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In which fields can I work on networking, hardware, an software?

My name is Kalp and I would like to work in a field in which I can do networking , work on hardware, and also work on software. I just want to grab this all because I love it! #software #networking #computer-engineer #hardware

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Aaron’s Answer

In most small organizations with limited IT support you become a generalist in all aspects of IT technology. Though you do not become an expert in any one area you become a generalist who will utilize outside support. Networking and Hardware often go hand-in-hand, however, software developers unless developing for networking or hardware is a very different skill set.


There are some specific fields which do address all three of these skills and that would be working for example for in router development, which requires firmware and networking interfaces.


I hope this answers your question

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Rupam’s Answer

A career in Infrastructure IT generally allows you to dabble in all of the above aspects. Software is front and center in everything related to IT but a career in networking, storage, virtualization, etc gives an opportunity to work on Hardware and networking as well. A career in networking allows exposure in almost everything of interest to you because increasingly a good background in programming is becoming crucial in automating tasks and manipulating APIs to connect to and automate operations. A career purely focussed on software development, on the other hand, might not expose you to the underlying hardware and networking infrastructure that it runs on because every organisation is likely to have dedicated personnel focussed on those aspects. Good luck in your pursuit and I wish you the very best!
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Cheryl’s Answer

You can work as a Network Administrator to explore all things you have mentioned above. However it depends on the Organization and type of job they are offering. In few cases you might be limited to do only one thing out of three.

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Jared’s Answer, CareerVillage.org Team

Getting a role in IT working for a large corporation would give you an opportunity to work on each of those. You would spend a fair amount of your time helping to maintain, install, upgrade, and secure your company's network. In addition, you would be able to work with your company's employees' hardware. As for software, there is a big difference between writing new software and maintaining existing software created by an outside vendor. In a large IT department it is sometimes the case that you would be writing custom software for your company, but not always the case. It's quite likely that you would be helping your company's employees to effectively use the software that your company owns licenses for. I hope that helps and good luck!

Thank you comment icon I'd actually recommend aiming to work for a smaller company or a startup if you want to be a jack of all trades. Big companies tend to hire specialists who have a narrower focus. In a smaller company fewer people have to take on a large variety of tasks, which lends itself to a broad skill set. Bryan Gough
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shivakesh’s Answer

If you like working with both hardware and software, and enjoy managing others, becoming a network administrator is a great career choice in IT industry. A network administrator is responsible for keeping an organization’s computer network up-to-date and operating as intended where you can also get hands on networking, hardware and software.
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Nitin’s Answer

Hi,
If your Interest is deep for hardware programming where you can use your programming skills as well as playing with Hardware.
Embedded programming is the Field where you can involve at H/w chip level design and programming at EP-ROM

One of other options is developing High level software which directly run on Hardware. Which need the knowledge of both H/w architecture and Programming skills. OS level coding is one of the example for H/W platform( internet OS for networking devices).

The 3rd option could be develop sophisticated S/w which run on OS but they are very specific to h/w architecture and infrastructure. So Networking industry could be one of the area of your Interest.

Good Luck!
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Edward’s Answer

I suppose it depends on if you want to help build these products or you want to use them. If building, you may want to consider a degree in computer engineering, which will empower you to pursue career in a company which build equipment in the networking industry. Beyond networking companies, other company's hardware product also rely on software networking stack, and networking software features to be implemented, in addition to other software feature. Companies such as Dell, Cisco, HP are all considerations here.
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Rahul’s Answer

I would go out and answer a bit differently.

If you are a people person, love to talk to new people, IT sales should be the place for you. Something like a job at Dell or HP.

You will get to be closer to technology (cutting edge almost all the time). Maybe not software programming but will give you enough chances to explore.

Else, some of the options above are equally good. :) Best of luck.
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Housam’s Answer

This would mainly be an IT field the degree necessary would be a computer science degree or a computer systems degree. I do recommend if you a like only hardware to look into electrical engineering. If you are only interested in software stay with computer science. Or if you want to be even more marketable and available for even more jobs out of college go with computer engineering. The engineering titles require heavy math while in school though so many tend to fall back on computer science as it is less demanding. But be aware as far as careers go if you are going to work for a corporation the ladder to the top for computer science is generally short as you must go into management to continue to move up. But if you find a start up or some other breakout from corporations (finance is profitable) then that can be a great move as far as careers go.

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Heather’s Answer

If you are starting out with limited work experience, you might want to consider trying out for a Help Desk (service desk) position. I think this position would give you a breadth of experience, and the opportunity to work directly with clients. In a large organization, it might be easier to work your way up to the kind of position you described (including network engineer) and they might even provide the training/certification. Best to you!

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John’s Answer

IT support industry-you can work as a system administrator where you will have to deal with network, hardware and also some software installations on the network devices


John Rk

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CK’s Answer

If you like working with both hardware and software, and enjoy managing others, becoming a network administrator is a great career choice in IT industry. A network administrator is responsible for keeping an organization’s computer network up-to-date and operating as intended where you can also get hands on networking, hardware and software.
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