How to become a Computer Network Architect 2024

Computer Network Architect Design and implement computer and information networks, such as local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN), intranets, extranets, and other data communications networks. Perform network modeling, analysis, and planning, including analysis of capacity needs for network infrastructures. May also design network and computer security measures. May research and recommend network and data communications hardware and software.

Computer Network Architect is Also Know as

In different settings, Computer Network Architect is titled as

Design Engineer
Network Analyst
Network and Security Engineer
Network Consultant
Network Systems Consultant
Networking Systems and Distributed Systems Engineer
Solutions Architect
Telecommunications Analyst

Education and Training of Computer Network Architect

Computer Network Architect is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Computer Network Architect

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Education Required for Computer Network Architect

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Degrees Related to Computer Network Architect

Training Required for Computer Network Architect

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Computer Network Architect in different industries are

What Do Computer Network Architect do?

Adjust network sizes to meet volume or capacity demands.
Communicate with customers, sales staff, or marketing staff to determine customer needs.
Communicate with system users to ensure accounts are set up properly or to diagnose and solve operational problems.
Coordinate installation of new equipment.
Coordinate network operations, maintenance, repairs, or upgrades.
Coordinate network or design activities with designers of associated networks.
Design, build, or operate equipment configuration prototypes, including network hardware, software, servers, or server operation systems.
Design, organize, and deliver product awareness, skills transfer, or product education sessions for staff or suppliers.
Determine specific network hardware or software requirements, such as platforms, interfaces, bandwidths, or routine schemas.
Develop and implement solutions for network problems.
Develop and write procedures for installation, use, or troubleshooting of communications hardware or software.
Develop conceptual, logical, or physical network designs.
Develop disaster recovery plans.
Develop network-related documentation.
Develop or maintain project reporting systems.
Develop or recommend network security measures, such as firewalls, network security audits, or automated security probes.
Develop plans or budgets for network equipment replacement.
Develop procedures to track, project, or report network availability, reliability, capacity, or utilization.
Estimate time and materials needed to complete projects.
Evaluate network designs to determine whether customer requirements are met efficiently and effectively.
Explain design specifications to integration or test engineers.
Maintain networks by performing activities such as file addition, deletion, or backup.
Maintain or coordinate the maintenance of network peripherals, such as printers.
Monitor and analyze network performance and reports on data input or output to detect problems, identify inefficient use of computer resources, or perform capacity planning.
Participate in network technology upgrade or expansion projects, including installation of hardware and software and integration testing.
Prepare design presentations and proposals for staff or customers.
Prepare detailed network specifications, including diagrams, charts, equipment configurations, or recommended technologies.
Prepare or monitor project schedules, budgets, or cost control systems.
Research and test new or modified hardware or software products to determine performance and interoperability.
Supervise engineers or other staff in the design or implementation of network solutions.
Use network computer-aided design (CAD) software packages to optimize network designs.
Visit vendors, attend conferences or training sessions, or study technical journals to keep up with changes in technology.
Communicate with vendors to gather information about products, alert them to future needs, resolve problems, or address system maintenance issues.

Qualities of Good Computer Network Architect

Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.

Technology Skills required for Computer Network Architect

Access management software
Adobe ActionScript
Adobe After Effects
Advanced business application programming ABAP
AirMagnet Enterprise
AJAX
Amazon DynamoDB
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2
Amazon Redshift
Amazon Simple Storage Service S3
Amazon Web Services AWS CloudFormation
Amazon Web Services AWS software
Ansible software
Apache Ant
Apache Cassandra
Apache Groovy
Apache Hadoop
Apache Hive
Apache HTTP Server
Apache Kafka
Apache Maven
Apache Pig
Apache Solr
Apache Spark
Apache Struts
Apache Subversion SVN
Apache Tomcat
Apple macOS
Application management software
Application server software
Aruba Networks AirWave
Asset management administration software
Atlassian Bamboo
Atlassian Confluence
Atlassian JIRA
Autodesk AutoCAD
Autodesk Revit
Automated installation software
Bash
Blink
Border Gateway Protocol BGP
BroadSoft BroadWorks
C
C#
C++
CA eTrust
Capacity planning software
Cascading style sheets CSS
Chef
Cisco IOS
Cisco Systems Cisco Web Cache Communication Protocol WCCP
Cisco Systems CiscoWorks
Cisco Systems CiscoWorks LAN Management Solution
Cisco Systems Gateway Load Balancing Protocol GLBP
Cisco Systems Hot Standby Router Protocol HSRP
Cisco Systems Wireless Control System WCS
Cisco Webex
Citrix cloud computing software
Citrix XenApp
Common business oriented language COBOL
Compaq Insight Manager
Computer Associates ArcServ Backup
Computer based training software
Computer intrusion detection systems
Configuration management software
Content filter software
Customer information control system CICS
Dassault Systemes CATIA
Dassault Systemes SolidWorks
Diagramming software
Discrete event simulation software
Django
Docker
Domain name system DNS
Drupal
Dynamic hypertext markup language DHTML
Dynatrace
Eclipse IDE
Elasticsearch
Element management software
Email management software
EMC Smarts Network Protocol Manager
Encryption software
Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol EIGRP
Enterprise JavaBeans
ESRI ArcGIS software
Ethereal
Ext JS
Extensible hypertext markup language XHTML
Extensible markup language XML
Firewall software
Git
GitHub
Go
Google Android
Google Angular
Help desk software
Hewlett Packard HP-UX
Hewlett Packard LoadRunner
Hibernate ORM
Human resource management software HRMS
Hypertext markup language HTML
IBM AIX
IBM Cognos Impromptu
IBM Domino
IBM InfoSphere DataStage
IBM Notes
IBM Power Systems software
IBM WebSphere
IBM WebSphere MQ
Infoblox NetMRI
Infoblox security and networking software
Integrated development environment IDE software
Intermediate System to Intermediate System IS-IS
Internet Protocol Security IPSEC
Intrusion prevention system IPS
Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold
JavaScript
JavaScript Object Notation JSON
Job control language JCL
jQuery
JUnit
KornShell
LAMP Stack
Linux
Local area network LAN software
Logical partition LPAR software
LogRhythm
Lucent VitalSuite
McAfee
McAfee VirusScan
Micro Focus OpenView
Microsoft .NET Framework
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Active Directory
Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP
Microsoft ActiveX
Microsoft ASP.NET
Microsoft ASP.NET Core MVC
Microsoft Azure software
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft Forefront Identify Manager
Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft operating system
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerShell
Microsoft Project
Microsoft SharePoint
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services SSRS
Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visual Basic
Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition VBScript
Microsoft Visual Studio
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows Server
Microsoft Word
MicroStrategy
Minitab
MongoDB
Multi-router traffic grapher MRTG software
Multiprotocol Label Switching MPLS
MySQL
Nagios
National Instruments LabVIEW
NetIQ
Netreo OmniCenter
NetScout InfinitiStream Console
Network and application load and performance testing software
Network and component performance analysis software
Network and system vulnerability assessment software
Network architecture design software
Network availability monitoring software
Network bridge software
Network documentation software
Network intrusion detection software
Network intrusion prevention systems NIPS
Network modeling, mapping, and analysis software
Network reporting software
Network storage software
Network traffic flow monitoring and analysis software
Network traffic probe software
Network, server and operating system optimization software
Node.js
NortonLifeLock cybersecurity software
NoSQL
Online traffic calculator software
Open Shortest Path First OSPF
Operating system software
OPNET APMXpert
Optical network management software
Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition
Oracle Database
Oracle E-Business Suite Financials
Oracle Fusion Applications
Oracle Fusion Middleware
Oracle Java
Oracle Java Enterprise Edition EE
Oracle JavaServer Pages JSP
Oracle JDBC
Oracle PL/SQL
Oracle Solaris
Oracle WebLogic Server
Packet analysis software
Packet filter software
Packet tracing software
Patch and update management software
Penetration testing software
Perforce Helix software
Perl
PHP
Ping Identity
PostgreSQL
Puppet
Python
Qlik Tech QlikView
Quest Erwin Data Modeler
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Red Hat OpenShift
Red Hat WildFly
Relational database management software
Remote access software
Requirements management software
Risk assessment software
Riverbed Technology
Root cause analysis software
Ruby
Ruby on Rails
SAP software
Scala
Security incident management software
Segue SilkPerformer
Selenium
Session Initiation Protocol SIP
Shell script
Silver Peak
Simple mail transfer protocol SMTP
Simple network management protocol SNMP software
Snort
Software distribution software
SolarWinds
Splunk Enterprise
Spring Boot
Spring Framework
Storage area network SAN software
Storage management software
Structured query language SQL
Supervisory control and data acquisition SCADA software
Swift
Symantec Intruder Alert
System and data disaster recovery software
System testing software
Systems and applications migration software
Tableau
Tcpdump
Teradata Database
The MathWorks MATLAB
Ticket information tracking software
Time reporting software
Transact-SQL
Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links TRILL
Trimble SketchUp Pro
Ubuntu
Unified modeling language UML
UNIX
UNIX Shell
Verilog
Veritas NetBackup
Videoconferencing software
Virtual local area network management software
Virtual private networking VPN software
Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol VRRP
Virus scanning software
VMware
Voice over internet protocol VoIP system software
Web browser software
Websense Data Loss Prevention
Wide area network WAN optimization software
Wide area network WAN software
Wireshark

US Universities

How to become Computer Network Architect in 2024