Evolving Role Of Network Engineers

Today's networks are becoming more complex, and the role of network engineers continues to change. A recent study by NetBrain, Network State Engineer 2017, explores many areas where roles are evolving and network engineering is likely to face challenges for years to come. With the growing investment in security, cloud computing, and software-defined networking (SDN), agile network operations are essential. This study investigated the key issues facing organizations. This article describes those issues and their implications for both network engineers and the business.

To Improve Automation And Programming Capacity.

The most pressing problem is the fact that networks grow rapidly and become more complex than ever. Think about the number of devices you have purchased in recent years, such as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, and PCs. Imagine all the devices like switches, routers, and firewalls that make up your organization's network infrastructure. You probably can't! In our survey, 49% of companies with more than 1,000 employees have more than 1,000 network devices and 21% have more than 10,000 network devices. More importantly, 83% of the organizations surveyed show that their networks have grown in the past year.

As the network continues to grow, engineers discover that traditional network management methods are no longer sufficient to support the initiative. Obsolete manual processes for network troubleshooting, change management, and cybersecurity can no longer keep up with growing demand. To combat this, nearly 30% of respondents show that they plan to invest in network automation capabilities to mitigate many of the tedious tasks that engineers currently require. I will.

In addition to the challenges of manual workflow, network engineers must adapt to evolving networks by learning new skills. According to the survey, 53% of network engineers say they need to know programming platforms like Python and Perl because they embrace the DevOps culture and support automation initiatives.

The Increasing Importance Of End-To-End Network Visibility

Another notable challenge is the lack of visibility for engineers on the network, especially as companies move from physical networks to virtual and SDN environments. Documents are one of the most important assets of network engineers, but the ability of static documents to tackle an evolving network is a problem that is addressed by almost all organizations. In fact, 87% of respondents rely on manual methods to create and update network diagrams, either through programs like Microsoft Visio or relying solely on the organization's network experts. 

Due to the complex nature of today's networks, manual generation of network diagrams takes too long. This slows down problem resolution, prolongs security implications, and prevents compliance. In fact, 49% of respondents cited the time it takes to create a network diagram as their top challenge, and 33% said that manually documenting an entire network would take more than a month.

The engineers pointed out the obsolescence since the network documentation takes a long time. 58% of network engineers say network diagrams will become obsolete as soon as the network changes. Additionally, 61% of respondents say that up to half of their network documents are out of date, and 44% say they have more than a month since the last time they updated their network diagrams.

From Tribal Knowledge To Better It Collaboration

Many of today's network engineers still rely on "tribal" knowledge as the primary way to manage network problems. This means that many organizations rely on the knowledge of a single network engineer on the network to help them solve advanced network problems and respond to cyber threats. This dependency reduces efficiency when problems occur and slows down resolution time. In fact, 33% of respondents recognize this overdependence as a major obstacle.

However, the general problem is often the lack of collaboration not only with network engineers, but mainly with peer IT teams, such as security and application groups. Forty-five percent of network engineers surveyed said lack of coordination among IT teams was the biggest challenge for more effective problem solving, and 57% of respondents hamper particularly effective problem solving. For this reason, he cites the inability to systematize and share best practices. Response to cyber attacks.

Stay On Top Of Your Network With Continuous Protection

Network security is an important area because today's threats are constantly changing. When faced with an attack, it is imperative that network and security teams act quickly to isolate and mitigate risk, collaborate and share best practices to minimize future threats. Network security is particularly at risk if you spend too much time identifying and searching for organization experts. As a result, 72% of respondents say that lack of collaboration between networks and security teams is the biggest challenge in solving security problems.

Additionally, our research has revealed how good network security is for an organization. For example, 64% plan to invest in network security within the next 12-24 months. More importantly, almost 50% of respondents say that today's inability to continually monitor and mitigate attacks without human intervention is a huge IT gap. With this growing focus, the continuous evolution of network security becomes an important paradigm. With automation at the heart of technology, the future will offer the benefits of continuous network strengthening, isolation and mitigation through a seamlessly integrated machine-to-machine activated IT ecosystem.

In other words, the roles and qualifications of network engineers have changed significantly in recent years. Networks are much faster and more powerful, but bloated and complex. The move to virtual infrastructure, cloud computing, and SDN will only accelerate this trend. Automation represents the best defense against complexity by eliminating tedious tasks for network engineers, spending time and resources on critical applications, and moving organizations into a world of agile network operations. The change comes, the only question is if your organization is prepared to face it.