EXPOSED
Log analysis, alert triage, ticket documentation, config generation, and first-line 'why is the VPN down' diagnosis are exactly what AIOps platforms and LLMs now do at usable quality, and much of the monitoring layer was already scripted before AI arrived. What holds is the physical half: pulling and certifying cable, swapping failed switches and optics, racking gear in closets and MDFs, and standing in front of a flapping link at 2am when the dashboard says everything is green. The modal worker here is a mid-level enterprise or MSP network tech, not a CCIE architect — the architecture tier survives better than the tier scored here.
Mixed — a routine tier and a judgment tier. Ping sweeps, SNMP threshold alerts, ACL and VLAN config generation, and closing Tier-1 tickets on 'can't reach the file share' are already handled by AIOps correlation and scripted runbooks, which is why this sits at 9 rather than 14 — but packet captures on an intermittent duplex mismatch, or tracing a rogue DHCP server through a building nobody documented, still require a person to iterate against physical reality.
Some physical or field component. A 10 reflects a job split roughly down the middle: half the shift is a laptop against a jump host, half is terminating Cat6A, seating SFP+ optics, testing fiber with an OTDR, and hauling a spare 48-port switch into a hot IDF closet — real hands-on work, but in wiring rooms and datacenters rather than the uncontrolled rooftops and trenches that earn 15+.
No licence, no signature requirement. CCNA, Network+, or JNCIA are hiring filters that an employer can waive for anyone with five years of production experience; when a misapplied spanning-tree change loops a hospital network, the exposure lands on the organization and its E&O insurer, not on your certificate, and no state board can pull your credential.
Some relationship component. A 7 covers the fact that the finance director calls you by name and MSP clients ask for their usual tech — that continuity has real value in reduced explanation time — but the deliverable is a working link, and a replacement tech with the correct credentials and documentation restores service just as well, unlike an advisory relationship that cannot be handed off.
Meaningful discretion. You decide whether to fail over the WAN circuit mid-business-day, whether the flapping port is a bad optic or a failing line card, and when to escalate versus keep troubleshooting — genuine calls made without a script — but change windows, approval workflows, and vendor TAC escalation paths mean you rarely own the final ambiguous decision alone, which caps this at 9.
Has AI actually changed your work?