Which of the two do you think is the more rewarding field? (keeping in mind parameters like salary, learning curve, working hours, effort/stress, career growth etc)
Re: Software Engr VS Network Engr
Opinion on something like this will differ from person to person based on their own personal ranking of these factors:
salary , learning curve , working hours , efffort/stress , career growth etc
You can do a cost benefit ratio analysis of these two choices if you are being offered both. If you are deciding which one to choose , you can decide one over the other but few months or years down the line you might come to the conclusion it is not my cup of tea and would look for greener pastures.
Re: Software Engr VS Network Engr
Really depends on how far you are willing to go. Learning never stops in either field. Speaking from personal experience, I have seen software engineers make more than network engineers.
Re: Software Engr VS Network Engr
Really depends on how far you are willing to go. Learning never stops in either field. Speaking from personal experience, I have seen software engineers make more than network engineers.
And software engineers get more leadership roles as compared to network engineers. network engineer is relatively a dead end job.
Re: Software Engr VS Network Engr
^YUP! Especially NOC network engineers don't do much apart from network surveillance. This is why I would like to be more on the designing end.
Re: Software Engr VS Network Engr
Thanks for your response guys!
I have observed the same in pakistan, Network Engineers (with multiple CISCO Certs) get pretty low pays compared to (in some cases, a fresh) SW Eng's. But i have seen Network Engineers (with Cisco certs, especially CCIE's) getting HUGE salaries in Middle East. Is it the same for Software Guys over there too? Someone told me that software industry in Middle East has been spoiled due to the abundance of Indians.
Re: Software Engr VS Network Engr
And software engineers get more leadership roles as compared to network engineers. network engineer is relatively a dead end job.
Why do you think this is so? I think this could be due to software guy providing Business Intelligence and Reporting to the management.
Re: Software Engr VS Network Engr
^YUP! Especially NOC network engineers don't do much apart from network surveillance. This is why I would like to be more on the designing end.
Same can be said about an SE Engineer too if he is involved in just the maintenance of a software, a stupid update here and there.
Re: Software Engr VS Network Engr
worked in both roles in the past:
Network Engineer - great starting salary if you have the right certs, but work gets boring after a while, and not too many opportunities for advancement. Also, work tends to be focused on MRO (maintenance, repair, operations), so requires pretty steady on-site hours.
Software Engineer - pay isn't great, but many opportunities for working on different types of projects and to freelance / work from home etc. Also, more opportunities for advancement into higher management type roles because of their analytical skillset and abstract reasoning aptitude which you won't see as much in networking jobs that are more repetitious and structured in nature.
Re: Software Engr VS Network Engr
Your first priority should be software, it has scope pretty much everywhere in the world.
Re: Software Engr VS Network Engr
@LC , in US software engineers get more pay than the network engineer , specially those with ERP, CRM , Mfg skills.
Re: Software Engr VS Network Engr
^ true say Mirch bhai... I was talking more in the context of entry-level jobs in the two fields where certs are the norm for networking jobs but not so much for software development jobs... and initially, certs do lead to somewhat better pay. That being said, I think software definitely is a longer-term career option, especially if you go to ERP route or even keep developing skills on your own in different areas / new frameworks etc.
To progress well in a software role though, the person needs to have an aptitude for analysis, critical thinking, and abstract reasoning - a combo that is very hard to find usually, and that's why there's a lot of attrition in the industry.
Re: Software Engr VS Network Engr
worked in both roles in the past:
Network Engineer - great starting salary if you have the right certs, but work gets boring after a while, and not too many opportunities for advancement. Also, work tends to be focused on MRO (maintenance, repair, operations), so requires pretty steady on-site hours.
Software Engineer - pay isn't great, but many opportunities for working on different types of projects and to freelance / work from home etc. Also, more opportunities for advancement into higher management type roles because of their analytical skillset and abstract reasoning aptitude which you won't see as much in networking jobs that are more repetitious and structured in nature.
Nice points there LC! So SE clearly seems to have the edge. However, an SE seems to work a lot harder/has to learn than a Network guy because of all the updates/features of different programming languages coming out all the time. This could probably be due to the dominance of a single company in the networking industry (CISCO).
Re: Software Engr VS Network Engr
^ more than the dominance of a company, it has to do with the nature of work. In software engineering, your user requirements and design objectives are specific to each customer's needs, and the same programming skillset can be used in a multitude of ways. On the other hand, working in the network field only provides limited space for creativity - you can't change the inner workings of the hardware or the way protocols are designed to work... so you work within those constraints and the type of work is more structured and repetitive.
Re: Software Engr VS Network Engr
agree with Lucid, other thing to consider for SE jobs will always be more compared to NEs for a network you will find couple of Network and IT guys and many SEs in the same organisation depending on type of organisation.
But networking is also a very vast and specialised field, it can vary from small network /lan/wan setup to IP voice x.25 to UMTS/GSM
Re: Software Engr VS Network Engr
In my opinion, software engineering is mostly involve programming, and requirement gathering. In next 5 years person should get some team lead role and after that Project Manager role.
if you consider learning part then it is only just for few years, after that you use same thing again and again and learn new framework which is not difficult once you know concept.
in term of salary, as mirch uncle sugggested that ERP skill is cash cow.
anyway, if you want high salary in IT then go with SAP module. you will earn more than $200/hr. :D
i dont know much about network engineer.