Elmer sent me the following question:

I’ve been working in systems engineering (Linux, virtualization, infrastructure ops) and am considering shifting toward network engineering or architecture. I got my CCNA years ago and started CCNP but didn’t continue.

I’d really appreciate any thoughts you might have on how someone with my background could best make that transition today, especially with how things are evolving around automation and the cloud.

I keep answering a variant of this question every other year or so (2019, 2021, 2023, 2024). I guess it’s time for another answer, so here we go.

The basics never change:

• Cloud networking and automation are becoming table stakes.
• Understanding how networking works (layer-2 technologies, ARP/ND, IP forwarding, routing protocols, etc.) never hurt anyone¹.
• Certifications are inevitably a money-generating exercise (for the certification vendors, not yourself) and a vendor marketing tool. Unfortunately, they are also one of the first filters an HR department uses to reduce the 10.000 LinkedIn submissions to a somewhat manageable number.
• Certifications can also help you stay on track if you keep their ultimate goal in mind and follow them for the journey, not to cheat your way to the end goal².

However, while that might give you some ideas about what to study, the reality is that we all have to pay the bills, so it’s worth exploring what your target market is looking for:

• Figure out where you’d like to work.
• Find out how the organizations you’d be interested in run their networks, how much they use the public cloud, and how far along their automation journey they are.
• Find an intersection between what you think makes sense and what organizations you’d like to work with need.

Next:

• Use whatever means available to get there. Getting a relevant certification along the way will help you bust the HR filters.
• While one can waste inordinate amounts of money on a certification process, numerous free (sometimes even open-source) solutions exist. Every cloud provider offers a free tier, most network automation tools have a free version, there are open-source tools to build networking labs, and you might find a whole set of free exercises covering a technology you’re interested in (BGP, ISIS, network automation, cloud networking)

Finally, how do you find out how people run their networks? Use the other networking ;) Attend local meetups and conferences, and try to engage with the engineers from the organizations you find interesting. Everyone loves to explain the tricky parts of what they’re doing and yammer about their challenges ;))

Last but not least, while honing your skills, document your experiences to boost your online presence³, and use any speaking opportunity to talk about relevant challenges you encountered. The jobs you get through a personal invitation to a chat or an interview are usually better than the ones you apply for through an online job posting website⁴.