NOC Technician Jobs: Salary and Career Facts

Find out what it takes to become a NOC Technician. Find out about education and certification requirements, activities and salary information to find out if this is the career for you. Schools offering diplomas on the net can also be found in these popular choices.

What is a NOC Technician?

Network Operations Center (NOC) technicians help computer users to troubleshoot problems with the operation of a computer network. These technicians ensure that IT operators on a given network can do their job with the least amount of problems and can be very practical in customer service and technical support. Their work may also involve training new users in case of software installation or system updates.

What will I do as a NOC Technician?

Your job as a NOC technician is to provide assistance to computer users within a specific network. You can solve problems, provide solutions, and help users understand the system. By working with engineers and other network professionals, you also solve network problems and make sure the network is working properly.

Additional tasks may include answering support calls or email and helping computer users identify their problems. You can also test and collect data to identify the problem. As you work to find a solution, record what you do and document problems.

Your work may also include assisting users when a new system is installed. In this situation, you help users learn how to use the new system, answer user questions and monitor the system for problems. You can also do routine checks to make sure everything is working properly.

How do I prepare for this job?

Formal education is not always required by employers, but you may want to consider completing a computer science curriculum or related computer field to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. Experience and knowledge may be more important than training for employers, according to several Monster.com job openings in March 2015.

Employers may wish that you have a few years of experience working with computers, networks, and troubleshooting. You can also demonstrate your knowledge through certification. Certification is available from various software vendors and can usually be obtained by passing a knowledge or skill test.

For example, Cisco offers a joint certification for NOC Jobs. Cisco offers several levels of certification, including associated level certification options for those who are just entering the field (www.cisco.com). Cisco options include Cisco Certified Networking Technician (CCENT) and Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA). These certifications allow you to show your skills in network security, troubleshooting, installation, and network operations.

What can I earn?

The 10th to 90th percentiles of NOC technicians made between $ 36,000 and $ 70,000 in November 2019. Hourly rates reported by PayScale.com ranged from $ 14 to $ 29.

NOC Technician

Network Operations Center (NOC) technicians supervise complex network components and are responsible for managing the network. They perform troubleshooting on a daily basis. The work of a NOC technician involves maintaining the network, servers, and telecommunication equipment within an organization.

To be precise, an NOC is a central location from which IT support technicians administer, monitor, repair and maintain customer networks. NOCs use software to facilitate network management.

Also known as network management centers, NOCs are set up by organizations to evaluate problems, solve problems and interact with technicians in the field and carefully observe problems until they are resolved.

The network and servers form the basic building block of an IT infrastructure. Companies hire NOC technicians to create a centralized location with both servers and network elements, which they host in one place to simplify security and maintenance.

NOC technicians also check processor performance and network performance. NOC technicians may have to schedule flexible schedules in case of need.

Technicians distribute, manage and resolve IP switching, remote access protocols, routing, and firewalls. It is the job of specialists to maintain reports on bandwidth usage, server usage, availability, and other crucial elements.

Specialists must possess exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills. They must have excellent communication skills (verbal and written).

NOC technician Job Description

NOC technicians are responsible for carrying out surveillance operations, server maintenance, network and telecommunication equipment in data centers and other organizations. They monitor the data center infrastructure, servers and computer networks to detect problems from a central location.

When a system encounters a problem, NOC technicians must resolve the problems by ordering them and making them work properly. Depending on the level of complexity, organizations hire them at different levels so that technicians complete their respective tasks on time. NOC operations should be able to provide excellent customer service by solving problems quickly.

Specialists continue to learn and continuously update the internal knowledge base with new support solutions. They comply with an organization's guidelines, policies and conventional processes.

Technicians should monitor violations of the Service Level Agreements (SLA). They update customers, suppliers or third party suppliers on the progress of events.

Specialists should regularly inspect support systems, including air conditioning and UPS systems. They use the command-line interface (CLI) and TCP / IP protocols to confirm, discover and evaluate problems.

NOC technicians assist team members and customers by applying their technical knowledge of operations and systems via servers, PCs, telephones, and email.

In addition to the above responsibilities, they also, perform the following functions:

Diagnose problems

In the event of a system malfunction, they identify the problem and resolve it. This could force them to coordinate with IT teams and customers.

Disclose incidents

After an accident, the way to fix it is in the hands of a NOC technician. If the problem can be solved, escalation of the problem to senior officials or managers is not necessary. It is only when the problem is complex that they intensify it to their superiors.

Solve all the problems

They should document all recognized problems in a structured format, as this will be useful in the future in the face of a similar situation.

Monitoring systems: continuously monitor systems using various tools. They are very careful and can therefore quickly recognize warning signs.

perspective

Job opportunities for network and IT system administrators are expected to increase by 6% over the 2016-2026 period, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Demand is expected to continue to grow as organizations acquire emerging mobile technologies and networks.

Academic qualifications and other requirements

Applicants must have at least a degree, if not a degree, in computer science, computer science or any other related discipline.

If they have certifications, such as CompTIA's Network + or Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP), will help them advance their career.

NOC Analyst must be able to work calmly in difficult situations. This will be useful if they know about computer security.

Network monitoring technicians must be familiar with network protocols, have experience with scripts in Python, Bash, and Perl and must have worked in a cloud infrastructure.

They should be familiar with the operation of network equipment, such as switches, routers, and firewalls, among others.

Applicants may have to undergo a basic investigation and pass a security clearance in some cases.