Network engineering desk
How do you fix a network fault and break nothing else?
Look at the switch and the PC before you change anything. Make only the change the ticket needs, then prove it works by testing from a PC, not by reading the setting back. Leave every other port and PC as you found it. Check the AI trained for this work's suggestion against what the switch shows before you take it or turn it down. Then write a handover note that says what was wrong, what you changed and how you proved it. On the Network engineering desk, every shift is graded on these parts, and the work builds a Shift Record an employer can check. Five parts are worked out from the network itself and the order of what you did, with no AI involved; the note is judged separately.
- Each line below restates a part of the Network engineering desk's rubric. Five parts are computed from the state of the network and the order of your commands; the handover note is judged against three yes-or-no questions and is scored by AI trained for this work, like the rest of the shift. If you dispute a score, it is graded again, and a person reviews any the second grade does not settle.
- 6 graded areas, each one below
Graded area 1
Whether the network works when you hand it over
Every task's checks pass on the network as you left it: the PC reaches what it should, on the address it was planned to have.
The proof is the network's behaviour, a ping that answers, not a setting that looks right.
Closing the ticket because a port shows up, with no test from a PC.
Graded area 2
Whether you looked before changing anything, and tested after
Runs a look, such as the switch's port list or the PC's own address view, before the first change.
Checks the result after the last change, from the PC that reported the fault.
Finds the fault from the evidence, so no hint is needed.
Changing the network before looking at it.
Making the fix and closing without checking it.
Graded area 3
Whether you changed anything you should not have
Changes only what the task needs. Every other port, description and PC is as you found it.
Turning on, renaming or resetting things the ticket did not ask for, in case it helps.
Graded area 4
How many steps it took
Works inside the usual number of actions for the task, because each command answers a question you had.
Running command after command without reading what the first one said. Each action past the usual most takes a little off this part.
Graded area 5
What you did with the AI's suggestion
Takes a correct suggestion once the switch confirms it.
Turns down a confidently wrong one, such as restarting the whole switch or blaming the cable with no evidence.
Taking a suggestion because it sounds sure of itself.
Graded area 6
Your handover note
Says what was wrong, or what state the network was found in.
Says what was changed, or that nothing needed changing.
Says how the result was confirmed: the test, the check or the command.
"Fixed it" as the whole note.
Questions
Asked about this desk
Why does looking first count?
Because on a live network a change made on a guess can take down people who were working fine. The desk grades the order of what you did: a look before the first change and a test after the last one.
What counts as proof that it works?
A test from a PC on the network, such as a ping that answers. The desk reads the network as you left it, so a setting that looks right but does not work does not pass.
Can I work the Network engineering desk before I have held a network job?
Yes. You do not need prior work experience to start at Zeloric. Work a realistic ticket on a real-feeling switch, find the fault from the evidence, and see each part graded.
See it on the desk itself: the Network engineering desk, or work a real one free. Every guide is listed on the guides index, and if something here is wrong or unclear, tell us.
Free to start · no sign-up
You do the work. We hand you the record.
Your first ticket is free.