How to Become a Network Engineer

What a Network Engineer Does

A network engineer designs, builds, and improves the networks an organization runs on. Where a network administrator keeps the existing network working, an engineer decides what the network should look like, buys and configures the equipment, and plans how it grows. The work covers local networks, wide area connections between sites, and increasingly the links into cloud services.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has no occupation called network engineer. The closest match is Computer Network Architects (SOC 15-1241), and that mapping is the one used on this page and on our network engineer salary page. BLS describes the architect job as designing and implementing data communication networks, including LANs, WANs, and intranets. In the hiring market the titles network engineer and network architect overlap, with architect used more often for senior design roles. Figures here describe the BLS category, not every job posted under the engineer title.

Daily Duties of a Network Engineer

The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook entry lists the duties of computer network architects, and they line up with what engineers do.

• Design and implement networks, which may include cloud infrastructure.
• Plan network layouts while accounting for needs such as information security.
• Present designs to management, customers, and staff.
• Deploy and configure network equipment, then test it at each stage for slowdowns, outages, and points of failure.
• Document processes for future maintenance and upgrades.
• Upgrade hardware and software and research new technologies.
• Analyze traffic and system performance, troubleshoot problems, and work with IT staff and equipment vendors.

A project might be opening a new office. You choose the switches, wireless access points, and firewall, design the address scheme, plan the link back to headquarters, and test the whole thing before staff arrive. Another project might be replacing an aging core switch with no downtime, which takes a careful plan and a rollback option. Engineers spend more time in planning documents and design reviews than administrators do, and less time answering tickets.

Skills Employers Want in a Network Engineer

BLS names analytical skills, attention to detail, interpersonal skills, leadership, organizational skills, and problem-solving skills. The technical expectations are deeper than for administration: advanced routing protocols such as OSPF and BGP, switching design, network security including firewalls and segmentation, wireless design, VPN and WAN technologies, and cloud networking. Automation and scripting are increasingly standard, since engineers who can script configuration changes handle large networks with fewer errors.

Presentation skills matter more than people expect. You will explain a design to managers who control the budget, and the proposal that gets funded is the one they understand.

Certifications for Network Engineers

BLS says employers may require or prefer vendor-specific or vendor-neutral certifications. For network engineers the common ones are the Cisco CCNA, which most people take first, and CompTIA Network+ as a vendor-neutral base. Senior roles often ask for Cisco professional or expert-level credentials, and employers that run on a public cloud may want that provider’s networking certification. The right one depends on the equipment your target employers run, so read local job postings before choosing.

How to Become a Network Engineer: Education and the Typical Route

BLS lists the typical entry education as bachelor's degree, in computer and information technology, engineering, or a related field. It adds that requirements vary: some employers accept no degree and others prefer a master’s. What it stresses more is experience. Network architects usually come from several years in a related job such as network administrator.

So the route is a staircase. Earn the degree, start in help desk or network support, move to network administrator, pick up the CCNA, and then move into engineering when a design role opens. Along the way, volunteer for projects that involve changing the network instead of only maintaining it. Our online network administration degrees ranking lists programs with a networking focus, and the best online IT bachelor’s degrees ranking is the wider list.

Network Engineer Pay

For computer network architects, the median annual wage is $134,050, or $64.45 an hour, per the BLS May 2025 wage survey. The 10th percentile is $79,900 and the 90th is $202,680. The gap between those ends reflects experience, specialization, and employer size. That median is well above the administrator median of $99,130, which is the pay reward for moving from operating networks to designing them.

Network Engineer Job Outlook

BLS counts 179,740 computer network architects and projects a 7.7% change from 2025 to 2035, with about 9,600 openings each year. That is faster than the administrator occupation, which is projected to change -4.1%. Demand comes from cloud migration, wireless and remote-work networks, and security requirements that drive redesigns. The role is smaller than administration, and the entry barrier of several years of experience means fewer people compete for it.

Which Online Degree Fits a Network Engineer Career

A bachelor’s degree with real networking coursework is the fit. Look for routing and switching, network security, and a lab component, and for certification preparation woven into the courses. Our online degrees with certifications ranking highlights programs that do this. If you already have a bachelor’s and want to go deeper, a master’s in IT or network engineering can help, and BLS notes some employers prefer one for this role. See our online IT master’s degrees ranking.

Where a Network Engineer Career Leads

From network engineer, you can move up to a senior or principal engineer, to a network architect title with full design responsibility, or into management. Others move sideways into cloud architecture or into security, where network design knowledge is core. Pay rises with each step, and BLS lists network architects among the better-paid roles in the field. Our IT careers overview shows how this compares with the other seven jobs.

How to Move From Administrator to Engineer

Most engineers earned the title after administrating a network, so the question is how to make the move. Start by asking to work on changes, not just fixes: a new site, a switch refresh, a firewall migration. Document what you did and the reasoning behind it. Then study for the next certification, and build a small lab where you can practice designs you don’t get to touch at work.

When you apply, show the design work. Employers read “maintained a campus network” as administration and “designed and deployed a wireless upgrade across the whole campus” as engineering. The second sentence is the one that gets the interview. Pair that with the CCNA and a bachelor’s degree, and you meet the typical profile BLS describes.

The Hard Parts of Network Engineering

Network changes are high stakes. A bad configuration can cut off an entire site, and a planned outage window means nights and weekends. Equipment lead times, vendor support calls, and budget approvals slow projects down. You will also spend real time in documentation and meetings, which people who like hands-on work sometimes dislike. The compensation reflects that responsibility. If you like designing things that other people depend on, and you can handle the pressure of a change window, the job is a strong fit.

Network Engineer Compared with Network Administrator and Security Analyst

Three jobs share much of the same knowledge and differ in focus. A network administrator operates the network and answers for it day to day, with a median of $99,130. A network engineer designs and changes it, with a median of $134,050. An information security analyst defends it, with a median of $129,180, and the security field is projected to grow 21% through 2035.

If you like building, engineering is the one. If you like defending, security draws on the same networking base, and many engineers move across. Because all three start with the same foundation of networking skills, you don’t have to decide on day one. Build the base, hold the CCNA, and watch which kind of work you volunteer for. The one you keep volunteering for is usually the right track.

Where Network Engineer Jobs Are

Colorado has the most network engineers, about 16,380 of the 179,740 BLS counts nationally, and the top five states hold 36% of them. It also has the highest concentration, at 4.93 times the national share. Remote work loosens this for some employers, but local demand still shapes who is hiring near you.

The 10 largest of 51. Concentration compares the state's share of these jobs with the national share, so 1.00x matches the country. These figures are for computer network architects, BLS May 2025.

Network Engineer Jobs in Major Metros

Among the 50 metro areas in our city guides with a published count, Denver has the most, about 10,260 workers.

The 10 largest of 50. These figures are for computer network architects, BLS May 2025.

IT Careers Side by Side

Computer Network Architects rank 2 of 9 by median pay among the IT occupations we cover. Pay, projected change and openings don't always move together, so weigh all three against the education each job asks for.

Sorted by median pay. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, and Employment Projections, 2025-35.