Network Engineering vs System Administration

Developers should learn network engineering to build scalable, secure applications that depend on network communication, such as web services, IoT systems, or distributed databases meets developers should learn system administration to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying infrastructure their applications run on, enabling them to build more robust, scalable, and secure software. Here's our take.

Network Engineering

Nice Pick

Developers should learn network engineering to build scalable, secure applications that depend on network communication, such as web services, IoT systems, or distributed databases

Pros

• Understanding networking helps in debugging connectivity issues, optimizing data transfer, and implementing security measures like firewalls and VPNs, which are critical for modern software development and DevOps practices
• Related to: tcp-ip, routing-protocols

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

System Administration

Developers should learn system administration to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying infrastructure their applications run on, enabling them to build more robust, scalable, and secure software

Pros

• It is essential for roles like DevOps, site reliability engineering (SRE), or when deploying and managing applications in production environments, such as on-premises servers or cloud platforms
• Related to: linux, windows-server

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Network Engineering is a concept while System Administration is a methodology. We picked Network Engineering based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Network Engineering wins

Based on overall popularity. Network Engineering is more widely used, but System Administration excels in its own space.