Well, first you want to decide whether you want to be (primarily) a researcher (focusing on discovering new stuff), an engineer (mostly figuring out how to build useful things by using existing stuff), or an administrator (configuring stuff).
The terminology used in IT in general and networking in particular is highly confusing. Most people calling themselves engineers are not doing anything remotely resembling engineering. See this definition and tell me what scientific principles we use in our jobs. It’s mostly rule-of-thumb, best current practices, opinions, and vendor validated designs.
