Engineering Scope

As of now, networking is a high-demand and high-paying field within IT.
The scope of duties can greatly vary, but the main concern of a network admin is the operation and maintenance of the infrastructure that connects devices-the less something has to do with the infrastructure, the less likely a network person is to be involved in it. Many network admins like their job because they do not have to deal with very complex systems. Networking is usually pretty cut-and-dry-things typically behave as designed.
In the near future, however, applications will have more say in how the network behaves. An application may trigger a change in the network that will result in its traffic being handled better, rather than being limited by the confines of a rather monolithic infrastructure. That being said, the network admin 5-10 years from now may have a bit more in common with a developer. So if you wish to remain marketable within the networking field, it may be a good idea to expand your expertise into some programming, otherwise, you'll likely end up just running cable and racking equipment.