I’ve been in the business for seven years now. Not much you might say, but enought to see some things that drive me up the wall.
Nothing ticks me off more then seeing someone call a MCSE a “network administrator”. To me, MCSE are “system administrator” because that’s what they do, they manage and take care of systems (OS, Applications, etc). Even the name says it, Microsoft certified SYSTEM engineer.
A network administrator is someone who deals in networks. He deals in switches, routers, protocols, ports, access, firewalls, load balancing, etc. That kind of stuff you don’t learn from Microsoft, Novell or whatever. You learn it from Cisco, Nortel, Checkpoint, NAI, Radware.
I understand that, in most situation, system administrators take care of the network because there is no one else to do it. But that don’t make them specialists in that field.
When i tell people that i’m a network administrator, and they ask me if i did my MCSE 2000 yet, it take offence. I’m CCNA,Shiva (now Intel) certified, working on NAI and Radware. That’s what a “real” network administrator does.
Am i the only one that sees this difference? Even here, i came in to this site because it had a “Network admin” section, only to find mostarticles and discussions deal with system administration.
Let me know (politely please) if you think i’m off the mark of should we push for the industry to recongnise the difference.