Field

Networking

Build and operate the infrastructure that moves information.

Everything else in IT sits on top of a network. This is the world of routes, addresses, paths and packets — deciding how traffic gets from one place to another, and finding out why it suddenly does not. It is one of the last fields where you can still see the whole system end to end.

Inside networking

Enterprise Networking

The switches, routers and Wi-Fi that a company runs on, across offices and campuses.

Network Engineer Network Administrator Wireless Engineer Network Security Engineer

Service Provider & Transport

The carrier side — the backbones and circuits that connect everyone else’s networks together.

Service Provider Network Engineer Network Engineer

Wireless

Radio, coverage, interference and the physics of getting a signal where people are.

Wireless Engineer Network Engineer

Data Center Networking

High-density fabrics where thousands of servers talk to each other at line rate.

Network Engineer Data Center Engineer Cloud Network Engineer

Network Automation

Configuring a thousand devices with code instead of a thousand SSH sessions.

Network Automation Engineer Network Engineer DevOps Engineer

Cloud Networking

The same routing problems, expressed as API calls inside AWS or Azure.

Cloud Network Engineer Cloud Engineer Network Engineer

Network Security

Firewalls, segmentation and access control — the intersection with cybersecurity.

Network Security Engineer Security Engineer Zero Trust Engineer

All 13 roles in this field

Each page covers what you actually do, the technologies, where the work happens, the honest downside, and only then the certifications.

Data Center Engineer

Run the physical place where thousands of machines live and talk to each other.

Networking Systems & Infrastructure

Usually a second role

Network Administrator

Keep an existing network healthy, and be the person who fixes it when it is not.

Networking Support & Operations

Reachable as a first job

Network Automation Engineer

Configure a thousand network devices with code instead of a thousand logins.

Networking Software & Automation

Usually a second role

Network Engineer

Decide how information gets from one place to another — and find out why it suddenly does not.

Networking

Usually a second role

Service Provider Network Engineer

Run the backbone everyone else’s network plugs into.

Networking

Usually a second role

Wireless Engineer

Make a radio signal work reliably in a building full of obstacles and interference.

Networking

Usually a second role

Cloud Network Engineer

Solve routing problems that exist only as API calls.

Cloud Networking

Usually a second role

Field / Infrastructure Engineer

Do the work that only happens with your hands on the actual equipment.

Support & Operations Networking

Reachable as a first job

Network Security Engineer

Protect the pathways that information travels through.

Cybersecurity Networking

Usually a second role

NOC Technician

Watch the whole network at once, and catch what is failing before anyone calls.

Support & Operations Networking

Reachable as a first job

OT / ICS Security Engineer

Secure the systems running factories, utilities and physical processes — where a reboot is not an option.

Cybersecurity Networking

A senior destination

Security Architect

Decide the shape of defence before anything is built — then defend the decision.

Cybersecurity Cloud Networking

A senior destination

Zero Trust Engineer

Stop trusting anything for being "inside", and build what replaces that assumption.

Cybersecurity Networking Cloud

A senior destination

Roles that live here and somewhere else

These are listed under networking because a real part of the job is networking work — but their centre of gravity is in another field. If one of them keeps catching your eye, that tells you something.

Technologies you’ll meet here

Click any of them for a plain-English explanation.

Cisco IOS The operating system on most Cisco routers and switches — configured from a command line.
BGP The protocol networks use to tell each other how to reach one another — it is how the internet decides where traffic goes.
OSPF A routing protocol used inside one organisation to work out the best internal path automatically.
MPLS A carrier technique that labels traffic so it can be steered across a provider backbone and kept separate per customer.
VLANs A way to split one physical switch into several separate networks that cannot see each other.
Juniper Junos Juniper’s network operating system, common in service provider and large enterprise networks.
Arista EOS A network OS built around Linux and automation, common in data centres.
SD-WAN Software that chooses, in real time, which internet or private link each application should use between sites.
Enterprise Wi-Fi Controllers and access points that provide coverage across a building or campus.
DNS & DHCP The services that hand out addresses and translate names into them — when they break, everything looks broken.
NetFlow / Flow data A summary of who talked to whom, for how long, and how much — without recording the contents.
Fortinet FortiGate A next-generation firewall — it filters traffic by application and user, not just by port number.
Palo Alto Networks A next-generation firewall platform built around identifying the application and user behind every flow.
Cisco Firepower / Secure Firewall Cisco’s firewall and intrusion prevention platform.
See the full technology map →