Your thoughts on the new Fortinet certification path - Network Security Expert

[neonbit]

Hi guys, Not sure if anyone' s noticed, but it seems that Fortinet will be moving away from the FCNSA and FCNSP certification levels, and going towards an eight level ' NSE' cert. More details can be found here: http://www.fortinet.com/sites/default/files/basicfiles/NSE-Learning-Path.pdf To go-to the next certification level, you would need to hold all the previous ones. So to reach NSE-6 for example, you would need to be NSE-5 certified. The levels in a nutshell are: NSE-1: Completed FCNSA on-line material NSE-2: Passing FCNSA exam NSE-3: Achieving ' Silver' status on the Fortinet forums NSE-4: Passing FCNSP exam NSE-5: Attending FortiManager & FortiAnalyzer training and pass the exams NSE-6: Attending the FortiOS Troubleshooting course and pass the exam NSE-7: Achieving ' Gold' status on the Fortinet forums NSE-8: Pass an oral and practical exam (that has yet to be created) I personally think it' s a great idea and the courses/exams required are perhaps the most useful for FortiGate engineers (finally gives me an excuse to do the Troubleshooting course!). The requirement to be active on the forums is a nice touch too; and although it will probably mean a few more ' filler' type posts, the more people that will be engaged and reading the forums the better it is for all of us in the Fortinet community. Was hoping to get your thoughts on the new certification levels and their requirements. Do you think it' s a move in the right direction or an unnecessary change?

[emnoc]

When I 1st heard of this I was like wow good ,but I have my reserves. One area they haven' t address ; " is how to retrofit persons who completed FCNSA and Professional level" ? Also how about the other security areas like email? I think if they wanted a expert level, than it should have been written totally outside of the current certification path in the same fashion of Cisco Expert certification. Also the track is very different than let' s say Juniper with more steps, and imho useless steps like NSE #7. I know of many good fortinet engineers, who quite frank, don' t have time to contribute to this forum.

[kwilley]

don' t have time to contribute to this forum

yep, boots in the field don' t have time to fix things they would otherwise bill for...

[Warren_Olson_FTNT]

I think the idea is a good start, and very likely will mold and change in the next few months. The piece requiring forum participation is pretty brilliant in that it should hopefully greatly reduce the need to contact formal tech support to get easier questions answered.

[neonbit]

Hi emnoc, My understanding is that your current FCNSA/FCNSP certifications will be backwards compatible, so if you have both certs (and have reached ' silver' status on the forums) you will automatically be NSE#4 certified. There' s a small FAQ on the website here: http://www.fortinet.com/training/nse.html Are the new certifications backward compatible? For example, if I am currently an FNCSP, am I automatically an NSE4? The previous certifications apply to the new program, but are insufficient. For example, if you currently hold an FCNSP certification, you qualify as an NSE4 if you have met the other conditions of NSE4 certifications—NSE1-NSE3. When/if you meet the conditions of NSE1-NSE3, you will automatically become an NSE4. I wonder how this will play out when new FortiOS versions are released. When we moved from 4.0 to 5.0 I only had to resit the FCNSP 5.0 exam to be re-certified. Would the new NSE cert require me to sit for both the FCNSA and FCNSP exams when 6.0 comes out? (boy I hope not!)

[Jan_Scholten]

Do not think that " reaching a certain number of posts" is a good measurement. Still i' m curious to see what the partner requirements will be.

[simonorch]

Do not think that " reaching a certain number of posts" is a good measurement. Still i' m curious to see what the partner requirements will be.

I agree, quantity says nothing of quality, though i see where they' re coming from.

[Dave_Hall]

I personally do not like how the new cert path is layout/presented in it' s current form. The FNSE steps leaves out the part about the cost to you for participate in the various course bundles. The FCNSA bundle alone is $1000 -- not the kind of cash I can afford at the moment and doubt very much that my company would upfront the cost. The Network Security Expert FAQ section clearly indications taking those course bundles are the new requirement (for both new and old cert holders). I hope Fortinet rethinks this part of the new cert path.

[Faulty_Male]

I like it but I have been onto the new training portal and it is very poorly laid out - this seems to be standard for other companies too (VMware, Cisco etc). I was hoping to see my NSE #4 as I hold a FCNSP but this doesn' t seem to show up. Any idea how I map my FCNSP to the training portal?

[emnoc]

faulty_Male what training portal are you accessing? Please provide a link.