Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as a network architect and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.
A network architect designs networks and provides expert advice on telecommunications. He/she interprets business requirements and translates them into the new networks. The understanding of the specific business needs is essential for a professional acting in this capacity.
Other duties include providing technological developments that are well aligned with the business's strategic direction and existing financial resources. He/she also works together with other technical specialists including applications, server, and enterprise architects, to make sure there is harmony among technology portfolios. They are also involved in the development of standards for regulating networks and also offers advice to customers based on their needs. Lastly, he/she is responsible for evaluating and reviewing new network technologies against strategic business goals.
Core Skills Required to be a Network Architect
Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.
Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.
A network architect should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.
Customer Oriented:
Customer Oriented is a skill that focuses primarily on the client as the King offering quality services that meet the customer's expectations with an aim to inspire people rather than just try to sell their product.
A Network Architect needs to be customer oriented to boost the image of their company, stand out from the rest of the people and devise innovations of tomorrow that focus its sights on a new target ? satisfying the customer expectations.
Verbal Communication:
Verbal Communication is the use of tones and language to relay a message; it aids as a vehicle for expressing ideas, concepts and it, is critical to the daily running of the business.
A Network Architect portrays his/her image and that of the company by the way he/she communicates; strong verbal communication skills are vital for business development and forging lasting relationships with customers, suppliers, and colleagues.
Negotiation Skills:
Negotiation Skills are a deliberative process by which people settle their differences through an acceptable agreement to both parties to co-exist without argument and dispute in the workplace.
A Network Architect must learn to resolve any disputes that arise in the workplace using the principles of fairness, seeking mutual benefit and maintaining a cordial relationship that builds a success at the workplace.
Innovation:
Innovation is the process of translating new invention into a service that creates value or brings better solutions that meet the requirements.
A Network Architect ought to introduce innovation in their business to help save time and money giving a competitive advantage to grow and adapt the business in today's marketplace as well as creating more efficient processes and ideas with a likelihood for your business to succeed.
Networking:
Networking is the process that encourages an exchange of information and ideas among individuals or groups that share the same interests.
A Network Architect is required to establish policies and procedures that govern networking to form professional relationships that will boost the future of business and employment prospects while maintaining regular contact with each other to gain each other's trust thus developing few quality relationships.
Strategic Planning:
Strategic Planning is organizational management activity that is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations while guaranteeing that employees and other stakeholders are working towards common goals.
A Network Architect should be liable to develop the systematic tools to be used in the organization's processes that coordinate and align resources and actions with the mission, vision, and strategy throughout the organization.
Physical Abilities:
Physical Abilities is the ability of one's strengths and limitations that are also known as the individual resources to perform well at the tasks given.
A Network Architect must understand that his employees are very different types of people who vary in what they can or cannot do and treat each one with respect while supporting them to become the best in what they do.
Self Confidence:
Self Confidence is the ability to know who you are and what you are capable of doing which shows in your behavior, your body language, how you speak, etc.
A Network Architect must be confident enough to inspire confidence in others while encouraging them to handle daily tasks and their personal lives with self-confidence that will, in turn, produce a well-rounded individual.
Conceptual Thinking:
Conceptual Thinking is the ability to recognize a situation or problem by identifying patterns or connections while addressing the underlying issues.
A Network Architect must be a conceptual thinker who has a keen understanding of why things have to be done the way they are; he has to think at an abstract level and apply his insights to the situation across all facets to compete in the diverse and growing economy.
Meeting Management:
Meeting Management is the skill to know and understands the reason why an official meeting should be held and who should attend.
A Network Architect must learn how to properly organize and conduct meetings to contribute to organizational effectiveness by determining situations that require a meeting, understanding types of meetings, planning the meeting, running the meeting to the close and managing people after the meeting.
Hard Skills Required to be a Network Architect
Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.
Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.
A network architect should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.