How Much Money Do Network Engineers Make? - CCNA | CCNP
About this video
The creator answers how much network engineers make by telling his own salary history in Dallas, which he describes as a good but not the hottest IT market. All figures are his personal account: he started as a junior network admin at about $45,000 after moving up from help desk, rose to primary admin at about $50,000 and then $55,000, but felt stuck despite strong performance. He got an outside offer, his employer matched it, and he reached $70,000 at age 25. About a year later another offer led to another match at $90,000 at around age 26-27, and after moving to a different company within a year he was making $100,000 — a progression he places within five to six years from junior help desk to senior network engineer. His central lesson is that engineers who stay in one place receive only small incremental raises, while the large jumps came from marketing himself and being willing to change jobs, using outside offers that his employer twice matched. He cautions results depend on location, experience, certifications and self-marketing, and says he has since turned down higher-paying offers in favour of work-life balance and freedom. The video ends with a holiday giveaway of David Bombal Packet Tracer, ICND1/ICND2, Python for Network Engineers and GNS3 courses to ten winners.
Key takeaways
- Creator’s own reported path in Dallas: about $45k as junior network admin, $50k-$55k as primary admin, $70k at 25, $90k at 26-27, and $100k after changing companies
- He attributes the big raises to outside offers — twice matched by his employer — rather than annual incremental raises for staying put
- He frames total time from help desk to senior network engineer at $100k as roughly five to six years of hustle and self-marketing
- Salary is repeatedly qualified as ‘it depends’ — on location, experience, certifications, and how well you market yourself
- Beyond a point he prioritizes freedom and work-life balance over maximising pay, while presenting his outcome as achievable but not guaranteed for others
Episode details: published December 21, 2017 · 9:21 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are NetworkChuck’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.
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