How can you choose between network engineering and network administration?

My entry into Network Engineering is probably a little different than most, I was asked to slide over from OSP Engineering to help fill a vacancy. I have been able to stand out with my Visio skills. The guys on my team are real smart but they are more into CLI and often look to me for help because they haven't used Visio that much or often. I am still learning every day but I love the job and the potential for growth is great.

Network engineering teams are responsible for innovative things and also take the responsibility of bug fixes, vulnerabilities and setting standards as well as overall governance of the network.

Engineering in generally is being in charge of a running the system. Administration in generally is doing tasks to help keep a system running and updated. There is a lot of overlap between the two, and traditionally the difference is field work (engineers) vs office work (administrators). Today different companies use these titles in inconsistent ways, and sometimes interchangeably. Sometimes to designate differences that are only a small change in responsibilities that could be better designated with more traditional terms such as Associate and Senior. A true full step above an Administrator/Engineer is actually an Architect who (re)designs and oversees the construction or implementation of the system.

In almost 20 years for Network Engineering, I have yet to truly see a separation between engineering and administration positions. Also add in Network Architect.

I agree with this definition of Network Administration and since Network Engineer will be working on implementing network reliability on site the Network admin can work off site to provide support to Sys admin. They are the bridge between Network Engineers and Systems administration personal to End Users.

Unfortunately these industries are obsessed with Titles. In real life, you will end up mingling in both. You cannot be one without doing the other at some point. I'm OK with just presenting myself as an Engineer. I wish we would stop obsessing over these titles in IT.

Network engineering and network administration are both important IT roles but have different responsibilities and skill sets. Network engineers design, build, and maintain networks, while network administrators manage and troubleshoot networks. If you are more interested in the day-to-day operations of networks, then network administration may be a better choice. You will need to have a strong understanding of networking concepts, but you can have a deeper understanding than network engineers. You will also need to have strong problem-solving and troubleshooting skills.

Network administrator responsibility is to manage a network that includes day to day operations, incidents and direct interaction with customers. Should have good troubleshooting skills, communication and should have to communicate problems and updates with the next available shift engineer.

I believe, that IT professionals, can combine these two network roles during their daily work experience according of the work need.

I agree with Yehya Abbas and Mafulul Mangut, I work at a smaller University and I do everything outlined in the Engineering role as well as manage the everyday Administration of the network, including firewall administration, some server administration and all wireless on campus.

Realistically, the differences between the two roles are subtle and only exist in big organizations. I work as an ICT Officer at a Microfinance Bank in Nigeria. Daily, I provide support for the network, systems, applications and end users.