It's happened. For so long it was only a dream, a communal fantasy held by computer geeks. We dreamed of wrongs finally being righted and of restitution paid for ancient but still painful grievances. And yet for so long we were left with nothing. Then, in a magical revolution, came Wozniak, Jobs, Gates, Thompson, Ritchie, Page, Brin, and so many others. 

Those guys each made a fortune and each helped pave the way for an interconnected network of computers, and coincidentally, for network admins. Unfortunately admins themselves don't make a fortune, but still pull in a respectable $76,000 per year (source). 

 

Like a king in his castle. (Source)

The age of technology has arrived. No longer will A.V. club kids be the victims of high school-style wedgies and swirlies. The techies will no more be mocked by the athletes of the world, shoved into lockers and made to sing before they're let out. The landscape has changed, and those with knowledge of computers have emerged victorious. The rest of the world has realized their value and indispensability, and now they're commanding the respect they deserve.

Bill Gates once advised the world to be nice to nerds, because odds are one day you'll work for one. That's all well and good, but where's the advice for nerds who don't also happen to be billionaires yet? That's most of us, we're thinking.

What were we supposed to be talking about again? Ah, right, network administrators.

As the U.S. has gradually transformed from an industrial society to an increasingly white-collar, office-based workforce, computers and their networks have become indispensable. 

Since most employees at most office-based companies have their own computer, companies have network administrators who manage their intranet and the various networks needed to keep the employees connected. Sounds easy, right? Wrong-o. It can be a really, really difficult job as those networks become more complicated.

 

Whatever—it doesn't look that complicated. (Source)

A large company may have dozens of local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and other such connections, each of which will consist of several (hundred) computers, as well as routers, switches, firewalls, and various other bits of computing paraphernalia. Someone has to be in charge of all that—don't you just wish it could be you?

Considering all the technical know-how required in this career, we have some advice for anyone whose company has an IT department full of network administrators: don't tick them off. They have access to everything you've ever done on your work computer. 

That's right—everything. Remember that irate email you wrote to your boss but didn't send? Did you delete it? Or is it still in your drafts folder? Uh-huh. Guess who can get to that folder. And guess who can recover deleted items. Yep.

Even if you're not worried about making a work-enemy, network administrators are good people to know and should be treated with respect. As mentioned, it can be a tough job. 

Not only are they responsible for the company's network architecture, they're also often part of the general IT team, which means they need to know how to fix every single thing the computer-illiterate hacks in their organization somehow screw up on a regular basis.

Network admins also have to be reasonably savvy on every major operating system their company decides to use on its networks. This is no joke, because there are so many operating systems in use already and more coming out all the time. That means, in addition to TCP/IP protocol, Cisco routers, and Linux, admins also need a solid understanding of general Unix systems, and to know Mac OS X. 

And don't forget the Microsoft world, meaning Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows: The Next Generation, Windows' Excellent Adventure, and Windows Strikes Back.

So, y'know, those are just some things you should get started on learning if you want to hack it as a network administrator. Go ahead, start now. No time like the present.

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