How To Become A Network Design Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a network design engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Maryam Farahani

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a network design engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $48.62 an hour? That's $101,135 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 18,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a Network Design Engineer?

Maryam Farahani

Engineering Instructor, Bakersfield College

Thinking about the fields they want to experience or try. And to be intentional about their job search. The best advice is learning as much as they can about what company offers. Visualizing themselves in the next 5 years as a starting point. Do they want to travel a lot, or be in management positions? Do they want to be subject matter expert, or a hands-on engineer or technologist? Their goal may change as they progress in their career but having one makes a big difference in their career choices and keeping them on track.

ScoreNetwork Design EngineerUS Average

Salary

7.6

Avg. Salary $101,135

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.7

Growth Rate 5%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 12.26%

Black or African American 8.48%

Hispanic or Latino 12.18%

Unknown 5.05%

White 61.72%

Gender

female 14.47%

male 85.53%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress Level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.7

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

7.1

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a network design engineer

Explore network design engineer education requirements

Most common network design engineer degrees

Bachelor's

62.1 %

Associate

19.9 %

Master's

10.4 %

Start to develop specific network design engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Network Design	8.41%
Switches	5.08%
Juniper	4.31%
Routers	3.68%
Network Infrastructure	3.68%

Complete relevant network design engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New network design engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a network design engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real network design engineer resumes.

Research network design engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage efficient T1 utilization thresholds in order to balance customer demand and budget constraints.
Implement HSRP on different location of office on the switched network and managing the entire multilayer switch network.
Utilize advanced encryption devices to secure communications between all locations manage by the department.
Experience on designing and troubleshooting of complex BGP and OSPF routing problems.

Prepare your network design engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your network design engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a network design engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Network Design Engineer Resume templates

Build a professional Network Design Engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Network Design Engineer resume.

Apply for network design engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a network design engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do network design engineers rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Network Design Engineer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2020

Pros

I love the fact that I have self taught myself by trouble shooting issues for fifteen years while working in corrections as the Video court officer with no prior experince or degree

Cons

I dislike the fact that I don't get paid as a Video technician although I'm called to fix issues

A zippia user wrote a review on Nov 2019