JNTCP - Juniper Networks Technical Certification Program

Ghosteh · 5 Oct 2012 at 15:41

Hey guys,

I was just wondering if anyone here has completed any of the JNTCP, more specifically the JNCIA, Juniper Networks Certified Internet Associate exam. I'm literally just starting to look at these, just trying to get an idea of how hard they are to achieve. And if so, how useful have you found them in the real world? I'm currently in the Army, but due to the cutbacks that are happening, and us pulling out of Afghanistan, the job roll is changing in such a way, I'm no longer going getting any real job satisfaction. Coupled with pension changes that have happened recently, it's not looking worthwhile staying in, especially not with my interests and goals.

I'm currently working on my CCNA, should hopefully be taking my ICND 1 exam in the near future, just depends on my work commitments, as I'm doing this all off my own back, the MoD won't pay for these exams, not for the position I'm in at the moment. But once I have both ICND 1 & 2 complete, I will start looking at taking the JNCIA.

Cheers guys.

Ghosteh · 5 Oct 2012 at 16:07

At the moment, it would just be JNCIA-Junos accreditation, as I don't currently have any other Juniper based qualifications, so looking at it as a stepping stone to possible further qualifications.

As I said, I'm currently working on my CCNA, and I'm enjoying that so far, but after speaking to a mate of mine, who's company is currently looking for junior level networking engineers, some of the qualifications they're after include a related degree, Cisco, Juniper, Check Point Security, and also experience with VMware & virtualisation.
Now I have plenty of VMware experience from working with military kit, and my own personal ESXi server. And I have no wish to go to university for a degree. What I am lacking is any network or industry specific qualifications.

It won't be in the near future I'm looking to do these exams, but I like a plan, and I'm doing the ground work now, so hopefully in around 18 months, I can look at getting out the Army with 7 years experience and X, Y and Z qualifications under my belt.

Ghosteh · 6 Oct 2012 at 00:23

Fair one

.

I've looking though it so far, it seems pretty easy coming from a cisco background, well the JNCIA-Juno does anyway.

Ghosteh · 8 Oct 2012 at 17:02

Cheers for the replies guys, much appreciated. From what you've said, it looks like I'm going about things the right way then, getting my CCNA first, then looking at JUNOS 2nd.
Just hoping I can get most of this paid for by the MoD, then I'll be well happy.

Ghosteh · 8 Oct 2012 at 20:07

Self study using CBT Nuggets, Packet Tracer, GNS3 with about 20Gb of IOS's available lol, plus any other material I can get a hold of. It's something I'm just working on in the background as I'm busy with work at the moment, but hopefully will be able to go for the ICDN1 soon.

Ghosteh · 8 Oct 2012 at 20:18

Oh, I fully intend on working towards my CCNP and beyond, but I was just looking for another networking cert to have on my list.

Ghosteh · 8 Oct 2012 at 21:49

The CCNA security does interest me, as does network security as a whole, but I'd like a bigger grasp of Cisco hardware first, hence wanting the CCNP.
I've also heard CCNA/CCNP VoIP is a major one as well as more organisations get VoIP PABX systems in house, you guys have any experience in this? I've got plenty of experience in PABX systems, just analogue ones.

Ghosteh · 8 Oct 2012 at 22:10

So many abbreviations! Hah. Google to the rescue!

I think a lot of what you are talking about is far in the future. I've still got another 18 odd months that I'm likely to be serving in the Army, so in all honesty, I'm only likely to be able to complete some of the more basic qualifications, ideally helping me to get a low(ish) level Network Engineering job. Once I'm out I can work on getting my other qualifications once I'm actually in the field.
Shame the Army doesn't actually support these courses. We use Cisco hardware, but get pretty much no training on it what so ever. Several of the technicians at my unit, including myself, teach ourselves to be able to do our work, the rest simply don't care enough and don't bother. It's pretty pathetic, hence me looking to get out.

Ghosteh · 8 Oct 2012 at 23:37

Well, I've got my main PC which has packet tracer on, as well as a VM running XP that I've got packet tracer on as well, as my laptop is a MacBook. Also got GNS3 installed on both PC and Mac.

Army won't pay for anything. We're entitled to learning credits, so I'll be using them, but that won't be till next year, and it'll come out of my own allocation. They won't pay for anything themselves, not Cisco or Microsoft courses or anything like that anyway, which I find frankly ridiculous. I've done the deployment of about 15 physical servers on exercise, each with several virtual servers on. Each of the sites had several Catalyst 3750 switches and a 2811 Router. We had to pretty much learn cisco from scratch, as our training was far below par (i.e. I was shown how to do RIP on a 1750 series router).
The Army doesn't seem to see the benefit of investing money in these things for some reason, hence me trying to learn off my own back, and go back to the civilian sector!

Ghosteh · 9 Oct 2012 at 00:32

That's good to know. I've only just started using packet tracer, and already learnt a lot, especially about the OSI model.
Yeah, it's a real shame about the switching part of GNS3. If that worked better, it would be an even more excellent tool.
My next step is to get some labs sorted, I've got an account on the cisco learning portal, so when I know I've got some free time to sit down, I'll be purchasing some lab time for sure.

And cheers dude, that's very much appreciated. Thanks for all your advice though this thread.

Ghosteh · 12 Oct 2012 at 13:37

Now I'm back from living in the field for 3 nights, being cold and wet and exhausted, I know for certain I'll be wanting out the Army and back into an office lol.

Sub-netting is something I'm already pretty experienced with. I've ended up teaching VLSM to many people so far, just so they can get their heads around it, as it's very rare that we use a simple /24 network with our kit. But thanks for the link to that website blueseidboy, good to keep up knowledge!

Spanning Tree however is something I really need to pick up more, as I've not really done much with it before, except for enabling and disabling on specific ports lol.