Fellow, Network Engineering
Rare apex expert
Career Explorer · Engineering · Network Engineering
Rare / selective
What the role involves
- Autonomy
- Defines frontier of the field
- Scope
- Company + industry / research ecosystem
- Time horizon
- Multi-year
- Expertise and judgement
- Sustained global authority; invents category-defining approaches
- Expected impact
- Creates enduring strategic, scientific or technical differentiation
Expected skills (22)
Grouped as human, professional and technical. Target proficiency uses the P1–P5 scale, and each row says what that level means for that particular skill.
Human (10)
| Skill | Importance | Target | What that level looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accountability Personal Effectiveness | Core | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Active listening Communication & Influence | Core | P4 | Sets standards, integrates the skill across teams and resolves novel or high-impact problems. |
| Collaboration Collaboration & Leadership | Core | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Critical thinking Thinking & Judgment | Core | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Customer empathy Personal Effectiveness | Core | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Learning agility Thinking & Judgment | Core | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Ownership Personal Effectiveness | Core | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Problem solving Thinking & Judgment | Core | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Verbal communication Communication & Influence | Core | P4 | Sets standards, integrates the skill across teams and resolves novel or high-impact problems. |
| Written communication Communication & Influence | Core | P4 | Sets standards, integrates the skill across teams and resolves novel or high-impact problems. |
Professional (1)
| Skill | Importance | Target | What that level looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business acumen Business & Strategy | Core | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
Technical (11)
| Skill | Importance | Target | What that level looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Programming fundamentals Software Engineering | Core | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| CI/CD Software Engineering | Supporting | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Code review Software Engineering | Supporting | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Debugging Software Engineering | Supporting | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Platform engineering Cloud, Platform & Infrastructure | Supporting | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Reliability engineering Software Engineering | Supporting | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Secure coding Software Engineering | Supporting | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Software architecture Software Engineering | Supporting | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Software design patterns Software Engineering | Supporting | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Unit testing Software Engineering | Supporting | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
| Version control Software Engineering | Supporting | P5 | Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill. |
Career ladder
Reached from
Next steps
This is the last level on this ladder. Specialization continues; the level does not.
What changes to advance
Apex IC level; progression is primarily expansion of enduring company and industry impact rather than a standard next title.
Source: SFIA; Microsoft Careers; ONET · JF0046-IC8