Network Jobs - Are they few and scarce

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

Just curious as it seems like IT network engineer roles seems to be few and scarce and more likely in this current time of economic instabiliy to lay off staff.

Well any job in these type of credit crunch times can be unstable but having known someone in a network engineer role that has been laid off thrice in under three years makes me wonder. I did however, ask him if network roles are scarce but he replied no and that he is still keen and looking for Cisco type roles as he is a CCNP and has over four years of industry experience.

The reason am asking this question is to find out what your views are on this subject matter as well as find out if being MS skilled and Cisco skilled makes one more marketable etc.

 

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

It does seem unfortunate that someone has been laid off 3 times in 3 years, but at the same time, he has been HIRED 3 times in 3 years. I would be more concerned if he had been laid off 3 years ago and was still unable to get a networking role.

And Yes, I would say being MS certified/skilled will benefit you. I have seen a lot of networking roles where server support is part of the role.

 

i wouldnt have thought network engineer roles would be scarce in London

be thankful you dont live in Blackburn, Lancashire like me, theres naff all going at the moment round here except for helpdesk roles........seems like the big IT companies appear to stick to the larger cities like manchester etc as thats where all the network support roles seem to be based

 

LOL, it is the opposite, just concerned if this is a general consensus in the IT network job areana.

 

I have to admit that 12 months ago there did seem to be more network roles than there seem to be nowadays.

I was on off looking for a networking role in and around East London for around 3 years, and in that time there were countless networking roles available. Now, when I'm looking for a network infrastructure/server (as opposed to apps) role, they seem have have dried up. Ok, so they come up, but nowhere near the sheer ammount they usesd to.

 

Originally by: Luddym
I was on off looking for a networking role in and around East London for around 3 years, and in that time there were countless networking roles available. Now, when I'm looking for a network infrastructure/server (as opposed to apps) role, they seem have have dried up. Ok, so they come up, but nowhere near the sheer ammount they usesd to.



Onoski replied:

These were my initial thoughts as to whether IT network roles are not as forth coming and promising as it use to be. It would be nice to hear from network engineers though

 

Software development is a lot easier to outsource. You can't crimp a cable remotely.

 

Being BOTH Microsoft skilled AND Cisco skilled make you marketable. Opens you up for all sorts of network admin jobs, particularly those where you're required to be "The Man" in charge of everything.

 

The thing with 'pure' networking jobs is that they only really exist at a high level. If you're just talking about VLAN configs on a switch, setting up RIP and/or static routing and swapping a few WIC cards around here and there... well most companies won't have a lot of call for a job that 'defined'. I guess there are ISPs that have entry level networking roles where you could do that all day and justify a full-time job, but networking only really gets to be full-time and exclusive when you get a bit higher up.

I'd certainly never consider myself a 'network admin' - though I can find my way round the IOS, configure basic switching a routing and troubleshoot when the need arises. It's this, together with my Systems, Security, DBA and other experience that makes me well-rounded and (thus far anyway!) desirable to employers.

I think there may well be a dip in the number of 'networking' roles available, but you'll probably find a corresponding increase in the number of more general second/third line jobs around. I've certainly started to see a number of roles pimped out to me by agencies in the past couple of months that want networking and systems experience - almost in equal measure.

 

being microsoft and cisco qualified and experienced makes you marketable

i dont think i can back my MCSE up with enough experience to be marketable, gonna be even worse when i pass my CCNA even though i used to physically repair cisco equipment

Grim

 

Thanks for the reasonable feedback all, as I have always been an advocate on learning as much as you can within reason to remain employable, hence am a jack of all trades. On my next list of to know in more depth is Citrix and possibly the CCA cert.

 

I don't think the jobs are "few" or "scarce", at least not in SC, USA. Here there are plenty of them, if you're willing to do contract work. I personally like having insurance and benefits, so contracting is out of the question for me. I get at least 10 emails a day from head hunters looking to fill temp jobs. When they tell me "I came across your resume on the internet...", I always reply that if they would have READ my resume they would know I'm only looking for full time employment, as stated on my internet resume.

My point it, the jobs are there. You have to be in the right place at the right time.

 

Judging from all the lovely feedback received I guess it is safe to say Cisco and Microsoft skills a person may have makes them more marketable to any prospective employer.

I once had the opportunity of meeting a very skilled and knowledgeable man that administers a health trust network and servers including firewall and asked why not specialise in either servers or networks.

He then at the time replied by saying the more of a jack of trade type of knowledge you have the more employable you'd be. At the time I though but looking and judging from all the feedback above makes perfect sense.

Please, I am not advocating this for everyone just airing my findings and opinion as specialization in IT does have it's place and rewards but think not the in networks and server support arena. Yes there are large conglomerates where the two are separate but by and large nowadays the consensus is one basket fits all and cc - cost cutting.

Also owing to the proliferation and saturation on this skills set it is also safe to say it makes the employment and job security in this subject contest more volatile and very competitive.