Typical duties and responsibilities
An infrastructure engineer is responsible for updating the hardware that is required for the maintenance of servers and the network. When servers, routers, PCs and other equipment needs to be set up or fixed, an infrastructure engineer is normally the person for the job! Infrastructure engineers can be found in any company, as well as in government and nonprofit entities. Regardless of where they work, the core duties and responsibilities of an infrastructure engineer include:
- Establishing a networks infrastructure
- Identifying problems with networks
- Providing a solution
- Providing IT support
- Answering calls about network issues
- Checking and maintaining network components
- Providing constant upkeep of the network infrastructure
- Liaising with stakeholders
Qualifications
To land a job as an infrastructure engineer, you will normally need to complete a bachelors degree in computer science or a related subject.
Skills and work experience
To become an infrastructure engineer, you need to have a deep body of knowledge and a wide variety of hard and soft skills. Such skills include:
- Software knowledge, as IT infrastructure engineers will work with a variety of different softwares and must understand how systems interact
- Hardware knowledge, as infrastructure engineers need to know how to work with routers, servers, PCs, printers and other equipment
- Problem-solving, as infrastructure engineers will need to solve a huge range of technical problems in their daily life
- Teaching skills, as infrastructure engineers need to be able to explain complexed and technical concepts to nontechnical colleagues. They may also need to train them to use the software
Hours
You can expect to be working full-time in normal business hours (Monday to Friday). However, sometimes you will need to be on call incase of an emergency. When this is the case, infrastructure engineers will work outside of normal business hours!
Salary
According to PayScale, the average salary for an applications engineer in the United States is $79,480 annually. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $49,000 and the highest 10 percent earned over $110,000 per year.
Progression
Having servers and software running correctly is hugely important for modern day living. Infrastructure engineers are important in almost every industry, from finance and banking to transportation and medical care. As a result, it is hardly surprising that the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 6% growth in employment for infrastructure engineers. As a result, there are lots of career prospects for skilled and dedicated infrastructure engineers.