{
  "source": "Cooked Index — occupational AI risk register",
  "page": "https://cookedindex.com/jobs/computer-network-support-specialists/",
  "methodology": "https://cookedindex.com/methodology",
  "notice": "Verdicts are re-examined as evidence accumulates. Re-fetch before relying on this; the page above always carries the current score.",
  "scored_at": "2026-08-11",
  "model": "claude-opus-5",
  "occupation": {
    "title": "Computer Network Support Specialists",
    "soc_code": "15-1231",
    "category": "Tech",
    "us_employment": 146190,
    "median_annual_wage": 76220
  },
  "verdict": "EXPOSED",
  "risk_resistance": 37,
  "contested": false,
  "near_boundary": false,
  "dimensions": {
    "task_resistance": 9,
    "embodiment": 10,
    "liability_shield": 2,
    "trust_premium": 7,
    "judgment_accountability": 9
  },
  "reasoning": {
    "task_resistance": "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.",
    "embodiment": "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+.",
    "liability_shield": "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.",
    "trust_premium": "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.",
    "judgment_accountability": "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."
  },
  "rationale": "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.",
  "outlook": "Headcount thins as automated monitoring and AI triage absorb tier-1 volume, but the on-site hands and the change-window owner stay employed and better paid.",
  "what_would_raise_it": {
    "levers": [
      {
        "dimension": "task_resistance",
        "change": "Task-mix shift is genuinely available here: if AIOps absorbs alert triage, ticket writing and first-line VPN/DNS diagnosis, what remains is the residual tier — undocumented brownfield networks, vendor-bug isolation, packet captures on intermittent physical-layer faults, and cutover planning where the AI's config output has to be reconciled against reality. Watchable marker: MSP job postings for 'network support' shifting required skills from ticket volume to wireless survey, SD-WAN migration and root-cause on escalated P1s.",
        "plausibility": "already happening",
        "would_add": 3
      },
      {
        "dimension": "embodiment",
        "change": "Growth in the physically-anchored share of the role: PoE camera and access-control networks, 802.11ax/6E site surveys requiring on-site spectrum measurement, industrial/OT Ethernet in plants where remote access is prohibited by segmentation policy, and fiber splicing/certification (Fluke test reports) that a customer or building code requires signed by a person on site. If OT segmentation standards like IEC 62443 zone rules keep spreading into manufacturing, more diagnosis must happen inside the fence line.",
        "plausibility": "plausible",
        "would_add": 3
      },
      {
        "dimension": "liability_shield",
        "change": "Contractual and insurance-driven rather than licensing: cyber-insurance carriers increasingly requiring a named individual to attest to network segmentation, MFA and patch state at renewal, and CMMC Level 2 assessments for defense-contractor networks requiring identified personnel responsible for control implementation. Low-voltage/electrical licensing in states that regulate structured cabling installation (e.g. limited-energy licenses) also puts a named licensee on the cable side. This raises the floor but does not create a professional liability regime comparable to PE or CPA.",
        "plausibility": "plausible",
        "would_add": 3
      },
      {
        "dimension": "judgment_accountability",
        "change": "If the role formally owns change-approval and emergency-rollback authority — the person who decides whether to fail over, isolate a segment during a suspected ransomware event, or block an AI-proposed config from touching production — accountability concentrates. Watchable marker: ITIL change-advisory or on-call runbooks that name network support as the required human approver for automated remediation, a pattern appearing in AIOps deployments that keep 'human-in-the-loop' gates on write actions.",
        "plausibility": "plausible",
        "would_add": 3
      }
    ],
    "ceiling_note": "Trust premium has no realistic route: buyers of network support purchase uptime, not human contact, and the trend is toward fewer named techs per client under MSP contracts. Liability is capped by the absence of any licensing board for network operations — attestation and insurance riders are weaker shields than statutory signature requirements, so this occupation is unlikely to exceed the mid-50s overall."
  },
  "adjudication": null,
  "employment_history": {
    "points": [
      {
        "y": 2019,
        "emp": 185430,
        "wage": 63460
      },
      {
        "y": 2020,
        "emp": 184220,
        "wage": 65450
      },
      {
        "y": 2021,
        "emp": 176200,
        "wage": 62760
      },
      {
        "y": 2022,
        "emp": 168920,
        "wage": 68050
      },
      {
        "y": 2023,
        "emp": 158720,
        "wage": 71530
      },
      {
        "y": 2024,
        "emp": 146450,
        "wage": 73340
      },
      {
        "y": 2025,
        "emp": 146190,
        "wage": 76220
      }
    ],
    "from": 2019,
    "to": 2025,
    "change_pct": -21.2,
    "comparable_from": 2019,
    "spans_soc_revision": false
  },
  "pivots": [],
  "license": "https://cookedindex.com/terms"
}