the University of Southern California, LA. These kinds of programs not only enhance you with generic skills but also help to specialize in a particular domain so that you are industry ready.

Honestly, I wasn’t much familiar with some of the booming areas of networking such as Cloud orchestration, Network Function Virtualization, Software Defined Networking, Open Flow, Containerization, Data Center Networking, and many more, until I took up MS. Matter of fact, not only will you be learning these theoretical concepts but also get involved in small-scale projects that will hook you up with the industries’ hot stuff.

‌Knowledge‌ ‌required‌ ‌to‌ ‌be‌ ‌a‌ ‌System‌ ‌level‌ ‌Engineer.

Now, the biggest challenge is to select the apt course works. It’s necessary to select as per what’s mandatory and what’s important to meet the requirements to build up your career. If you want to get into jobs such as Network Administrator, TAC engineer or similar, you will need to study those that will give a good understanding on the network behaviour like routing and switching, troubleshooting skills, protocols, problem-solving abilities, network optimizations and many more. Of course, certifications like CCNA and others are always an added advantage. If you have an affinity towards Software System Engineering/Test Engineering/Network Application Engineering, you should considerably learn all of the above, plus Operating Systems and should possess great programming skills. Automation is another aspect that’s huge in networking. This is the need of the hour and developing skills to automate things will definitely come handy. Again, these are high-level items, there are a lot that can be ventured into which will come with experience and research.

As a Systems level Engineer, deep Operating System level knowledge is a necessity. It’s so important to understand the nitty-gritty of an operating system and how one can write an application on top of it. The performance, efficiency and scaling are other important factors to consider when it comes to designing a multithreaded and multiprocessing system. At Cisco Systems, I work on Cisco’s famous Network-OS which is called the IOS-XR and develop features on it. It’s a carrier-grade NOS that satisfies the requirements of a network operator on a service provider level.

Businesses now have a massive demand for integrated data, voice, video, and mobility services with high availability, security, and fast provisioning.

Consumers want broadband access with bundled service of voice, video, mobile wireless, and data on a single bill. These demands are met when you have the best NOS coupled with the great performing chip. In a year’s time in Cisco, I understood how important it is for a NOS to have multitasking, multithread, memory protected micro-kernel-based capabilities. In a converged network, routers with these NOS need to carry critical traffic including voice, emergency service traffic, video broadcasting, video conferencing, and business-critical data with availability requirement of 99.999% or better. To achieve carrier-grade availability requirements, a NOS should be able to support a number of high availability features such as hardware redundancy, failure recovery, process restorability, failure detection, software updates and patches, service flexibility and security on both control and data level. On the whole, it’s very important as an aspiring engineer to imbibe these basic skills.

Another important technical attribute for a Software Engineer in this field is the programming capability. This is critical. Without the ease of writing code, it will be difficult to concentrate on the Design and Business needs of the project. Be an expert in any one language, know the basic build blocks of code, learn the object-oriented programming, concentrate on touching every corner case and make it efficient.

Lastly, always research before jumping on to any career decisions. It is important to be familiar with what’s new in the industry. Actual networking with the industry’s who’s who is also beneficial. It is you who will be spending your whole life on this and without any work-life balance, it will be very difficult to put your 100% and be happy. As a contributor with 2 years of experience in this industry, it is needless to say that the world of networking is going to be evergreen and will nothing but become more complex that will open doors to many problems to solve. With the Internet of Things already reaching heights, with the advent of virtual reality and cloud orchestration, data almost tripling and demand for higher speeds and quality, networks and communication in any form will be a huge thing and everything will depend on it.