Network support engineer
Salary: £21,000 -
£45,000
Introduction:
A Network Support Engineer is the person responsible for
managing The IT systems that allow employees and organisations to operate and
communicate with each other on a daily basis.
Basically, when you hear that a company has upgraded its
communications infrastructure or has installed a new system; it is the kind of
work a network support engineer manages.
The job of network support engineer requires several
specific attributes, general attributes, and attitudes witch we are going to
explain in the next parts of the article.
Specific
attributes:
Qualifications:
individuals with first-class degrees are always much more likely to be in
employment than those with lower classifications and the IT industry in general
is not an exception, to be able to get a job as a network support engineer, you
need to have certain qualifications, Having one or more of these qualifications
would help you starting a network support engineer career: CompTIA Network+ Certification, Certified
Novell Engineer (CNE) City & Guilds Higher Professional Diploma in
Information Management Using ICT, or IT Practitioners Level 4, OCR (iPRO),
Higher Level award for IT Professionals (ICT Systems Support) Level 4, NVQs for
IT Professionals at levels 3 and 4.
Experience:
no matter high the qualifications you have, experience is still the most
powerful argument anybody would have in order to convince employers that he is
the right person for the job, to start as a network support engineer career,
having experience in service and repair can be very helpful, training and
apprenticeships are the ideal ways to begin, and of course a year or two of
working as a junior network support engineer is obligatory.
Good
working procedures:
Health and safety:
Following health and safety instructions is extremely important, whatever sort
of business you are, and there is always the possibility of an accident or
damage to someone’s health. All work exposes people to hazards, in the IT
industry and generally and networking specifically, there is always cautions to
be considered, a network support engineer should be careful of hazards such as dangerous
machinery; toxic substances; electricity; working with display screen equipment
or even psychological hazards such as stress.
Security: Every
company needs to have a security policy in place to keep employees, equipment
and goods secure and safe. Having the right security measures can help prevent
and deter burglars or people who intend to enter the property without
permission. Security is something to always be concerned about, in the
networking field, there are plenty of security procedures to be respected,
except of general security policy which is the company’s management
responsibility, the network support engineer should be the guard of the
company’s system and data, he should be always keep his proof of identity which allows him to get access to the work
space secured, make sure nobody else can use the company’s critical data, and
protect the system from hackers attacks.
General
attributes – skills:
Organisational
skills: having organizations skills always helps doing the job in a
better way, and it is one of the most valuable attributes for employers, only
well-organized employees can reach the very highest productivity levels, and make
better impressions on bosses and receive more promotions, a network support
engineer has to be organized, especially that networking is all about dealing
with data, passwords, configuration, working in a team, a person who does not
have those skills cannot be qualified to have such a career.
Time management: time management is about using the available
time effectively and make the most of it, having a very good timetable helps put
an end to complaints about lack of time, personal life and career problems, poor
finances, unachieved goals, stress…etc. time management is learning how to set
up your priorities, since a network support engineer has various different
tasks to do during his work shift, managing his time in the proper way is
obligatory, starting the day with accomplishing the urgent tasks is necessary, in spite of
that; he should leave enough time to do the rest of daily tasks as well.
Team working:
Teamwork enables the employee to accomplish tasks faster and more efficiently
than tackling projects individually, it is very important in an organization
because it provides employees with an opportunity to bond with one another,
which improves relations among them, in the networking field, since there’s
dozens of tasks need to be done, an individual cannot handle everything by himself,
taking a router configuration as example, one engineer should always leave a
‘message of the day’ for the next engineer who’s going to carry on the
configuration the next day allowing him to be aware of the job that has been
done, and the job that should be done.
Verbal skills:
the importance of verbal skills is mainly the fact that it is the most used way
to inform, whether it is to inform others of our needs or to impart knowledge.
Clarification is a key component of verbal communication, as a network support
engineer, direct communication with workmates and customers is unavoidable, as
example having another employee anxious about losing his work files stored on
the company system requires you having the ability to verbally calm him down
and try to get the details of how the problem occurred.
Creativity: a creative person can invent imagine,
problem-solve, create, and communicate in fresh, new ways. Every business
requires creative thinkers in the form of scientists, engineers, medical
researchers, technology innovators, business entrepreneurs…etc. the major task
of a network support engineer is to connect several computers, could be
hundreds or even thousands, only a creative person can imagine how to link them
and create efficient plans to get the work done properly and fast as possible.
Attitudes:
Determined:
a big part of being a network support engineer is about having very complicated
problems to solve, being determined is indisputable, and no employer wants to have
a quitter in this job, making wise decisions and be determined to apply them in
order to rectify problems is the key to succeed.
Independent:
during work time a network support engineer has several tasks to do on his own,
so he should be a person who doesn't always need others in term of help,
guidance, control, and supervision…etc. being able to achieve the targets
individually is extremely important.
Problem-solving: Fixing
network faults, Technical support for people using the network, suggesting IT
solutions to business problems…etc. all of those are a network support engineer
tasks that need to be done on a daily basis, and all of them requires a high
skill in problem-solving which is one of the major skills a person should have
to work in this networking field.
Confidence:
a network support engineer is a person who works with various different high
tech devices (servers, routers, switches, modems, PC’s…etc.), and hundreds of
tools, all of this will make a nervous person panic, so confidence is necessary
to go ahead and deal with all those machines, and also communicate with
customers and managers.
Self-motivation:
motivation is the driving force every person has within himself which enables
him to go further and take on challenges, a network support engineer is the
kind of job that not every person is capable to do, being motivated and curious
to discover and expand your knowledge and keep always your skills updated is
what you need to have this job and secure it.
Conclusion:
Few industries are in as good shape as the IT industry and
there is every indication that this trend will continue. You'll need to be
extremely patient and be good with people as you'll be at the sharp end of
everyone's panics about why their computer has crashed.
