RCR Wireless News surveyed job postings for telecom engineers across dozens of postings on Indeed.com and other job boards and compiled this list of the top 9 telecom engineer skills being sought by employers.
This list includes skills across experience levels, from entry-level jobs to those requiring 10 or more years of experience; it also represents skills commonly desired across different types of telecom engineer positions, from organizations such as enterprises or school districts, to network operators or vendors. While many specific skill set requirements vary depending on whether the job is primarily wireline or wireless focused, or if the job focuses on the Radio Access Network versus the core, these are the ones that come up most frequently regardless of the infrastructure focus.
The top 9 telecom engineer skills that employers want include:
1. The ability to administer routers, switches, gateways and oversee telecom infrastructure including the wide-area network (WAN) and local area network (LAN), as well as wireless LANs. Some employers specifiy familiarity with Cisco, Juniper, Ciena or other vendors.
2. Telecom certifications, with membership or certification from the Building Industry Consulting Service International (BICSI) the most frequently specified. Other common requirements include being a Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) or Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE).; certification from Avaya or Microsoft’s MCSE; and Juniper Networks’ JNCIE or JNCIP certification.
3. Wide-Area Network (WAN) protocol skills, including MPLS, SIP and others, including knowledge of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF). The ability to code in Perl or Python is also commonly requested. Learn more about MPLS, or multi-protocol label switching, in RCR’s resource guide on mobile backhaul, which explores various MPLS topics.
4. Cabling skills, including familiarity with cabling standards from ETSI, TIA and EIA as well as familiarity with the National Electric Code.
5. Good documentation practices. As networks are designed and deployed, employers want engineers who can clearly and accurately document architectures, functionality, and other details of telecom infrastructure and software in order to maintain good information for maintenance, troubleshooting, and future upgrades. In some cases this requires ISO standardized documentation. As part of that skill set, many employers seek people who are proficient-to-excellent in their ability to use Microsoft Office applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Visio.
6. Interpersonal and communication skills. Many engineering positions include the ability to serve as liaison between different business segments or even with customers. In many cases, telecom engineer positions — particularly in enterprises — include being a point of contact at level 3/tier 3 escalating for troubleshooting in customer care.
7. Cross-platform telecom systems skills. While some telecom engineers focus solely on one aspect of the network, many of the available positions seek broader expertise — say, in supporting VoIP and telephony networks as well as cellular services. This requires a familiarity with a wide range of devices and equipment.
8. The ability to implement quality of service (QoS) features. This ties back into broad knowledge of telecom and networking protocols, as well as implementation practices.
9. Deep understanding of relevant metrics and analytics for telecom networks. This can range from familiarity with common telecom test equipment and the skills to calibrate, operate and interpret the resulting data; to the ability to code in order to query networks for troubleshooting purposes; and understanding of commonly used methods for monitoring and assessing network performance.
