Is CCNA a necessity for a Network Administrator?

On job portals in the IT section, you can quite often find positions such as Junior Network Administrator, 1st Level Support – Network, Network Operation Specialist, or Network Specialist. For many companies, networking positions are the most basic in the technical field, making them a good starting point for your career in IT.

At Soitron, we are primarily looking for network specialists focused on Cisco technologies. Since this is a technical position, it’s clear that, in addition to the obligatory questions and procedures we’ve already outlined in the article How Things Work at Soitron, in IT Interviews we’ll also ask you about your knowledge of networking. This is not an exhaustive list, but in the following 5 points we will describe some of the topics you may encounter when you come to us for a network interview.

• CCNA is the Foundation! If you have come across CCNA or CCNP (a continuation of CCNA) in high school or college, you are off to a good start. CCNA is a sign for many recruiters that you have at least been around networking and BEWARE, even if you are not certified but have taken at least 2 semesters, you have potential. Some companies can train you or help you complete your training. Of course, having the certificate is sure appreciated, so study for it!

• Switch vs. Router: Have you completed even just one semester of CCNA? Then the question: “What is the difference between a switch and a router?” shouldn’t catch you off guard. However, the recruiter might dig deeper, asking about categories of routing protocols, so don’t forget to review them before the interview.

• ISO OSI model: If the recruiter sees in your resume that you’ve completed CCNA semesters or training, they will certainly want to further test you. They might be interested, for example, in whether you can describe the ISO OSI model, i.e. the structure of communication and computer network protocols in 7 layers. If you can describe the contents of each layer, you will score another good point.

• IP Address Calculation: Although you can find various online tools that can do it for you, we will be interested in your logical approach. If you don’t have much experience with it, we recommend reading at least a few blogs that cover this topic.

• PING and TRACEROUTE commands: Ping and Traceroute commands relate to computer network analysis. For a networking enthusiast, a detailed explanation of these commands shouldn’t be a problem.

Be prepared for our recruiters to ask you about any of the above, as well as other networking topics we’ve kept to ourselves.

WHAT ELSE SHOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT THE WORK OF A NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR?

Network specialists often interact with customers, and you guessed it, in 95% of cases these are international clients. Therefore, in addition to technical expertise, it is essential that you can communicate at least in English. Any additional language is an advantage.

Network support must be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This means you’ll be working in shifts. How does it work? Each team has its 4 to 5 week-long Shift Plan, with rotations between day, night, and weekend shifts. The big bonus is that at the end of the plan you always have 7 days off, which is in addition to your vacation days. Moreover, as a network administrator, you work 37.5 hours a week instead of the standard 40 hours, which is also not bad.

If you’re a young junior and feel that you won’t be able to handle this because you lack experience, don’t worry. Our network administrators work in teams, where junior members are supervised by older and more experienced colleagues. Moreover, if your “level” can’t solve a particular problem, it gets escalated, so you don’t need to come in as a fully trained network expert.

If you’ve just discovered that networking is the right path for you to take, or if you’re already an established network professional, send us your resume. We already know what to do with it.

Check out our current open positions.

We look forward to meeting you.