With cloud computing, big data, networking, artificial intelligence and other fields has risen rapidly, especially in software-defined concept gradually implanted in all emerging industry, the environment, the impact of new technology for network engineers is a huge challenge. Before I go to the front but also behind the network engineer to do pre-sales engineer, so contemporary environmental problem faced by network engineers also have some of their own understanding. 
Traditional network engineers have the necessary skills mainly hard-mounted plus soft tone, as long as the number of proficient knowledge through the field will be able to work independently, but as the technology matures and landing SDN most tedious and complicated configuration work can be handed over SDN controller do, of course, the traditional network engineers certainly will not be eliminated after the early construction will still need to provide underlay environment, but traditional network engineer is not so important. I dry when the honor personally involved in the sale of a private cloud province construction project involving the SDN, so understanding the impact on the traditional engineer SDN fairly deep. SDN has just landed that time, also not particularly mature. However, last year or two of development SDN growing rapidly and matures, there are plenty of success stories in all walks of life, although not yet fully engulfed traditional network but also a general trend, although now I do not do a network engineer but still could not help stay vigilant in peace time (after all, the sale came from).
I believe that network engineers will slowly transition to development engineers, not only to understand but also to network with the times, to understand the server, understand the system, know how to program. SDN controller is based on C ++ or pathy developed by. So to be able to read the source code, you can do simple optimized adjustment, the current emerging "cloud, big, physical, intellectual," which requires programming, we can learn from a very simple pathy, of course, the traditional network engineers will not immediately eliminated, but it will be transformed into a sunset industry.
Of course, you can also pre-sales or sales to a job transfer direction, there are after-sales experience in the implementation process will be relatively smooth reorientation of some, to the good since before the reorientation would not have turned back, I hope, "impetuous world network engineers can go step by step the secure. "
I hope this can provide some help for net working brothers, Tips: If you feel you find this helpful, please click on the "look" and I welcome the attention of the public micro-channel number in the lower right corner: " ICT said pre-new ."