Networking Analysts

A Day in the Life

Your job as a networking analyst is multi-faceted. You'll need to use your computer network design skills in order to create new computing systems for your company or clients. You'll also need to use your business acumen to analyze company problems and determine a technological solution to those problems. Depending on where you work, you may be known as a network analyst, systems analyst or even business analyst.

You arrive at work on Monday morning right as the corporate headquarters of your company opens. On Friday, your boss let you know that the sales department was having difficulty entering important client data into their computer system. Checking the system in that department and understanding the problems that employees are having is your first priority.

Before you head to the sales department, you pull diagnostic and statistical data about the company's networking system from your work computer. You notice that there have been no problems with network speed or connectivity, so you determine that the sales staff must be having issues using the software program itself. You jot down a few notes about network performance and head to the sales department.

You first speak to the head of the sales department to get an idea of the problem that sales staff have been having with data entry. The sales manager describes some of the common issues to you, but you still need to see what the employees are seeing when they struggle. You sit down with a member of the sales team and watch as he attempts to enter client data. After spending about 30 minutes with the employee, you thank him and let the sales manager know that you're going back to your office to work on the problem.

When you return to your office, you let your boss know that there is a slight glitch in the data entry program that the sales department uses. You troubleshoot how to fix the program and ask the sales manager if everyone in the department can take lunch at the same time. You fix the software program and update the software while everyone is at lunch. You check in throughout the afternoon to ensure that the sales program is functioning as designed.

During the afternoon, you help employees with minor networking and connectivity issues. Since you worked through your lunch, your boss tells you to head home an hour early. You leave the office looking forward to the challenges and puzzles that will await you tomorrow.