Quote:
Originally Posted by davis449
I'll relate an interesting experience I've had with my current position I took 2.5 years ago. I worried a lot about losing some of my hands-on skills when I took this position where I have to work every issue from every client remotely. I found that I am now really developing an ability to do it all "blind", so-to-speak. Prior to this, I was doing all this work myself or with co-workers and had the ability to see it and lay my hands on it. It's given me another challenge.
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The ability to have someone describe a problem, you ask relevant questions to gain a better picture, and then formulate a resolution plan is important. I've developed this skill over the years when peers/customers call me to ask for advice.
But hands on is still pretty important. With all the various systems out there, I find myself having to get keyboard time to remember things. Since the OP started this around networking, if I didn't have a Juniper EX4200 switch in my lab, I would easily forget all the things I've learned playing with it. For those that haven't touched a JUNOS switch, it's a different world. It's nothing like configuring a switch that follows Cisco's IOS syntax. So far to make me touch and refer to the EX4200 periodically, I have it as my main internal routing (layer 3 switch) device for a few VLANs with it exchanging OSPF route information to a Force10 S4810, a Cisco 3560E, and a SonicWall E6500 (just replaced a Cisco ASA5505).
Then there's the whole new development behind SDN (software defined networking) and open networking which there hasn't been an official industry wide recognized certification. The only way to get a good understanding of it is to get your hands dirty. Everyone has their take on this: Big Switch, Pluribus, Cumulus, IP Infusion, Midokura, NEC, and Cisco ACI (which isn't really SDN). There's some really cool stuff out there and the software defined X movement is really starting to take off.