3 Ways To Transform Yourself As A Network Engineer

Network engineering as a job has changed dramatically in the past two decades. In the past, network engineers were responsible for keeping the network up and running, but today's work is much more complex. Digital transformation, automation, orchestration, and infrastructure changes have opened up new possibilities and expanded role bandwidth. In this new digital age, optimizing business results has become a priority for the entire industry.

The advent of intention-based networks will further change the role of network engineering. Additionally, the half-life of newly acquired skills is currently around 2.5 years, making it necessary to keep pace with this rapid and accelerated rate of innovation. What is the best way to acquire the right skills and ensure future success? Last week we met with industry leaders at the Software Defined Business Conference and Expo to discuss this. Here are three ways to reinvent yourself as a network engineer:

Learn From The Team

It takes a long time to become an expert at something: Malcolm Gladwell generally defines experience as 10,000 hours of experience. How can you overcome this incredibly long experience development time? Talk to those who have been there, learn from their mistakes and challenges, and continue to refer to them as resources.

Your team is one of your most valuable resources. Listen to them, talk and learn together. You don't just gain knowledge from others. Share yours with others. Explicitly set aside time to share ideas and collaborate. In addition to seeking new insights from your team, look at different areas of the organization and larger businesses. Contribute to a culture of exchange, learning and education to promote our growth and development and reinvent ourselves as network engineers.

Justify Learning And Celebrate Success

Team swapping helps accelerate learning and development. Training and certification embody this growth. Eight out of ten managers agree that people certified by Cisco are more knowledgeable and valuable to the organization. According to the Cisco Certifications Value Study, they can take more responsibility, be more respected, and promoted by their colleagues. What are you looking for? Do you want to reinvent yourself? Start training to get certified. This is the best way to show that you can really stretch your career muscles, take on a bigger role, or switch to a new position. Once you've been certified and have successfully achieved your next career goal, we celebrate success, but I don't think it's the end of your reinvention.

Embark On A Journey Of Continuous Learning

Instead of learning what happened at one point in time, you will learn the journey in progress. To become a continuous learner requires a change of mind from a fixed mindset to a growing mindset. This is mentioned in Carol Dweck's popular book. Having a growth mindset means opening yourself up to new possibilities, new tactics, new technologies, and ultimately becoming more flexible. Being a flexible and continuous learner with a growing mindset that takes advantage of both team learning and more formal training creates new career opportunities and ultimately prepares for long-term success.