Throughline

Technology

Computer Network Architect in San Francisco

36 postings read · sampled 2026-10-01 · source ats · 15 employers · largest 25% of it

What employers actually ask for

Credentials named in the 36 postings we read, ranked by how many mentioned each one.

What it costs

Exam and application fees plus typical self-study hours. Almost nobody needs every credential on this list — start with the top line.

Most-asked-for, on its own
$700CCNP · ~300 hrs
asked for in 7 of 36 postings — 19%
If you earned all 7 of them
$5,957
fees checked 2026-08
2220 hrs
2220 hours — over a year at 10 hrs/wk

Not in the total: Bachelor's Degree — cost varies by institution; TS/SCI — sponsored by an employer, not purchasable; Secret Security Clearance — sponsored by an employer, not purchasable; Master's Degree — cost varies by institution.

What the official taxonomy says

O*NET surveys people already doing this job. That describes who got hired over a long window, not what employers are asking for now — where it disagrees with the counts above, the counts are the more current answer.

Education reported by people doing this job
55%reported bachelor’s degree
  • Bachelor’s degree55%
  • Associate’s degree or other 2-year degree15%
  • Post-secondary certificate15%

Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

O*NET 15-1241.00 · pulled 2026-10-01 · percentages are of surveyed workers, each rounded separately, so they need not total 100

This sample is small enough that one posting moves any percentage by more than a couple of points, so we are not calling anything low-signal here. Read the numbers above as a direction, not a measurement.

What it pays

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. A different survey from the postings above, so the two do not share a sample.

$121,160
10th percentile
$166,760
median
$242,150
90th percentile

Every credential above costs $5,957 — about 9 days' pay at the median.

Who was hiring

Employers with at least one matching posting in this sample.

SpaceX · OpenAI · Astranis · Rocket Lab · Zoox · 360 IT Professionals · Roblox · 1X · Artech Information System · Ask IT Consulting · Cognition · Collabera · USM · Wealthfront · Zum Services

The same role elsewhere

Next

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