Networking
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Frequently Asked Questions about Networking
If you’re beginning, start with Google’s The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking for core concepts. You can also build broader IT context with the Google IT Support Professional Certificate. For foundational infrastructure skills, see System Administration and IT Infrastructure Services.
Yes—practice packet capture and traffic analysis with guided projects like Analyze Network Traffic with TCPDump: Build a Logging Tool. You can also get started with Wireshark for Beginners: TCP IP Protocol Fundamentals and Wireshark for Beginners: Capture Packets. These short, interactive projects help you apply skills immediately.
Learn VPCs, connectivity, and network design with Google Cloud’s Networking in Google Cloud: Fundamentals and Routing and Addressing. For a deeper path, explore the Networking in Google Cloud Specialization. If you’re new to cloud, AWS Cloud Technical Essentials provides a helpful foundation.
Top rated picks include Networking in Google Cloud: Fundamentals, Networking in Google Cloud: Routing and Addressing, and the Networking in Google Cloud Specialization. These courses focus on real-world architecture, connectivity, and network management.
Successful IT and computer networking professionals need a combination of technical skills and analytical skills. On the technical side, these roles require expertise in working with computers, smartphones, and other mobile devices and peripherals, as well as all relevant operating systems like Microsoft Windows, Linux, and UNIX. It’s also essential to have a deep technical knowledge of the local area networks, wide area networks, network segments, and intranets that can connect all of these disparate devices and components.
In order to put this technical knowledge to work, IT and computer networking professionals need terrific analytical skills, too. When building these computer networks, they need to be able to evaluate an organization’s needs as well as budget and come up with a plan for delivering a reliable, secure network infrastructure to match. And once the network is up and running, networking professionals rely on their analytic as well as problem-solving skills to troubleshoot any hardware and software issues that emerge.
Deepen your skills with Google Cloud’s Networking in Google Cloud: Routing and Addressing. For telecom and modern architectures, see Intel’s Network Transformation 102 and Google’s CBRS Professional Training.
Start with The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking to learn fundamentals. Then build practical administration skills with System Administration and IT Infrastructure Services and reinforce modern workflows in Configuration Management and the Cloud. These courses help you plan, deploy, and maintain reliable networks.
Yes—Coursera offers security pathways that complement networking, such as the Google IT Support Professional Certificate. You can also prepare for security roles with the ISC2 Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP), NYU’s Introduction to Cyber Security, and CU’s Computer Security and Systems Management.
You could know if learning networking is right for you if you like working with ideas and solving problems, and are hardwired for technology and computing knowledge. Many of today’s networking pros have grown up on the web, and having this deep knowledge of how computers are networked via systems is integral to learning networking. You might also know if learning networking is for you if you like working with data, procedures, and processes. In these areas, you are likely apt to think about complex matters, research problems, and create solutions to computer issues.
Among the topics that you might want to study that are related to networking are data protection and privacy topics. Keeping data secure in computer networks is one of the key aspects crucial to information and networking. Having good knowledge of data breaches, how they happen, and how good networking can protect the data would be important topics to study. You can learn more about networking, by having a good grasp of how data storage works in connection with networks, and how this data can be accessed by network administrators.
Yes—explore Intel’s Network Transformation 101 and Network Transformation 102 for carrier and enterprise modernization. For spectrum and private LTE/5G, see CBRS Professional Training. These options help you upskill for large-scale, software-defined networks.
