Network support engineer job description

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.