On 13 July 2011 14:08, Larry Stites <ncnet@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Given what you know now, if you were 21 and just starting into networking / communications industry which areas of study or specialty would you prioritize?
Number 1 - Learn how to learn. If you can't already do what Scott Young does, then start with this URL and check out some of the other content on that site <http://calnewport.com/blog/2011/05/18/anatomy-of-an-a-a-look-inside-the-process-of-one-of-the-worlds-most-efficient-studiers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+StudyHacks+%28Study+Hacks%29> Number 2 is to learn how to set up a comprehensive virtualized test lab, and build complex networks on that. A lot of real-world router/switch software can run on virtual environments like Dynamips so you have a chance to dig in fairly deeply for little money. Number 3 is to leverage Ebay to buy old (and really cheap) routers and switches. Only buy the really cheap stuff because it will be old and broken in some way. Don't buy dead boxes, but the really cheap stuff might not even have IP on it, or it might be a really old and limited and buggy version. Make it work as best you can. Using version numbers, find out what bugs exist in a particular box, and see if you can trigger the bug and/or shield the box from harm. This is not only a good mental exercise but will give your knowledge some depth of experience that most existing people have, but which very few newcomers will ever get. Fact is that technology is still changing rapidly and you will need to constantly be learning new stuff so make sure you do the same. That's why number one above is so important. Don't specialize. Just follow what interests you and try to avoid getting over specialized because things change and it is hard to predict which specialties will be in demand in the future. But people who can think on their feet, have hands-on experience and are willing to do whatever needs doing today; those people will always in demand. P.S. you might also want to look into buying some microcontrollers and FPGAs, and building your own data comm protocols from scratch. Don't write a TCP/IP stack at first, but roll your own. Then if you happen across an old token-ring only router, see if you can build an interface to bridge it with Ethernet.