Network Administrator
You keep the network up — switches, routing, wifi, VPNs, and the mystery of why one floor can't print.
No degree needed Moderate — a clear step up from help desk, but a well-worn one.
Can I actually do this?
Rarely a first job, commonly a second one. The usual route is help desk first, then Network+ and internal moves.
Who it suits. People who like the puzzle of tracing a fault through layers, and who can stay methodical when everyone is asking whether it's fixed yet.
Runway. Realistic within months of help desk experience plus Network+ study.
Already on a help desk? This is the most direct promotion available to you, and your ticket history is relevant experience. Help Desk / IT Support
Also advertised as
The route
Four stations, in order. Each one is a thing you finish before the next matters.
-
Station one
Learn it free
Only the best few, deliberately. Every one of these is free to use — the pill on each card says exactly what is and isn't free.
Professor Messer Network+ N10-009 full video course
Free to learn · no certificate
Complete free course covering the current N10-009 objectives. The course is free; the exam is a separate paid purchase.
Verified 2026-07-26
CompTIA Network+ official exam objectives
Free to learn · no certificate
The official page lists exam mechanics and the objectives the exam is actually built from. Read it before choosing any course.
Verified 2026-07-26
-
Station two
Attest strategically
Network+ is the recognised signal here. Check the retirement note on its page before committing to a long study plan — CompTIA retires exam versions on roughly a three-year cycle.
CompTIA Network+
CompTIA · N10-009 (V9)
Free to learn · paid certificate Recognized
The honest cost Cost Not published
CompTIA does not print the exam fee on this page, and it remains absent when the page is fully rendered — a genuine omission rather than a JavaScript artefact. Check the official store; prices vary by region and rose across the lineup on 2026-06-01.Validity 3 years. Renewal CompTIA continuing-education programme, or renew automatically by earning a higher CompTIA certificate. Assessment Proctored exam — maximum 90 questions, mix of multiple-choice and performance-based, 90 minutes, pass mark 720 (scale 100–900) Proctored Yes Verify via Credly Cost per active year Unknowncannot be computed — CompTIA does not publish the exam fee on its official page The standard second rung of the CompTIA ladder, and a common requirement in network and infrastructure postings.
Read this before you buyRETIREMENT WARNING, stated by CompTIA on its own page: exams usually retire about three years after launch, putting N10-009 on an estimated 2027 retirement. Do not start a long study plan for this version without checking whether a successor has been announced.
Verified 2026-07-28 · Official page
-
Station three
Prove it
A certificate says you passed a test. These say you can do the job.
Home network lab
Build a segmented network with VLANs and a firewall, using real or virtualised kit. Document the addressing scheme and one deliberate misconfiguration you diagnosed.
Packet capture write-ups
Capture and annotate traffic for three ordinary events — a DNS lookup, a TLS handshake, a failed connection. Being able to read a capture separates you from people who have only watched videos.
Documented topology
Diagram a real network you have access to (home, a volunteer org) with addressing, routing and failure modes. Documentation quality is itself a hiring signal.
-
Station four
Get hired
Search these exact titles
Who hires for this. Managed service providers, internal IT departments, ISPs, universities, hospitals, anywhere with more than one site.
This role sits at a genuine fork: it continues into cloud, into security, or into deeper network engineering. None of those doors closes by starting here.
On salaryWe don't publish salary estimates. Numbers copied between blogs drift from reality, and a wrong number costs you real negotiating power. When we have a verified public source, it goes here with its date.
Where this route continues
- SOC Analyst — a confirmed feeder route into security
- Cloud Engineer — networking transfers directly
- Cloud Support — sideways move
This page last verified 2026-07-26 · How we verify
Course and official exam page fetched live 2026-07-26 (HTTP 200; 23,334 and 14,630 characters of visible content respectively). Exam mechanics quoted from CompTIA's own page.