[TruStinger]

Hey guys, Im a Network Admin for the main ISP based in Alaska . I have 2 years of experience and currently have the CCNA, CCNA Security, JNCIA and PAN ACE(Palo Alto Networks). Im studying for the CCNP Route and hope to knock out that test in January, then Ill have to but Cisco on hold and concentrate more on Juniper as we are moving to all Juniper in the core and distribution shortly, except for our firewall which is Palo Alto.

Just wondering if any other engineers are on here and what your journey was like to get to the engineer level. Im a bit on the fence as to whether I want to be a routing and switching guy or more security, although with the company I work for there isnt much separation of duties.

[PSUSMU]

"to get to the engineer level"? You can't be a real Engineer without a B.S. in Engineering.
What pisses me off about working in IT is how the title "Engineer" gets thrown at people with liberal arts degrees or even without a degree at all.

[TruStinger]

Just because you have a degree in Engineering does not make you an Engineer and vice versa. The title is earned based upon performance and aptitude, not given because you got a piece of paper.

I do know what you mean though, I have met some terrible "engineers" that should have only been engineering sandwiches. If they had a degree it wouldnt have changed that though.

[PSUSMU]

Originally Posted by TruStinger

Just because you have a degree in Engineering does not make you an Engineer and vice versa. The title is earned based upon performance and aptitude, not given because you got a piece of paper.

I do know what you mean though, I have met some terrible "engineers" that should have only been engineering sandwiches. If they had a degree it wouldnt have changed that though.

No, you're wrong. An enginineering degree is not easily achieved. You have to go through engineering curriculum. A high-performing "IT Engineer" that can't do a fourier transform or diff eq is NOT a real engineer.

[jasonX]

Originally Posted by TruStinger

Hey guys, Im a Network Admin for the main ISP based in Alaska . I have 2 years of experience and currently have the CCNA, CCNA Security, JNCIA and PAN ACE(Palo Alto Networks). Im studying for the CCNP Route and hope to knock out that test in January, then Ill have to but Cisco on hold and concentrate more on Juniper as we are moving to all Juniper in the core and distribution shortly, except for our firewall which is Palo Alto.

Just wondering if any other engineers are on here and what your journey was like to get to the engineer level. Im a bit on the fence as to whether I want to be a routing and switching guy or more security, although with the company I work for there isnt much separation of duties.

Hey there,

I'm basically on the same path, and from what I have gathered, if looking to enter Network Security, you should look into the following certifications which you did not list.

Security+ While yes, an entry-level certification, it is required for many DoD positions, provides a foundation for several security related topics, as well as knocks off 1 year on the required experience for the next certification

CISSP For Network Security, this certification is in demand for mid-level/senior positions and will get your foot in the door for the higher paying jobs. However, this certification requires 5 years of experience or 4 with Security+ or a M.S. degree by an approved academic institution. They will also investigate your work experience and if I recall correctly, you need an existing CISSP to essentially vouch for you.

I myself will be knocking out my CCNP (R&S) hopefully before summer this year, then look into the CISSP. After you're done with Route, proceed to Switch (I'd guess you're looking at 2-3 months for Switch) but then immediately take Troubleshooting a week or 2 tops after completing R&S.

[solefald]

Eh. Engineer is just a title in the real world. Sure, you can have an engineering degree, but in large companies "engineer" is a job title.

I had a ton of different titles. Systems Administrator, Systems Engineer, Sr. Application Operations Engineer and now switching jobs to be a Sr. Network Engineer. The position does not have to do much with engineering and centered around network performance analysis, monitoring and automated provisioning.

[TruStinger]

Originally Posted by jasonX

Hey there,

I'm basically on the same path, and from what I have gathered, if looking to enter Network Security, you should look into the following certifications which you did not list.

Security+ While yes, an entry-level certification, it is required for many DoD positions, provides a foundation for several security related topics, as well as knocks off 1 year on the required experience for the next certification

CISSP For Network Security, this certification is in demand for mid-level/senior positions and will get your foot in the door for the higher paying jobs. However, this certification requires 5 years of experience or 4 with Security+ or a M.S. degree by an approved academic institution. They will also investigate your work experience and if I recall correctly, you need an existing CISSP to essentially vouch for you.

I myself will be knocking out my CCNP (R&S) hopefully before summer this year, then look into the CISSP. After you're done with Route, proceed to Switch (I'd guess you're looking at 2-3 months for Switch) but then immediately take Troubleshooting a week or 2 tops after completing R&S.

The Security+ can be done in a week but I already went a cert above it with the CCNA Security. Ive been keeping my eye on the CISSP but am still a couple years off from meeting the required experience for it. We do have a couple CISSP holders in my organization that can vouch when the time comes.

We needed to burn our training budget before the end of the year, all that was left was the CCNP Switch. What a disappointment that was. I was surprised at how much I already knew about switching and didnt really come home with much to show for it.

[JoeyO]

Yea, network engineer and software engineer are titles borrowed by computer science guys to artificially boast their careers with prestige. Software engineers and network engineers are no more real engineers than the guys who drives trains. They share very little in common with the real engineers of the world; mechanical, civil, electrical, or chemical engineers.

[PSUSMU]

Software Engineering is Engineering though. A B.S. in Software Engineering is an Engineering degree. IT Network Performance Engineer is not an Engineer. You can't get an Engineering degree in that, because it's not Engineering. It's an Engineering discipline, but still different than ME, CE, EE, etc. like you said.
Someone with an IT/CS degree does not even qualify to take the FE/E.I.T. or PE exams, because they are not Engineering degrees.