Career as a Networking Administrator

Updated On: 16-Feb-2023

The Networking Administrator is responsible for taking care of data communication networks like LAN (Local Area Network) or WAN (Wide Area Network) in any office. To do this, the knowledge of nodes, switches, lines building, LAN, and WAN is a must.

They are responsible to connect different devices in the organization to the network and maintaining the network performance fast and smoothly. Any organization that uses many computers to work needs a network admin to connect the computers with each other and coordinate the different systems.

Network administrators are for making sure that, computer hardware and network infrastructure related to an organization's data network are effectively maintained.

Also Read: Career as a Database Administrator

Job responsibilities of Network Administrator:

The job responsibility of a network admin can vary depending on the work type and size of the organization. But some common day-to-day responsibilities of a network admin is:

Maintaining, repairing and upgrading the network and computer system
Diagnose and fixing the problems in the network and computer systems
Monitoring the performance of the network and keep it smooth
Installing or upgrading the software in computer systems
Assembling the new systems
Setup emails and internet filters
Make sure that licenses are paid for and up to date for software that needs
Checking the security breaches
Setup user accounts, password and permissions

A bachelor degree in computer science or information technology is a must to pursue this career. After getting a degree do a certification that will help you in advance your career. You can do specified certifications also like Microsoft and Cisco providing is providing a range of hardware and network certification courses.To pursue this career, one should follow the following path:

Get a bachelor degree in computer science or information technology
After degree, go for a specialized certification
Seek out an internship to get hands on experience
Update your resume and upload on famous job search websites
Apply for the jobs that matches your skills
Prepare well for your interview

To become a Network Administrator one muse posses the following skills:

Interpersonal and team working skills
Skills to maintain the hardware and software
Troubleshooting and problem solving skills
Network performance tuning skills
LAN and WAN knowledge
Attention to detail skills
Strategic Planning
Knowledge of IP addressing and common networking protocols
Knowledge of ISP/Communication Providers and Virtual Private Networks

Normally it's a 9 to 5 office job, but sometimes you need to work beyond these hours like when any network problem occurred, need to install a new network line, or need to prepare the new systems to work in the limited time period.The average salary of a network administrator is 20k to 30k depending on the organization, location, and experience. After having a good experience and gaining some networking skills one can earn a higher salary also.
The skills that increase pay for this job the most are Network Security Management, Switches & Firewall Installation and Administration, Windows 2003 Server, Network Support, and Switching and Routing.As the IT industry is growing and the digitization is happening in other industry also, the demand for networking experts is growing. The network specialist can get a job not only in IT organizations, but in many another type of organizations too. Here is list of few typical employers for such job: