Don’t become a Network Engineer until you watch this video

what's good youtube if you're watching this video you successfully made it to layer seven of that osi model where we give you nothing but that application you can apply directly to your life i'm your host dewan i've been in i.t a long time as a senior network engineer i've done a lot of great things but i've also made a lot of mistakes being on youtube i've been able to mentor hundreds if not thousands of people on the steps that they should take in their career in this video what i want to talk to you about is the 10 things that i wish i knew before i became a network engineer as i provide these tips i would like for current network engineers and past network engineers to share one thing that they wish they knew before they became network engineers with no further ado let me share you my 10 things that i wish i knew before i became a network engineer number one the real world is totally different now you may be asking what do you mean by that well as you progress through learning to become a network engineer you may be reading books you may be watching videos you may even be in college but i'ma be honest when you get into the field a lot of what you learn will be done totally different that's just the way the industry is if you want to know more about what a network engineer is and what a network engineer does check out this video here i did my best to explain in full detail the duties and responsibilities of a network engineer now when you get into the field your day-to-day life will not always be the same what you read in the books the way networks may be designed the way routers may be configured the way switches may be configured the way procedures are being implemented may not be the same as what you're learning in your studies and there could be many reasons for this business needs justification and cost are many of the reasons that networks are designed the way they are and you'll learn more about this once you're in the field number two imposter syndrome it doesn't matter if you're brand new to being a network engineer or if you're a senior network engineer or even an architect at some point maybe even at every level of your career you will face imposter syndrome so embrace the journey if you are studying preparing and doing everything you can to improve your skills embrace the imposter syndrome because you're learning something new you're walking into a new situation and you're going to be scared you're going to be uncertain that's okay as you walk into these environments you'll learn how things work and you'll improve and you'll become better than ever embrace the imposter syndrome number three experience is everything if you did not know this i'm telling you now experience is keen in i.t and as a network engineer so when you're in the field don't shy away from those hard tasks don't shy away from those difficult projects embrace those the more you challenge yourself the more you step up to the plate you will become a better network engineer you will build better relationships and you will really improve your resume and skills remember experiences can and get as much experience as you can since we're talking about experience we got to talk about what falls right behind experience and that's number four certifications look i don't care what nobody tells you as a network engineer certifications are everything and for three reasons for one they improve your knowledge and effectiveness on your job for two they get you interviews and for three they get you paid i've seen so many network engineers disregard certifications only to walk into job interviews or into a job review with their manager and their manager tells them they can't give them a raise because they didn't have a certain requirement or certain certification or they can't get a job because they don't have a certification or they're not getting calls backs because of a certain certification so as a network engineer there are go-to certifications that i think you should focus on that will help you grow your career and i'll talk more about those in future videos subscribe to my channel and you'll know how to be a top-notch network engineer in the field all right number five i don't want to just keep talking about certifications without stressing this point never stop learning as a network engineer the industry is constantly changing and you need to be sure that you are evolving with it i've been in the field a long time like i said before i've seen the phone system go from analog to digital and now we're in another major shift where we're seeing network automation take over but at the foundation of that is the traditional network those traditional protocols aren't going anywhere as a network engineer you will grow to love troubleshooting latency on a wan leak or a database connection everybody loves that okay no in all seriousness never stop learning those foundational skills that you build right now will help you throughout your career i can't stress that enough as long as you continue to build your skills and learn you will be a great network engineer number six ask questions before you respond notice that i did not say react as a young network engineer you will find yourself reacting every time somebody says their internet connection is down the more you progress the more experience that you gain you will start to ask questions first what changed in the network okay what can you access is this problem only happening to you those are the type of questions you will begin to ask as you gain more confidence and more experience as a network engineer in this field because trust me i've been in your shoes and i was a very reactive young network engineer that caused me to make many mistakes and waste a whole lot of times by not just asking those simple questions in the beginning number seven form your troubleshooting approach and live by it whether you have a top-down approach or a bottom-up approach whatever your approach is to troubleshooting build that foundational knowledge now because even though you're going to be learning software-defined networks and sd-wan and all of these new technologies and the way they're interconnecting throughout the cloud foundational knowledge is key and having your own troubleshooting approach will make you one of the sharpest network engineers in your organization and maybe even in the field so while you're learning build your troubleshooting knowledge now whether you start at layer one layer seven it depends on the situation but understand okay what questions are you asking just like we talked about in number six okay what's changed and then from there work up is it plugged in is it turned on can we paint just work your way up that oil side model tcp model and you will be a awesome network engineer number eight don't be the smartest person in the room be the most curious person in the room as a network engineer oftentimes you need to know what everybody else does in your organization the reason why hr accesses the network production accesses the network security accesses the network developers access the network ceos access the network the list goes on and on they access your network and you need to know what they are doing on your network because if someone contacts you and says they can't access a particular application you need to understand the flow of that application the ports of that application and everything with that application that crosses your network because they may be trying to reach this node but that node also may connect to a database all of that is going through your network so be curious when you're in those meetings with stakeholders when you're talking to different teams ask questions the more curious you are the better network engineer you will be number nine do not chase money i say that now the money will come the more you learn the more you grow the more you earn i promise you this as a network engineer the most important thing that i mentioned which is that number three is experience and so the more experience you have the more knowledge you you gain the more challenging projects the more you build your foundation the more you will be worth and trust me as you're building that experience gaining those certifications companies will contact you they will contact you you won't have to apply for a job i promise you this find a network engineer that you believe is successful and ask them if they have to look for jobs i promise you their linkedin has a ton of recruiters reaching out to them a lot of them aren't even on social media because they don't want to be contacted because they enjoy what they do and that's one of the beautiful things about building your your knowledge building your relationships and building your skill set is that you can work pretty much where you want to work for how long you want to work i'm not saying you're going to get fired but if you're doing all of these tips that i mentioned before you're going to evolve no matter how technology changes so you'll always have relevant skills in this field don't chase the money the money will come to you number 10 and this is my favorite be lazy and i know you're thinking what does he mean b lazy what i mean is learn to automate learn to delegate and learn to share okay let's break that down learn to automate automation is king right now the more you understand your network the more you can offload those tedious tasks to some automation tool that's in a container and it's ran maybe every eight hours in your network cleaning up those tedious tasks that you may not want to do and the more free time you have for higher level tasks and meetings because you'll be in a ton of meetings along with that delegate what do i mean by delegate some of the best network engineers i know make other network engineers better if you are really curious get out there young network engineer find a network engineer in your organization that you respect and ask them can you help them because working with them will make you a better network engineer and then they'll start bringing you in those higher level tasks in the organization which ultimately is going to help you stand out and that's going to help them free up their workload learn to delegate while you're young so when you become that mid-level engineer delegate to the younger network engineer bring them up on your wing that's how you learn honestly because by sharing your knowledge which is the next tip sharing your knowledge helps someone else and it helps you sharpen your own sword share share your knowledge put it on social media start a blog post start a youtube channel create documentation in your organization whatever you know put it out there you never know who may see it and want to give you an opportunity remember what i said before the more you learn the more you earn so if you're doing all of these tips you're putting yourself out there you will be a top network engineer in this field now that's my top 10 things that i wish i knew before i became a network engineer if you all have tips or comments leave them in the comments section below i would love to hear what you have to say let's start a great conversation if you have not already subscribe to my channel like this video share it out to someone else that you think this may help i thank you all for watching this video and i will catch you on the next one peace

Channel: Du’An Lightfoot

Views: 83,840

Keywords: 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Became A Network Engineer, 10 Things I Wish I Knew About Networking Before I Needed Them, network engineer, Don’t become a Network Engineer until you watch this video, duan lightfoot, what should i know about being a network engineer, what is a network engineer, labeveryday, what do i need to know to become a network engineer, what you need to know to be a network engineer, how to be a successful engineer, ccna, ccnp, network, engineer, Ccie

Id: 3AmQEc5ol6I

Length: 13min 40sec (820 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 02 2020