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RoleNetworking

Network Automation Engineer

Ansible + Python against network gear, CI for configs, less CLI than you'd think.

The verdict

One of the best forward-looking seats inside networking. Take it if you can actually code, skip it if 'automation' means Ansible playbooks you copy from a vendor wiki.

Pick this if
  • You've got real networking depth and want to keep it relevant
  • You're comfortable writing Python, not just patching it
  • You enjoy version-controlled, peer-reviewed network changes
  • You want a salary closer to platform engineering than netadmin
Skip this if
  • You don't actually like coding, you'll be miserable
  • You expect every employer to be ready for network-as-code, most aren't
  • You'd rather keep clicking through the firewall GUI for another decade
What "doing well" looks like in the seat
  • Your changes go through CI and get reviewed like software
  • You've replaced a tedious manual workflow with code that survives the next engineer
  • Other network engineers borrow your modules and patterns
  • You can hold your own in a platform engineering review
The bit you're probably underestimating

The market is bifurcated. Some orgs have the maturity to treat the network as code, give you tooling budget, and trust you with merge rights. Most don't, and you'll be the one engineer trying to drag a CCNA-heavy team into pull requests they don't want. Interview the team's tooling stack and review process. If it's still copy-pasting configs into PuTTY, you're going to be lonely.

Tradeoffs at a glance

Hover any chip for the calibrated meaning. Ratings are directional, not absolute.

Promotion ceiling

High. Niche but premium-paid bridge role between networks and DevOps.

Who actually gets in
  • +Senior network engineer who codes
  • +Cloud engineer with L2/L3 depth
Common misconceptions
  • −That networking automation is mostly Cisco DevNet. Python beats certs here.

Where this leads

  • Cloud Network Engineer
  • Platform Engineer
  • NetDevOps

Certifications people pair with this

Listed because the graph connects them to this role, not because you need all of them. Most practitioners pick one or two.

Tech you'll see

  • Ansible
  • Python

Pathways that pass through here

The serious next step

You've read about the role. The harder question is whether it's the right one for you.

A Career Verdict is the written, practitioner-authored call on your specific route into and out of this role. Six primitives, same format every time.

Plateau zone
The flat year nobody warns you about, named and timed.
Reality vs Fantasy
Your actual five-year curve against the one you've been sold.
What to sit and what to skip
Each cert on your list: useful, optional, or skip, with reasons.
The call
A single written judgment on whether your plan holds up.
Tradeoff spectrum
What you're giving up for what you're choosing, plotted.
Decisive factors
The two or three things that will actually make or break this.
See what a Career Verdict looks like£25 · one verdict, yours to keep

Built on POST's practitioner-authored assessment framework, calibrated by James from twenty years across helpdesk, infrastructure and security. Framework is human-authored; the verdict applies it to your inputs.

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