How To Become A WAN Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a wan engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Professor David Sanford

The average wan engineer salary is $106,444. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an computer science major. It usually takes 1-2 years of experience to become a wan engineer. Wan engineers with a CCIE Routing & Switching (CCIE) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 18,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a wan engineer?

Professor David Sanford

Associate Professor an Department Chair (MIS, CS, CYB MGT, IS CYB), Northwood University

Workers like that they are challenged to solve problems and lead technological innovations.
They appreciate the diversity of projects
They enjoy the need for continuous improvement and education
Many see the global impact of their work.
They also desire and appreciate the need for versatile skills
A competitive salary is also an item that employees like

Workers dislike that the work can be stressful
Dealing with tight deadlines and/ or cybersecurity concerns.
This is a positive and a negative: The need to constantly stay up to date with technology can be a bit overwhelming for some.
There may be times of isolation, and
The unexpected system failures can be frustrating as they often require extra hours or the need to be on-call.
The multiple responsibilities and managing repetitive tasks are also issues workers point out in this field.

In short, the workplace offers exciting opportunities but comes with its fair share of pressures and challenges. Different people have different experiences based on their roles and personal preferences.

ScoreWAN EngineerUS Average

Salary

7.8

Avg. Salary $106,444

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.7

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 10.99%

Black or African American 8.73%

Hispanic or Latino 12.42%

Unknown 5.07%

White 62.49%

Gender

female 6.94%

male 93.06%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.7

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.1

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a wan engineer

Explore wan engineer education requirements

Most common wan engineer degrees

Bachelor's

65.6 %

Associate

20.8 %

Master's

7.2 %

Start to develop specific wan engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Switches	9.17%
Windows	6.86%
BGP	5.20%
Linux	5.11%
Juniper	4.58%

Complete relevant wan engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New wan engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a wan engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real wan engineer resumes.

Research wan engineer duties and responsibilities

Lead a project for updating IOS on routers throughout the Theatre.
Manage IP address database while monitoring traffic through SolarWinds, to provide traffic analysis and address future expansion requirements.
Configure, support and troubleshot MPLS, P2P, DS3, T1, Ethernet, and WIFI connections.
Assist with the IOS upgrade project for all Honeywell Cisco routers and switches.

Get wan engineer experience

Generally, it takes 1-2 years to become a wan engineer. The most common roles before becoming a wan engineer include network engineer, senior network engineer team lead and network administrator.

Prepare your wan engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your wan engineer resume.

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