Top 12 Network Systems Engineer Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's crowded job market, a sharp resume cuts through. Network systems engineers who blend deep technical chops with clear communication, automation savvy, and a calm troubleshooting cadence stand out. The stack is sprawling, the stakes are high, and the networks won’t babysit themselves. Show range. Show judgment. Show you can run the whole playbook without blinking.

Network Systems Engineer Skills

1. Cisco IOS
2. Juniper Junos
3. BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)
4. OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
5. MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching)
6. IPv6
7. VMware NSX
8. AWS Networking
9. Python (for automation)
10. Ansible
11. Wireshark
12. Linux iptables

1. Cisco IOS

Cisco IOS (Internetwork Operating System) powers most Cisco routers and many switches. It delivers routing, switching, and services that keep packets moving and policies enforced, from small edges to sprawling cores.

Why It's Important

IOS gives you precise control of network behavior across Cisco hardware. It’s the command surface for design, operations, and recovery—reliable, scriptable, and battle-tested.

How to Improve Cisco IOS Skills

Strong IOS practice isn’t about tweaking one knob. It’s rhythm and hygiene with a dose of automation:

1. Run supported code: Track recommended releases, read the release notes, and plan upgrades that align with hardware lifecycles.

2. Harden the edge: Tighten ACLs, disable unused services, enforce SSH-only management, and apply secure SNMP, AAA, and role-based access.

3. Tune routing: Use per-protocol best practices, sensible timers, prefix-lists, communities/tags, and summarization to keep control planes calm.

4. Adopt model-driven ops: Use NETCONF/RESTCONF, YANG models, and streaming telemetry or gNMI for consistent automation and rich visibility.

5. Automate: EEM for quick reactions, Python for repeatable tasks, Ansible or Nornir for scale.

6. Monitor like a hawk: SNMP, Syslog, NetFlow/sFlow/IPFIX, and an NMS or controller (for example, Catalyst Center) to catch drift and hotspots.

7. Level up: Pursue CCNP/CCIE Enterprise topics—design, security, troubleshooting. Practice under failure, not just when it’s quiet.

How to Display Cisco IOS Skills on Your Resume

2. Juniper Junos

Junos OS runs across Juniper routers, switches, and security appliances. One OS. One style of configuration. Clear commit workflows, rollback safety nets, and a consistent CLI/API story that scales.

Why It's Important

Junos is steady under pressure. It brings structured config, strong automation hooks, and uniform operations across the data center, WAN, and edge, which simplifies everything from design to triage.

How to Improve Juniper Junos Skills

1. Stay current: Track JTAC-recommended or LTS releases, plan upgrades, and read PRs that matter to your environment.

2. Automate early: Use PyEZ, Ansible, or Salt for idempotent changes. Validate state before touching config. Enforce golden templates.

3. Dial in protocols: Tune OSPF/BGP timers with intent, apply policy-options rigorously, and summarize routes to keep churn down.

4. Harden: Lock down SSH, apply firewall filters, protect RE, and disable what you don’t use. Minimal attack surface, maximal clarity.

5. Observe: Leverage traceoptions, commit confirmed, event policies, and telemetry. Use J-Web judiciously; script the rest.

6. Use commit tools: Rescue configs, rollbacks, groups, and candidate diffs help you move fast without breaking glass.

7. Certify: JNCIS/JNCIP/JNCIE sharpen skills and reflect real operational depth.

How to Display Juniper Junos Skills on Your Resume

3. BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)

BGP stitches autonomous systems together and picks paths at Internet scale. Policy, not just metrics, governs where traffic flows and why.

Why It's Important

It’s the backbone of reachability. With sound policy and guardrails, BGP delivers resilient, predictable routes—inside large enterprises and across the public Internet.

How to Improve BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) Skills

1. Filter with intent: Prefix-lists, as-path filters, and communities at every edge. Advertise only what you mean, accept only what you trust.

2. Validate origins: Deploy RPKI. Reject invalids. Reduce hijacks and fat-fingered leaks.

3. Tame iBGP scale: Use route reflectors and sensible cluster design. Keep it simple; keep it loop-free.

4. Survive restarts: Graceful Restart and nonstop forwarding where supported. Faster convergence with BFD on critical adjacencies.

5. Protect sessions: Prefer TCP-AO where available; otherwise use TCP MD5. Add GTSM/TTL security and max-prefix limits.

6. Shape traffic: Use local-pref, MED, AS-path prepending, standard and large communities, and conditional advertising.

7. Watch the control plane: Log state changes, monitor route churn and flap damping, and use route collectors or monitoring services for external visibility.

8. Join the effort: Follow MANRS principles and coordinate with peers. Healthy routing is a team sport.

How to Display BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) Skills on Your Resume

4. OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)

OSPF is a link-state IGP that calculates shortest paths quickly with a clean area-based design. It scales when you respect its boundaries.

Why It's Important

Inside an enterprise or provider core, OSPF’s fast convergence and hierarchy keep routes tight and stable. When topology shifts, it adapts with grace.

How to Improve OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) Skills

1. Design in layers: Use a proper backbone (Area 0), keep areas small, and place ABRs with intent. Don’t flood the world with every LSA.

2. Choose area types wisely: Stub, totally stubby, and NSSA reduce noise. Summarize at ABRs to shrink tables and speed convergence.

3. Tune timers—carefully: Faster hellos and dead intervals can help, but test BFD for rapid failure detection without triggering thrash.

4. Balance paths: Leverage ECMP where it makes sense. Watch for asymmetry impacts on stateful services.

5. Authenticate: OSPFv2 with cryptographic authentication (MD5). OSPFv3 with IPsec (AH/ESP) using modern ciphers.

6. Go passive where needed: Suppress neighbor formation on access links. Less chatter, fewer surprises.

7. Keep it clean: Prune flappy links, check DR/BDR elections, and document. LSAs should reflect intent, not accidents.

How to Display OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) Skills on Your Resume

5. MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching)

MPLS forwards by labels, not long lookups. That means deterministic paths, fast reroute, and clean separation for services like L3VPN, L2VPN, and TE.

Why It's Important

It brings performance and predictability to large networks. Traffic engineering, failover in milliseconds, and service isolation—all while scaling horizontally.

How to Improve MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) Skills

1. Design for scale: Redundant core, tidy IGP, and clear LDP or RSVP-TE decisions. Consider SR-MPLS for simpler control planes and TE.

2. Engineer paths: Use TE for critical flows. Pin latency-sensitive traffic to explicit paths; let the rest ride ECMP.

3. Enable FRR: Fast reroute (LFA, TI-LFA/SR) keeps packets moving during failures. Aim for sub-50 ms where business needs it.

4. Prioritize with QoS: Map classes, trust markings at the edge, shape/police with intent. Verify queues match reality, not wishful thinking.

5. Secure wisely: MPLS isn’t encryption. Use IPsec, MACsec, or segment isolation as appropriate. Protect the control plane first.

6. Observe everything: BFD on LSPs, LSP ping, performance measurements, flow telemetry, and proactive alerting.

7. Iterate: Audit labels and LFIB, validate path symmetry, and keep documentation in lockstep with the network.

How to Display MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) Skills on Your Resume

6. IPv6

IPv6 explodes the address space and cleans up some IPv4 baggage. New header, massive subnets, auto-configuration options, and room to grow—finally.

Why It's Important

It future-proofs networks, simplifies addressing in large environments, and enables modern security and discovery models at scale.

How to Improve IPv6 Skills

1. Plan addressing like a pro: Allocate by function and location. Summarize cleanly. Leave headroom. Treat /64s as the norm on LANs.

2. Pick deployment models: Dual-stack, then carve toward IPv6-first or IPv6-only with translation as needed. Reduce v4 dependencies over time.

3. Secure the neighbors: Enable RA Guard and DHCPv6 Guard on access. Consider SEND where feasible. Watch for rogue RAs.

4. Pick the right config method: SLAAC, DHCPv6, or both. Be intentional with DNS registration and client behavior.

5. Tune MTU thoughtfully: Lean on PMTUD, avoid fragmentation traps, and validate paths end to end.

6. Verify vendor support: Hardware, firewalls, load balancers, apps. No assumptions—test every hop.

7. Visibility: Ensure monitoring, logging, and security tooling understand IPv6 natively. No blind spots.

How to Display IPv6 Skills on Your Resume

7. VMware NSX

VMware NSX delivers network virtualization and micro-segmentation inside the data center. Logical switches, routers, firewalls, and advanced services—decoupled from the physical underlay.

Why It's Important

NSX turns change windows into API calls. Security follows the workload, not the rack. Operations get consistency; apps get speed.

How to Improve VMware NSX Skills

1. Design the underlay right: Solid IP fabric first. MTU alignment, ECMP-ready, and clean routing between transport nodes.

2. Use micro-segmentation fully: Distributed Firewall with granular groups and context profiles. Start with “allow known good,” then tighten.

3. Automate: Drive changes with REST APIs or your automation framework. Template security groups and policies. Version your intent.

4. Observe: Use NSX built-in tools and flow analytics. Traceflows, packet walks, and distributed counters tell the story fast.

5. Scale logically: Plan VRFs, tier-0/1 boundaries, and edge clusters. Keep north-south paths predictable and resilient.

6. Stay current: Track NSX-T releases and features (IDS/IPS, federation, advanced load balancing). Test upgrades before you commit.

How to Display VMware NSX Skills on Your Resume

8. AWS Networking

AWS networking is the fabric behind VPCs, load balancers, private connectivity, global acceleration, and security controls that stretch across regions and accounts.

Why It's Important

Cloud architectures live or die by networking. With the right patterns—segmentation, routing, and guardrails—you get scalable, resilient, and cost-aware connectivity.

How to Improve AWS Networking Skills

1. Architect VPCs with purpose: Clear CIDR plans, subnets by role, and route tables that reflect real traffic flows. Centralize egress where it helps.

2. Choose the right connectivity: Transit Gateway for hub-and-spoke at scale, VPC peering for simple cases, PrivateLink for private service access, and Cloud WAN for global policy control.

3. Accelerate and protect: Use Global Accelerator for global entry points, Shield and WAF for DDoS and L7 defenses, and Network Firewall where segmentation needs muscle.

4. Balance and segment: Application/Network/Gateway Load Balancers for the right layer, security groups and NACLs for layered control, plus Route 53 for smart DNS.

5. Mix in on-prem: Direct Connect for steady throughput and predictable latency; VPN for quick wins and backup paths.

6. Observe and audit: VPC Flow Logs, CloudWatch, and CloudTrail. Reachability Analyzer to sanity-check paths. Cost Explorer so surprises stay small.

7. Standardize: Landing zones, guardrails, and templates. Infrastructure as code for everything—no drift, no mystery.

How to Display AWS Networking Skills on Your Resume

9. Python (for automation)

Python turns manual network work into recipes. With rich libraries and clean syntax, it’s the glue between intent and configuration, data and decisions.

Why It's Important

Automation reduces errors, speeds changes, and makes your network measurable. Python sits at the center—APIs, scraping, testing, reporting.

How to Improve Python (for automation) Skills

1. Get the basics tight: Functions, modules, packaging, virtual environments. Keep dependencies clean.

2. Pick the right libraries: Netmiko or Scrapli for SSH, NAPALM for multi-vendor abstraction, pyATS/Genie for testing, requests/httpx for APIs.

3. Model your data: YAML/JSON in, Jinja2 templates out. Validate with schemas. Idempotence isn’t optional.

4. Structure and test: Organize repos, add unit tests with pytest, lint with ruff/flake8, and format with black.

5. Think async: asyncio or concurrency when talking to fleets. Throttle politely. Fail fast, retry smart.

6. Protect secrets: Use vaults or KMS. Never commit credentials. Ever.

7. Ship it: CI/CD pipelines, pre-commit hooks, and changelogs. Automation deserves the same rigor as any app.

How to Display Python (for automation) Skills on Your Resume

10. Ansible

Ansible automates network configuration and change management with human-readable playbooks. Declarative intent, consistent outcomes, fewer late-night rollbacks.

Why It's Important

It scales your hands. From one device to thousands, Ansible keeps changes predictable and traceable.

How to Improve Ansible Skills

1. Write modular playbooks: Roles, collections, and vars files. Small pieces, loosely joined, easy to reuse.

2. Use the right connection: network_cli or httpapi with vendor collections. Validate state before and after. Idempotence is the bar.

3. Manage secrets safely: Ansible Vault or an external secrets manager. Tight permissions and rotation.

4. Scale the control plane: Use Automation Controller (formerly Tower) or AWX for RBAC, workflows, and schedules. Execution environments to pin dependencies.

5. Test and lint: ansible-lint and Molecule for roles. CI pipelines that block risky changes.

6. Inventory that adapts: Dynamic inventory for clouds and CMDBs. Tag devices, target smart groups, and avoid hardcoding.

How to Display Ansible Skills on Your Resume

11. Wireshark

Wireshark captures packets and tells the truth. Protocol by protocol, frame by frame, it reveals exactly what happened on the wire.

Why It's Important

When logs get vague or devices disagree, packet captures settle the argument. Performance bottleneck? Broken handshake? Misbehaving app? It’s all there.

How to Improve Wireshark Skills

1. Filter like a surgeon: Master capture filters versus display filters. Build profiles and shortcuts for your common hunts.

2. Customize the view: Columns, coloring rules, and protocol preferences that spotlight what matters for your environment.

3. Go deep on protocols: Know the fields and flags for TCP, TLS, HTTP/2+, DNS, and your specialty protocols.

4. Automate with Tshark: Batch captures, scripted decodes, and reports. Great for CI-style validation and recurring checks.

5. Decode the tough stuff: TLS with keys where permitted, ring buffers for long captures, hardware timestamps for accuracy.

6. Extend it: Lua dissectors and plugins when a proprietary protocol won’t decode itself.

7. Capture safely: Respect privacy and policy. Filter at capture when you can. Anonymize before sharing.

How to Display Wireshark Skills on Your Resume

12. Linux iptables

iptables is the classic Linux packet filter and NAT engine. It shapes what gets in, what goes out, and what gets dropped without a sound.

Why It's Important

It’s foundational for host and perimeter security in Linux-heavy shops. Quick to adjust, powerful when organized, unforgiving if you’re sloppy.

How to Improve Linux iptables Skills

1. Keep current—and consider nftables: Many distros default to nftables now. If you’re on iptables, know the compatibility layers and migration paths.

2. Order rules intentionally: Frequent matches first. Chain logically. Aim for the fewest comparisons per packet.

3. Track state: Use conntrack to allow established/related traffic and reduce needless checks.

4. Log with restraint: Rate-limit logs, tag them clearly, and ship to a central system. Signal over noise.

5. Automate and persist: Version your rules, generate from templates, and restore on boot with iptables-save/restore or systemd units.

6. Add smart defenses: Fail2Ban or equivalent to react to abuse. Throttle scans, ban offenders, and expire bans cleanly.

7. Mind the distro tools: On Debian/Ubuntu use apt; on RHEL/Fedora use dnf. Know firewalld/ufw if your org prefers higher-level control.

8. Test safely: Lab first. Use out-of-band access and “at” jobs to auto-revert rules while you experiment.

How to Display Linux iptables Skills on Your Resume