--- title: "Adventures of a Network Monitoring Newbie: How It All Began" description: How the first days looked like for our content specialist - a complete newbie in the network monitoring world. image: https://insights.profitap.com/hubfs/Blog%20visuals/Newbie/NetworkNewbie1.jpg --- [![Profitap](https://insights.profitap.com/hubfs/profitap-logo-white-rev1.png "Profitap")](https://www.profitap.com) - [Solutions](https://www.profitap.com/solutions/) - Products - Resources - Company - - - - # Profitap Blog ### Recent Posts ### Categories - [Network Monitoring (75)](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/network-monitoring) - [Insights (38)](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/insights) - [IOTA (32)](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/iota) - [Copper TAPs (31)](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/copper-taps) - [ProfiShark (24)](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/profishark) - [Fiber TAPs (23)](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/fiber-taps) - [Data Center (17)](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/data-center) - 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At that point, I was a freelance content specialist looking for the next adventure. They called me one day, we liked each other and so it began. To be honest, I had never heard of their products or even knew what a network TAP was before working here. Crazy, don't you think so? In the beginning, I was completely blown away by the amount of information I had to read about. I think my passion for the tech world helped me a lot back then. And the fact that I truly love my job. ![ Network Monitoring Newbie](https://insights.profitap.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog%20visuals/Newbie/NetworkNewbie1.jpg?width=1024&name=NetworkNewbie1.jpg) I knew how important it is to secure your network and your connections, but I didn’t really get how many tools you actually need or how they work. Or what does it all takes. Or how important network TAPs are for both medium companies and enterprises. During my first month here, I read so many guides for dummies and how-tos, watched so many tutorials and asked so many questions about network TAPs, troubleshooters and network analysis tools that I think now I can’t be called a true network monitoring newbie anymore. ![Newbie in the Network Monitoring World](http://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn1.hubspot.com/StockImages/Silly%20Photos/7K0A0686.jpg "Newbie2.jpg") What I've learned since that first day? That TAPs are really innovative tools and truly essential when it comes to network health and security. These hardware tools are, most of the time, placed between your network devices (let’s say a router and a switch). When connected, they provide a clear and accurate picture of all the data that flows through these devices. Without them, say if you use a SPAN port, you won’t see everything. Curious to know more about TAP vs. SPAN? [Then check this article](https://insights.profitap.com/tap-vs-span).   Yes, a performant TAP really gives you all the data, from all 7 OSI layers: every single packet, and even down to low-level errors. And these TAP devices manage to do it without having any impact on your traffic. A huge responsibility for such a small tool! [If you want to know more about network TAPs just read this article.](https://insights.profitap.com/exploring-the-different-types-of-network-taps)   > Here at Profitap, we say that it all starts with visibility. Once you see it all, you can better monitor and protect your network from unwanted intrusions and unnecessary interferences, or pinpoint the source of a network problem or malfunction. > >   Even more, our brilliant R&D team has managed to create user-friendly products, starting from the best-selling [ProfiShark 1G](http://www.profitap.com/profishark-1g/) to our compact [network TAPs](http://www.profitap.com/portable-fiber-taps/), that are not only extremely powerful but also truly portable and easy to install in any location. ![ProfiShark Series](https://insights.profitap.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog%20visuals/Newbie/PROFISHARK-1G-1G+-10G.jpg?width=640&name=PROFISHARK-1G-1G+-10G.jpg "PROFISHARK-1G-1G+-10G.jpg") Speaking about ProfiShark 1G, I have to say this small but efficient tool fascinated me right from the start. For me, it seems almost magical how this all-in-one device does all the work in real-time. No wonder it's our most loved visibility solution and my favorite product at Profitap. Somehow it made me fall in love with what "tapping" really means for the online world.   > Just think about it, you have an "unhackable" device that is invisible to the network, has a pocket-size, therefore it’s easy to carry, and yet it’s powerful enough to capture 100% of your data. That means it won’t lose any packets or lag in packet-timing. > >   Well, just look at me how far I've come talking about all these network monitoring tools and how they can change your online world. Because I really believe these products can do that.  But more about how monitoring and visibility solutions can make wonders for your network in my next articles. This one was just about how it all started… Until next time, keep on smiling and, don’t forget, *it all starts with visibility*!  P.S.: Check the next episode of the [Network Monitoring Adventures here](https://insights.profitap.com/the-adventures-of-a-network-monitoring-newbie-network-tapping).    [![We are hiring at Profitap](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2954816/31febc49-0db6-4ec1-9591-ba577ab6600b.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2954816/31febc49-0db6-4ec1-9591-ba577ab6600b)   - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) by [Profitap](https://insights.profitap.com/author/profitap) | Dec 5, 2017 | [Insights](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/insights), [Network Monitoring](https://insights.profitap.com/topic/network-monitoring) [**Packet Capture & Analysis**](https://www.profitap.com/iota/) - [IOTA 1G](https://www.profitap.com/iota-1g/) - [IOTA 1G+](https://www.profitap.com/iota-1g-plus/) - [IOTA 10G](https://www.profitap.com/iota-10g/) - [IOTA 10G+](https://www.profitap.com/iota-10g-plus/) - 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[Fiber TAPs](https://www.profitap.com/fiber-taps/) - [Copper TAPs](https://www.profitap.com/copper-taps/) - [Aggregation TAPs](https://www.profitap.com/aggregation-taps/) - [Bypass TAPs](https://www.profitap.com/bypass-taps/) - [Regeneration TAPs](https://www.profitap.com/regeneration-taps/) - [Replication TAPs](https://www.profitap.com/replication-taps/)   **Cloud Visibility** - [VMware](https://www.profitap.com/vtap/) - [Kubernetes](https://www.profitap.com/cloud-tap/) - [AWS EKS](https://www.profitap.com/cloud-tap/) - [Azure VM](https://www.profitap.com/cloud-tap/#azure)   **Centralized Management** - [IOTA CM](https://www.profitap.com/iota-cm/) - [Supervisor](https://www.profitap.com/supervisor/)   [**Solutions**](https://www.profitap.com/solutions/) - [Performance analysis & diagnostics](https://www.profitap.com/performance-analysis-and-diagnostics-solutions/) - [Network troubleshooting](https://www.profitap.com/network-troubleshooting-solutions/) - [Packet forensics](https://www.profitap.com/packet-forensics-solutions/) - 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All Rights Reserved — Profitap HQ B.V., High Tech Campus 84, 5656 AG Eindhoven, The Netherlands | [Privacy Policy](https://www.profitap.com/privacy-policy/) | [Terms and Conditions](https://www.profitap.com/terms-and-conditions/) ```json { "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Blog", "headline": "Adventures of a Network Monitoring Newbie: How It All Began", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2954816/Blog%20visuals/Newbie/NetworkNewbie1.jpg" }, "datePublished": "2017-12-05 11:14:00", "dateModified": "October 23, 2019, 2:52:33 PM", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Profitap" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Profitap HQ B.V.", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2954816/Logos/Profitap-logo-black-orange-whitebg.png" } }, "description": "How the first days looked like for our content specialist - a complete newbie in the network monitoring world. " } ```