Interpersonal skills needed for Network Engineers

Bill Nash billn at billn.net
Sat Feb 16 22:42:17 UTC 2008


On Sat, 16 Feb 2008, Kim Onnel wrote:

> I am looking for defining what are skills needed in people that will work in
> an ISP's operational/NOC environment as Network Engineers.
>
> In my humble experience, i have came across people that i just feel they are
> not right for such technical jobs, people would act and take their golden
> fingers to the devices without logic and others who has more of a structured
> approach to solving problems and thinking, some that will crank under
> pressure and just loose it and others who will act rationally.
>
> Please correct me if i am wrong and if you believe such skills could be
> gained by time/training?

I think you're talking very generally about the 'cowboy' type of operators 
who will reboot first, and then troubleshoot if that doesn't fix it. There 
are also the territorial types who feel threatened in the face of outside 
ideas or questions.

Speaking as a volatile loudmouth (in recovery), I do think that 
interpersonal skill training, or at least practice, is useful for folks to 
be able to inter-operate both with other people, and other network 
operators. The single most useful troubleshooting skill anyone can bring 
to the table is a good pair of ears and a willingness to use them. With 
that as a base, you can move on to good teamwork and best practices.

As cliche as it may seem, I readily recommend 'Negotiating for Dummies' as 
reading for anyone who doesn't want to be the person that no one can work 
with. It works great when given as an anonymous gift, too.

- billn



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