Chapter 9

Working as an In-House Networking Professional

Most networking professionals work as in-house experts, directly or indirectly contributing to the ongoing operation of their employer's systems and networks.

Networking jobs in private sector and nonprofit companies vary widely by industry, company size, and other factors. Some people prefer to be a one-man-band in a small company, responsible for all aspects of the systems and networks. Others prefer larger companies and to work as part of an information technology team or department. You must decide what you'll like best and where you can be successful.

Living Your Destiny

Probably the most distinguishing characteristic of being an in-house versus a consulting networking professional is that you're in the organization for the long haul. Consultants or contractors come in for a specific task or project and then leave, usually long before anyone realizes the consequences (good or bad) of their work. But as an in-house networking professional, you'll reap the fruits of your labor for years.

When you make a good decision, you'll enjoy the outcome and at times even bask in it. But when you make a poor decision, you'll be around to see the consequences and any discomfort that may result. However, you'll have the opportunity to improve both bad and good situations to make them even better.

Working in the Private Sector

Private individuals (or a group or people) own and run private sector organizations. A private sector company may also be publicly owned, meaning that all or part of its ownership is through publicly traded shares. And not to confuse you, but a private company is a private sector company that is privately owned, not owned through publicly traded shares.

The majority of jobs in the United States are in the private sector. In late 2014, there were 119 million non-farm jobs in private industry and 22 million jobs in government.

Industry regulations

People in many professions tend to work in one industry for much of their career, although they may change employers within an industry. Employers tend to select candidates for employment based on their past experience in the industry, which also tends to keep people in a particular industry sector.

Each sector in the networking field has its own regulations regarding the protection of information and information systems. Although information security professionals often take responsibility for translating regulations into company operations, networking professionals often do this task in smaller organizations that lack dedicated security staff. Familiarity with these regulations also tends to keep a networking professional tied to a specific industry sector. Table 9-1 provides a sample of industries and the regulations related to information security.

Many organizations are subject to multiple sets of regulations. For instance, a publicly traded healthcare organization that accepts payments by credit card would be subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), and U.S. state laws requiring public disclosure of breaches of personally identifiable information. As a result, the organization may have to enact a complex set of IT controls and endure multiple external audits per year. These requirements, in part, drive demand for networking professionals: Companies need people who are familiar with these different security control frameworks and can implement them effectively and efficiently.

Table 9-1 Industry Sectors and Information Security Regulation

Comparing private versus public companies

A public company is one where all or part of its ownership is through publicly traded shares that are traded in an open market such as the New York Stock Exchange. Table 9-2 highlights key differences between private and public companies.

The only practical difference between working as a networking professional in a private company versus a public company (U.S. based) is that a public company must comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and enact a framework of IT and business controls to protect the integrity of the company's financial accounting system and its financial reports. Networking professionals must document and follow policies and procedures. There is a greater emphasis on the security of systems and networks in a public company.

Table 9-2 Private versus Public Companies

Supporting company goals and objectives

Networking professionals in the private sector (particularly those in management positions) must understand the mission, goals, and objectives of their company and then develop and enact networking strategies to support them. Otherwise, the networking and IT teams will be out of step with the rest of the organization.

To put it simply, a networking team must support and facilitate whatever business activities the organization wants to undertake. Networking should be involved all along the way, to understand new initiatives and to influence small and large outcomes so that those initiatives will be successful.

One Size Doesn't Fit All: Small and Large Businesses

For many professionals, including those in networking, considerable differences exist when working in small versus large organizations. Without considering an individual's preferences, the issue is not good versus bad but differences in the job based on company size.

Table 9-3 provides some general differences between small and large organizations. Remember that these are generalizations; every company is different.

Table 9-3 Small versus Large Organizations

Chaos versus Calm: Growth, Mergers, and Acquisitions

They say that companies are either growing or dying. Although rewarding professional challenges exist in both types of companies, some characteristics of a company are worth a look.

On the surface, working for a company enjoying a high rate of growth looks like a lot of fun — and it can be. However, a rapidly expanding company experiences growing pains that you won't see in more stable, mature organizations:

Besides organic growth, some companies grow by gobbling up other companies. The result is nearly the same: People with different ways of doing things come together and try to figure out how to do things in the newly combined organization. Lots of decisions get made in the sloppy effort of joining companies in mergers and acquisitions.

In many companies that grow through acquisition, their internal IT systems are often a cobbled patchwork of systems and networks from each acquired company. Often these systems remain for years, with integration and consolidation proceeding slowly, if at all. This adds considerable complexity, which is another aspect of the excitement (or angst) that we get to look forward to each day.

Rapidly growing and changing companies are, by their nature, unstable and chaotic. You'll have to decide whether this kind of work environment is something you can live with.

Working in Global Enterprises

Global organizations have a unique set of challenges that companies in a single country aren't faced with. Sure, there are language, cultural, and geographic challenges that make company operations more interesting. But from the perspective of networking, the issues that we need to be aware of and manage include the following:

A multinational company must deal with these different national and local laws, and often conduct its business operations differently in each country. A networking professional needs to understand that different technologies may be in use as well as differences in how they are managed.

Another important aspect of work in a multinational organization is the likelihood that some of your team members (including your boss and people who work for you) work and live in other countries. For some, the language and cultural differences are enriching experiences. For others, who prefer to work with people mainly face to face, this arrangement may not be a satisfying one.

Working for a Nonprofit Organization

In the legal sense, a nonprofit uses surplus revenues to further its goals rather than distributing them as profit or dividends to owners. When most people hear “nonprofit,” they think of a charity or a foundation.

One typical characteristic of a nonprofit is its culture of frugality, because every dollar spent on anything other than its mission reduces the fulfillment of its mission. With a few exceptions, IT and networking professionals find work in nonprofits frustrating because they have fewer opportunities to gain experience with new technologies. They may also feel that their tenure in a nonprofit will hurt their long-term career outlook. Further, some nonprofits do not have the means to pay market-level salaries to their professionals, which can make it difficult for nonprofit organizations to find qualified talent.

Every cloud has its silver lining. Working in a nonprofit can be intensely rewarding and fulfilling because you are part of something important that is improving the world. For a networking professional, a nonprofit has another reward: Because the organization may not have the funds to buy the latest networking technologies, you'll learn how to do more with less, which is a skill valued not only in nonprofits but also throughout the private sector.