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?

[Dave_Hall]

Haven' t checked to see if the old site is up, but it did have link pointing to http://www.fortinet.com/training/.

[dasilva13]

If you ask me, all the portals that fortinet have are very hard to find and use, including the learning one that they seem to be making a mess out of. I would rather wait and have everything done correctly then wait for all these issues to be fixed on the live version. Guess we should accept that since we all know we upgrade firmware out our own risk!!

[Nihas]

So , if some one wants to take the FCNSA&FCNSP now will be a wise decision?

To located an instructor version of the FCNSA Class, complete the following steps 1. Login to the FLC 2. Click Learning and Metrics 3. Click Catalog 4. Click Featured Courses (tab) 5. Scroll to FortiGate Multi-Threat Security Systems 01 (FCNSA Prep) then select an available class. Complete the following steps to take the FCNSA Prep Class in a self-paced online format: 1. Login to the FLC 2. Click Learning and Metrics 3. Click Catalog 4. Click Bundles (tab) 5. Locate and click the FCNSA Bundle 6. Register for the FCNSA Bundle 7. Complete all 10 training modules in the course 8. Register for the FCNSA Proctored Lab by: a. Repeat steps 1-3 above b. Click Features Courses (tab) c. Locate, register and attend the FCNSA Facilitated Lab 9. Purchase the FCNSA Exam Voucher either through the reselling channel or the FLC. To locate an exam voucher in the FLC, navigate to the Catalog as described above

Do we have to purchase the 1000$ online stuffs to achieve the levels?

[dasilva13]

My thoughts on the new ESE certification. First impressions of the forum post aspect was skeptical, until I actually started using the forum and asking and getting a lot of great answers! I would definitely recommend these forums to any FortiNet IT person.

[FGTuser]

Forum is quite good source of information and other people' s experiences. I' m old school, forum is much more convenient for me than any kind of social network. So the idea of " forcing" experienced people to use forum is generally good. But there are some risks mentioned already, especially filler posts and quantity is not quality. I don' t like the same name in all levels - Expert. It' s big difference between NSE-1 and NSE-8 person and both are " Expert" . Very confusing for people not familiar with certification path and requirements. It' s much better to use well known Associate/Administrator, Professional, Expert, Architect, etc... And the question is if the mandatory NSE-5 and NSE-6 classes classes will be free/online or paid.

[JukkaH]

Where I can see the current status of NSE path that Im on? I' ve done online courses and exams but learning center section " my transcripts" doesn' t show anything... I did also the FCNSA online labs but I can' t find voucher from catalog. Am I doing something wrong?

[hklb]

But there are some risks mentioned already, especially filler posts and quantity is not quality.

It sould be more significative if the value used for certification is the score rather than the number of post.

[Dave_Hall]

@hklb One problem I see with using score is it is so easy to mark-up a post..any post, regardless of the content. On the flip side, I have seen posts by people giving awesome advise, but do not get scored. @JukkaH Try emailing training@fortinet.com for assistance. Personally, I find the new Fortinet Learning Center to be confusing for finding stuff. However, did noticed FCSA Training Bundle - NSE 1 appears to be free, which is a nice gesture on Fortinet' s part.

[hklb]

@hklb One problem I see with using score is it is so easy to mark-up a post..any post, regardless of the content. On the flip side, I have seen posts by people giving awesome advise, but do not get scored.

That' s true.. A solution should be that the score needed to be marked by moderator.. An another thing : how fortinet will link the account of fortinet learning center with the account of this forum ? Because all my certifications are linked with my professional email (partner account), but my account of this forum is linked with my personal email..

[JukkaH]

Whee, training@fortinet.com did help me out. So for the information… NSE1 certificate can be found from “My transcripts” section. You have to do all FCSA modules and quizzes and after that from module 6 you can go “Print certificate” and that’s it! Voucher is not necessary to buy from FLC the actual FCNSA exam is exactly same price in VUE testing center.