RTA Update June 2017 CCNA Security

Half of the year has officially passed. It has been one heck of a ride so far. There have been some bumps along the journey. But for the most part it has been smooth sailing for me in my professional journey. To recap, I became a Network Engineer II at Spectrum Enterprise in January. In March I traveled around a bit for training and business purposes. And in April, I visited Charlotte, North Carolina looking for a place to live.

As a stipulation to my new job, I moved to Charlotte. Next I officially started working in my new office on May 1st. During  this time, I have learned a great deal about my new position while learning how to perform my job. I am now utilizing my CCNP Routing and Switching certification. And I have a great sense of accomplishment by achieving it. Overall It feels nice to be able to put the concepts and training to good use.

Since starting my new position and going through the training and now working through the daily functions of the job, I have noticed that some of my skills are lacking. This not due to the certifications and my schooling not preparing me for it, but it is different to learn the theories and technologies and to put them to practical use. At this time, I am dealing with managed router services and Routing and Switching is a good deal of what I need to know and do, there are some things that I struggled to learn or didn’t have the opportunity to practice fully to understand.
In this case, I am strong in routing and switching,  network fundamentals, Network administration and Engineering as a whole. However, the security aspect of networking is where my skills are currently lacking. I learned a great deal of security related technologies over my educational career. I thought I had a good understanding, however, without being able to implement them or see how they work, my understanding is really limited.

For example, I know how firewalls  and Intrusion Detection and Prevention systems can help secure your network and mitigate risks. But I never fully implement those technologies. Now that I am in a position where I have to deal with Zone Based Firewalls and Cisco ASA’s, I see where I am falling short.

To bridge the gap in my lack of knowledge in this subject, I have decided to shift my educational focus from learning and becoming JNCIA-Junos certified to studying and becoming CCNA Security Certified. I feel that this is the next step to becoming the best I can be at my job and as a networking engineering professional.

Over the past two days, I have been reading the CCNA Security 210-260 Official Certification Guide andThe CCNA Security 640-554 Official Certification Guide, writing notes from what I have read in both books, watching the CCNA Security 210-260 Video Series offered by Plural Sights, taking more notes while watching and rewatching the videos and then typing up the notes that I took down in my notebook to reinforce the material I am learning.

Overall, I have relearned security topics I have studied in the past and I may not have fully understood them. Now that I am going over this information and going over it again with a new perspective, It is starting to click.

I feel that I am now understanding those topics that I felt were lacking when I studied the CCNA Routing and Switching And CCNP Routing and Switching Certification paths. This is good for me because, I know I will be able to put this to good use.  At this time, I took the “Do I already know this Quiz” from the first two chapters which cover the first section  Security Concepts of the CCNA Security Certification Blue Print I have aced both quizzes. The first quiz, I got 8.6/10 and the second quiz I got 9/10.

This is pretty good considering the last time I covered this material was over a year ago. This is indicating that I am getting better at knowing this material. I know  this is used to gauge my current knowledge of the material and to help me focus. However, I know by going through the multiple certification guides, the video series from pluralsight and implementing the material in a lab environment with real equipment will help me not only focus on passing the certification, but it will allow me to succeed in my job which is my main goal.
With the way things are going, I am going to set my goal of taking the CCNA Security exam. My goal is to take the exam no later than the end of the third quarter. So far I thinking the end of August should be a safe target to schedule my exam. If not I can always push it back. This way I Know I a set date to take the exam, giving me incentive to keep studying.
Overall, I think things are going well for me both personally and professionally. Though I may have hit some stumbling points, but that is life and it is to be expected. 2017 has been an exciting year so far and I am looking forward to see what else is in store. Who knows, maybe I will take the JNCIA-Junos Exam by the end of Q4?

For now, I must get going. It has been a busy week so far and there is much more to do.  Now it is time to rest and relax before heading to bed.