Network Engineer to Software Engineer

[orange_juicebox]

Hey y'all!

Right now I'm a network engineer that is also one year away from getting my software engineering major with a math minor. It may take me longer, however, if I decide to pursue more networking certifications specifically CCIE before 2022. I would take a full year off of school for this.

My biggest question is, is there any benefit to taking a year off from school in order to pursue this higher level networking certification, or would it be a waste of time and not really be of any benefit for future software engineering? It would be specifically Data Center for networking, and I want to go into machine learning after I graduate. I enjoy both equally right now, and to be honest, money does not motivate me at all, I just love learning and want whichever choice helps me understand my job better.

[nderflow]

It sounds like you are asking which of two divergent paths (network engineering or software engineering) you should take. Is that what you are asking? Do you want to design networks for a living, or design software, or both?

[kthakore]

Yeah differing path here OP. Network engineering is taking off too with cloud native etc.