Network Engineering and Project Management

A Network Engineer is a computer professional who builds and maintains the networks that computers use to communicate. These networks might be small business networks or huge global networks. Clearly, that is a highly technical job that demands a professional with a huge degree of detail orientation. The stereotype would have us perceive them as a group of brilliant book worms with poor social skills.

That is a generalization and not applicable to everyone in computer science. However, it would probably be fair to say that most information technology professionals are more comfortable working with computer code and networks than working in sales, marketing or public relations. Obviously, they felt a draw toward the tasks involved in that professional and chose to pursue it over other options.

That creates an interesting opportunity for professionals that are skilled in both technical and social aspects. There are two primary examples, technical sales and project management. Both positions involve taking a strong technical knowledge and relating that to other non-technical business people.

In computer networking, project managers are often part of service firms that are contracted by client companies to build, expand, or repair computer networks. A project manager has the responsibility of planning and executing projects. That requires heavy client interaction to achieve an exact understanding of their needs. Often times, the clients may not understand what is involved from a technical aspect to meet those needs, and it will be the responsibility of the project manager to educate them.

Once the project requirements are established, it is the job of the PM to design a plan for implementation including details like manpower, cost, timelines and scope of work. Then, they are responsible for coordinating all the components of that plan until completion while constantly communicating with the client and managing their expectations.

A good manager will quickly become the key point of contact between the computer services firm and their client. Their ability to utilize resources to efficiently complete the project, while simultaneously building rapport with the client company's decision makers will heavily influence the client's opinion of the IT firm. As a result, the project manager can be quintessential in building a relationship that will lead to lucrative future business.

The value of a project manager in the job market is demonstrated by the fact that among the top IT Certifications, the one that provides the most additional income is the Project Management Professional Certification, or PMP. The average PMP salary is roughly $90,000 per year, compared to other purely technical certifications. For example, the median CCNA salary is just about $60,000 annually.