With thousands of data centers, millions of cell towers and enough kilometers of fiber to go to the sun and back 20 times, the infrastructure that makes today’s digital demands possible has become vast and labyrinthine.
Within this maze of tech are a lot of occupations — even in the networking world alone. But what exactly is a networking job as opposed to a job that services or maintains a network?
Numerous trades that service physical equipment — from fiber splicing to climbing cell towers — are essential to maintaining networks. But a network role is typically focused on the actual design, build and optimization of that network.
These roles may likely require technical knowledge of network protocols, routing, switching and other aspects. While that may seem daunting, not all of them are as technical as you might think.
The actual position titles vary company to company, but here is a breakdown of a few key roles in the networking space:
Network planner (builder)
As the name suggests, network planners or builders (sometimes referred to as both in their title), are responsible for orchestrating the implementation of broadband networks.
They oversee critical tasks like project management, network optimization and network capacity planning. They work with various modes of connection, from fiber to wireless towers, to help construct the best network for a particular buildout.
As an overseeing role focused on ensuring effective implementation, processes like network topology mapping (visually laying out the connection points and devices making up a network), equipment surveys and provisioning are critical components to the job.
The role is highly collaborative — often working with engineers, operations and a wide range of other departments to see an effective network plan and build that will sustain connection for years to come.
Network architect
Similarly self-evident to its name, the overarching role of a network architect is to design the architecture of a broadband network — creating blueprints and planning out the types of infrastructure for an optimal buildout.
Architects take in factors like the geography and terrain, scalability requirements and budgets to decide the different modes of connection.
As an example, fiber can often be an optimal technology when it comes to high-speed connection, but it isn’t always the best solution. If a community of homes lives in a steep valley, it may be a logistically challenging process to roll out fiber where wireless towers can be deployed far more flexibly — especially as the technology continues to miniaturize.
The network architects will take nuances of each technology into account — considering their coverage spans, speed and reliability, deployment costs and ability to scale in the future. Oftentimes it is a collaboration of different technologies piecing together the puzzle.
Similarly to network planners, architects will collaborate with several different departments to ensure best practices for effective implementation.
Network technician
Network technicians can be thought of as the bridge between the networking world and the technician services sector.
With fiber technicians and tower climbers servicing the bone structure of broadband, network technicians work on the brain brain — diving into the different levels of data transmission within the network. Depending on the type of technician role, it can involve physical layers of the network as well.
Core responsibilities of working as a technician on broadband networks include installing, repairing and updating different network systems. This means configuring and managing devices like routers, switches and firewalls for different client networks — be it a family household or an organization.
Depending on the area that the technician works in, troubleshooting network problems may be a big aspect of the job as well — which means collaborating with field technicians to get the full picture of what may be causing the problem.
Being an effective troubleshooter also means staying up to date.
As network technician Marcus Chambers explained to us in an interview, “It is a constant cycle of changing, updating and improvement. You've got to keep up with the technology. You’ve got to keep up with whatever the new policies or practices are. There are certain certifications you have to keep up with.” Learn more.
Network coordinator
Almost like a kind of network gardener, coordinators tend to the health and functionality of a network environment.
They are responsible for setting up and providing support for various computer network components such as local and wide area networks (LAN and WAN respectively), servers, system backups, security and more to make sure that data flows well between hardware and software without downtime.
Tending to a network’s health doesn’t stop with the technical aspects. Coordinators are also tasked with keeping coherence between different players in a networking ecosystem — working as a central communication point between departments like engineers, operations, vendors and stakeholders.
And when rolling out broadband networks to communities, these stakeholders can often be different local government municipalities and public organizations.
Coordinators play a key role in making sure that all issues and nuances — whether they’re policy-based, regulatory or cultural — are well communicated to other involved networking players. They help assure that the network build serves the needs of the community.
Network engineer
While a network architect designs the overarching implementation and optimization of a network, engineers dig into the more technical nitty-gritty aspects of configuring and implementing the infrastructure.
This role may require a higher level of technical expertise in network protocols, security practices, routing and switching and more.
There can be a bit of confusion between network technicians and network engineers, but the easiest way to distinguish them is through design versus implementation. Engineers are focused on the actual design stages (along with network architects), whereas implementation is the layer where technicians are typically involved.
Where technicians often work on the network operation phases and ensure smooth connection, both technicians and engineers are often collaboratively involved in support for network issues as well as optimization.