A study conducted recently shows that the market for enterprise networking equipment in India is estimated to grow from $1 billion in 2008 to $1.7 billion by 2012, recording a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15 percent during this period. The overall networking equipment market is divided into data, voice and network security equipment.

How to get started

To enter into this career, there is no formal degree required as such. One needs to opt for a vocational skill training programme designed as per the industry requirements. One may choose to opt for this upon completing 10+2 but must prefer a year plus long course so as to gain sound understanding on the fundamentals and existing technologies for the industry requirements. Engineers or graduates may opt for shorter duration programmes that enable them to enter the industry.
IACM Smart Learn Limited, an ISO certified company offers Master Connect programme, a 14 months diploma course in hardware and networking after 10+2.

Trained students can start their career as freshers involved in junior level helpdesk function, call taking, call handling and easy problem resolution, generally called L1 engineers and graduating to L2 level engineer - specific problem diagnosis and problem resolution made by staff that already has basic skills in a certain IT area. Upon gaining experience one moves gradually upwards and are called L3/L4 engineer where they are treated as real experts with in-depth specific technical knowledge. Students may also opt for international certifications like MCTS (Vista, Exchange, Security), MCITP, CCNA, A+, Net+, Security+, Linux certifications as per their company’s requirements while on the job after gaining some experience.

Skills required

In order to enter the industry, students must showcase string knowledge in networking technologies, hardware troubleshooting, client server configuration and trouble shooting on networking operating systems, mainly Windows 2008 and Linux along with Mail exchange server, besides having learned the configuring of routers and switches along with Wi-Fi and VoIP environment. Institutes offering a separate module of industry-related practicals add value to the resume. If the fundamentals are strong, one can adopt the newer technologies used within the companies without spending any money on up-gradation until one is looking for a specific change in profile. The candidate must hold sound knowledge of security fundamentals, data centres, networks, building security, safety and controls, which have become an integral part of large networks, besides learning information systems security along with security operations and controls.


Career prospects

While many large corporate have internal IT teams for day-to-day support operations, some like Bharti have out-resourced their entire IT infrastructure management to IBM, though small and medium companies prefer to adopt the managed services model. Either way, the requirement of trained manpower shall grow in proportion to the market growth. Companies like IBM, HCL, PCS, Wipro, HP, Ingram Micro, Redigton, Dell, Aricent and many others keep hiring trained manpower for their various future projects as well as for their existing clients. The overall requirement for trained professionals to manage the entire network infrastructure will soon spurt up.


Mr.Ravinder Goyal
Director, IACM SmartLearn Ltd.




 



 

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