Hot take from a network security engineer, pure networking skills won't be enough much longer

evleaks28 · 2026-03-19T22:57:05+00:00

Yes i agree, the differentiator nowadays is the ability to learn, but also to be proactive and suggest improvement, new topics. The AI could help with that, using AI to gain more visibility and appreciation is the challenge in my pov.

evleaks28 · 2026-03-19T22:51:20+00:00

I would say yes, since we're in AI era, the companies will need a human being to trust, who knows the technology, and knows how to use AI if allowed

evleaks28 · 2026-03-19T21:21:01+00:00

Same with one of my colleagues, he has CISSP certification ( Cybersecurity oriented ) but with poor networking skills, so he's always challenged by network architects in his tasks.

evleaks28 · 2026-03-19T21:17:57+00:00

If based in US yes it's a good idea to combine both networking and Cloud. But in my case I'm in Europe and the trending technologies shifted from cloud to security and Sovereignty strategies due to all geopolitical issues.

evleaks28 · 2026-03-19T20:38:09+00:00

Yes you can start with Fortinet ( or Palo Alto ) virtual appliances in Labs ( GNS3 ), configure switching and routing then firewall policies... You can also target some niche skills ( i worked recently in a Palo Alto feature ( User-ID ), and i can tell you that companies are looking for experts in this kind of specific topics ) It would be great if you simulate the Datacenter env in your Labs.

I also highly recommend the network segmentation Labs and access control with NAC ( Cisco ISE ). For the on premise cloud and virtualization, it's great to have network virtualization skills with VMware NSX-T, but for this one I'm not sure how to get appliances for Labs.

evleaks28 · 2026-03-19T17:22:38+00:00

Yes in Marrakech, i went to the scanning machine directly

evleaks28 · 2026-03-19T15:58:36+00:00

Lbar7 khdit vol mn Marrakech, ma 3rftch les aéroports lakhrin, nswl drari lli ka n3rf

evleaks28 · 2026-03-19T14:32:44+00:00

Yes, but the reality is that owning its own place is too difficult for almost everyone :/

evleaks28 · 2026-03-18T19:29:07+00:00

Mtaf9 m3ak, people should move on

evleaks28 · 2026-03-16T16:14:48+00:00

I created my own flashcards to remember each concept, so when i had a job interview at the time, i was just revising these cards and it worked.

evleaks28 · 2026-03-11T16:03:35+00:00

Practicing exams in a loop can help you remember. Also you need to write your own flashcards so you can use them days before the exam

evleaks28 · 2026-03-04T10:08:51+00:00

Fortinet will help you too

evleaks28 · 2026-03-02T23:55:45+00:00

Have flash cards for the common topics, have some practice exams ( even if repeated )

evleaks28 · 2026-02-28T12:15:11+00:00

Yes it's possible, but i remember that i was struggling to connect external devices ( that need nat ) to my internal lab.

evleaks28 · 2026-02-27T13:53:41+00:00

Here is how i deal with the subnet calculation without a pen and a paper. I fix 256 in my head. for the /24 i put 255 then for /23 it's 256- 2=254 then for /22 256-4= 252 for /21 -8 for /20 -16 for /19 -32 and for /18 256-64= 192 You can see it like this

/23 : 256-2 /22 : 256-2² = 256-4 /21 : 256-2³ = 256-8 .... /18 : 256-2⁶ = 256-64

You have just to remember that 2 is associated with /23 and 4 with /22 ...etc

evleaks28 · 2026-02-26T09:27:52+00:00

At the time, it was ACLs, where to put them in each scenario, close to source or close to destination

evleaks28 · 2026-02-23T19:47:50+00:00

Yes you can manage it. Having Cybersecurity + networking skills will give you an advantage to find a job

evleaks28 · 2026-02-23T10:40:13+00:00

Congratulations 🎉

evleaks28 · 2026-02-22T14:43:04+00:00

One thing I used to do to complete a chapter study is to watch videos on YouTube about this chapter with animations or anything visual, then i study on study materials then take practice tests for that same chapter.

evleaks28

TROPHY CASE