Header picture

The header picture that you see at the top of my blog is one of my first Visio diagrams that I made.

I made this network diagram for my CCNA Capstone class where I had to 'fix' the merger between 2 computer infrastructures.

My instructor at my local college signed us up for the Microsoft academy and that allowed us to use certain MS software for free (for a year.)

MS Visio was one of the programs that one could get for free and even though it wasn't necessary for my CCNA class, I did it anyway. Visio is one of the diagramming programs that real-life network engineers use to draw network diagrams. So I killed 2 flies with one swing by learning how to draw network diagrams Visio and enhance my class experience at the same time, which in turns better prepares me for the real world.

Why I created this particular style of network diagramming
When I first started out my CCNA capstone class, I really didn't know what real-world network diagrams looked like. I googled some pictures up and even though most of them looked very functional, practical and gets the job done right, I kinda felt it was a bit boring.

ratemynetworkdiagram.com was one of the main sites I looked at for inspiration and how most people draw their network diagrams. Most of them are with a white background, with 'rectangular lines' that connected the various devices. There were a few that were totally over the top, and include a 3d, isometric view of their network setup.

As a beginner to Visio, the 3d/isometric network diagrams were out of my scope and the bland, simple diagrams were boring. So, one day I was watching Tron Legacy again and thought hey, lets make a network diagram inspired by the theme of Tron Legacy and see if that looks cool. So, I learned some more features of Visio while creating this awesome network diagram for my CCNA Capstone course. The picture you see above has been edited to from dark blue to the lighter blue you see now because the darker blue was too dark for a header in my opinion. This lighter blue does give it more of a 'blueprint'-style feel to it.

There's a good reason why real-world network diagrams look so, style-wise, so simple and bland.
1) Why invest so much more time to create a different looking network diagram when that time could have been used more more productively?
2) If you were to print out these network diagrams with a colored background, it would cost a ton more than one with a white background.

Bottom line: I created this particular network diagram to learn create Network diagrams with Visio for my class and I achieved that.

New blog dedicated to random thoughts

I now have a totally new blog that is totally unrelated to this one. It's at


www.willrandomthought.blogspot.com


and it's about my randomy, random thoughts. It may provide insights in the minds of one the few modern cavemans left today, but unless you're an anthropologist, don't bother to visit it.


It has had a grand total of 1 visitor since it has gone up and at it's current rate I may break the 10 visitors mark for this year. Thank you, random person from Germany!


Ps. I'm probably gonna post some random idea's that I sometimes have on my new blog. Things like "Which constellation is our sun part of?", " 'Chatty', as a work requirement", "Finding a pattern in prime numbers, the other, other way.", "How to multi-task multiple exciting ways to bore the heck out of yourself", "OMG, some ghost moved my keys [Finding out you need new glasses]", and much, much more!*


*Or not, since, besides the fact that it's random, I'm also very forgetful. Don't hold me to it if a much anticipated title doesn't show up in the following decade or so.

Study Plan

July 2011.
Will

The path to Network Engineer? Technical Knowledge...

What technical knowledge do you need to become a network engineer? I don't know for sure, but I tried to find it by looking at job postings at 5 big job search sites like Monster.com. I looked at ~10 entries of each site for a total of 50+. I made a spreadsheet and figured out what the most common keywords were on job listings for "Network Engineer".


I'm splitting this into 3 parts: 'General area of knowledge', 'Specific area's of knowledge' and 'Other commonly listed items'. 

The job listings used are with the title "Network Engineer" only. Job Listings of "Senior Network Engineer" are not included because that would be way, way too long. 

Note: The second column denotes occurence.


Job Postings from 5 job search sites, 50+ postings combined:



General area's of knowledge:

VPN	12
LAN	10
Firewall	10
Network Security	9
TCP/IP	8
Voice/VoIP	7
WAN	7
Wireless	6
Network Design	4

Other common misc. General Area's of knowledge with only 1-3 entries:

• IPv6
• Video
• VLAN
• Dynamic Routing Protocol
• OSI

Specific Area's of Knowledge (Topic / Occurence):

BGP	16
OSPF	14
MPLS	9
EIGRP	8
IPSec	7
QoS	5
HSRP/VRRP	5
PPP/HDLC	3
Multicast	3
DHCP	3
SNMP	3
STP	3
T1\T3\DS1\DS3	2
ATM	2
Frame Relay	2
ARP	2
802.1Q	2
802.1QinQ	2

Other commonly listed items:

• Scripting (Perl, Php, Python, Shell)
• Load balancers (F5)
• Linux
• Juniper

Thoughts:
It looks like even though the commonly required education states "BS in Computer Science or equivalent experience" plus a CCNP, it seems you need more than just the CCNP in Routing and Switching. 


Here's a quick overview of some CCNP certification exams:
CCNP: ROUTE, SWITCH, TSHOOT
CCIP: ROUTE, BGP, QoS, MPLS
CCNP Security: SECURE, FIREWALL, VPN, IPS
CCDP: ROUTE, SWITCH, ARCH


The common denominator for your average Network Engineer seem to correspond to the following certifications/area's of knowledge:

• CCNP, CCIP, CCNP Security
• LPIC-1 or LPIC-2
• A scripting language (Perl/PHP/Python)
• with possibly: CCNA Voice, CCNA Wireless and CCDA/CCDP
• Load balancers (F5)

+ other various knowledge that your expected to know (e.g. Office skills, creating network diagrams, soft skills)

The path to network engineer? Education...

Disclaimer: This blog is just an opinion and based on my experience and looking through 50+ job postings for the job "Network Engineer".


What eduation will you need to become a network engineer?

1. BS in computer science(or related field) OR equivalent experience
2. BS in Computer Science

What certification is most often listed as a requirement?

• Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP)

The path to network engineer? Experience...

I've been looking through job listings for network engineers because it seems like a really fun job to do. I've looked at more than 50 job postings for a "network engineer" and found out that you need to know quite a bit of knowledge and have quite a bit of experience too.

First, the experience part:
- 2-5 years experience in Network administration/Data Centers/other IT related eperience.
- In order to become an Network administrator you need to have experience in support. Examples of support are Helpdesk, Desktop Support and other IT/PC support.
- In order to work in IT support, you need to get an IT-Entry level job, which can include helpdesks and various other support jobs.
- Some "IT entry-level jobs" require you to have 1-2 years of experience...

In short:  
"IT entry-level job" > IT support > Network admin > Network Engineer

So, when it comes to experience, it seems that the hardest part is to get your foot into the computer field.

My current status: 'Having too much fun studying networking' and 'still looking for my first IT/computer related job'

Past and current

I've taken courses for the CCNA (Cisco Certified Networking Academy) at my local college and from the Cisco Networking Academy. I've finished my regular CCNA classes in May 2011 and passed my CCNA in June 2011.


During my first CCNA class, my instructor recommended us to go and study for some CompTIA certificates too. He recommended us to get Network+, Security+ (in preparation for CCNA Security), Server+, Linux+. I'm not too sure if he recommended Network+ because he did mention that most of Network+'s content is also covered in CCNA.

I'm now currently studying for the other CCNA specialties (Security, Voice, Wireless) in order to get a broader basis first. After that I will study for the CCNP and maybe for the CCDA(Design) too.

First Post

This blog(arry) will be about my studying efforts in learning more about computer networks.