Ethical issues in professions and business

Network Engineer

Wikipedia defines a profession as fields that require extended education and that uses specialized vocabulary. In addition, I believe a professional person will be in a decision-making and problem-solving role. Professionals may not be upper management, but they make decisions based on their specialized knowledge, training and experience. Given such a description, the job of network engineer meets the criteria of "profession (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profession).

Network engineers play a crucial role in today's business. They are the people who set up computers within a business, connecting them to intra-communication systems within the company as well as the Internet. They install firewalls to protect the company's computers from hackers and other unauthorized access. They have to have mastery of all operating system, including Microsoft, Macintosh and Unix. When two computer's configurations aren't easily compatible, it is the network engineer who is ultimately responsible for making sure that everything works well together.

This can be a relatively simple job or a highly complex one depending on the situation. Most people can set up their home computer with a router, and that may be all small companies need, but large corporations will have large, complex computer systems with specialized computer applications. Their computers will have to be able to communicate with each other across the country as well as around the world.

Something that emphasizes this job's status as a profession is that it uses relatively few tools. There are some programs as well as some gadgets that can help the network engineer as he or she troubleshoots a poorly functioning installation, but most of the effort is driven by brain power. Complex networks cannot be set up by some pre-written computer program. The network engineer has to apply his or her knowledge and experience to trouble-shoot the system. Network engineers also have to be able to work with other people, translating what they have done into language those they work with will understand. While their professional expertise must be recognized, they have to work within the restrictions of the demands of the company they work for.

The problem-solving involves the ability to diagram the system accurately to identify what the needs are in order to get up and running and to keep it functional. It may require some very long days, something else that separates a network engineer from a nonprofessional job: they don't work from 9 to 5 but whatever hours it takes to complete their job.

At the very least, to be a network engineer requires a bachelor of science in a computer-related field. To truly excel in the field will require a master's degree. In addition, the old saying that if a computer is up and running it's already obsolete applies to this career. Network engineers will have to work hard to keep pace with the rapidly developing field of computers. We probably cannot even imagine the advances computer technology will make in the next ten years. The companies with network engineers who keep abreast of these advances and who know how to apply them for their company's benefit will have a competitive edge.

However, no person works only because he or she can benefit the company they work for. Maslow's theory argues that we are motivated by unmet personal needs that range from basic survival to "self-actualization," or understanding ourselves in terms of important issues such as truth or justice. That highest level in Maslow's hierarchy has little application in the business world for most people, but the rest of them do. We get pay so we have the money to meet our most basic needs for habit, food and safety. He believed that we had to meet lower needs such as physiological, safety and social needs before we can successfully develop healthy self-esteem and work toward self-actualization. Working as any professional, including as a network engineer, can support the development of a healthy adult self-esteem through work success. Presumably most adults have solved the issue of basic life support and safety, but not all adults have developed fully as social beings. They may struggle to find adult love, or in more serious cases, struggle to maintain friendships.