5 Jobs You Can Get by Being Fortinet NSE4 Certified

One of the biggest reasons to earn the NSE4 certification is because of the doors that certification will open for you. After all, most IT techs get certifications to start a new career or get better positions at work.

That’s not the only reason to take online training for the NSE4 certification, though. There are numerous IT pros on social media stating that simply studying for the NSE4 cert (not even taking the exams) gave them enough knowledge to propel their career. In fact, I just read a tech saying this exact thing on Reddit the other day.

Studying for the NSE4 certification teaches valuable skills. By working your way through the NSE4 certification process, you’ll learn new cybersecurity principles, how to fortify modern networks, and how to manage Fortinet security products.

What positions can you use your new NSE4 skills with? Finally, we have an answer for you. So without further ado, here are five jobs you can get by being Fortinet NSE4 certified.

1. Hybrid Cloud Engineer

It seems like cloud engineers get all the love. But, businesses are still migrating to the cloud and trying to figure out how the cloud works for them. Many organizations are starting to realize that a cloud-only approach won’t work for them. So, they turn to a hybrid cloud environment.

Can we get a shout-out to our hybrid cloud engineers? It’s your time to shine!

Hybrid cloud engineers are becoming more in demand. Companies need someone that understands how to link local IT infrastructures with cloud resources. Of course, merely creating connections between local and cloud environments is easy. It’s securing and optimizing the local-cloud bridge that is hard.

Fortinet is explicitly designed for this kind of use case. Fortinet products can integrate with cloud resources like AWS, GCP, and Azure. Unlike other security vendors, data sharing and communication between cloud resources and Fortinet applications is bi-directional. That means both Fortinet and cloud vendors, like AWS, can work seamlessly with each other. That also means that the on-prem / cloud infrastructure doesn’t need to depend on security slapped together with duct tape and prayers.

Guess who organizations hire to build and maintain these connected networks? You guessed it! They hire hybrid cloud engineers for this task.

2. DevOps Engineer

Even today, DevOps feels like a trendy thing. We remember when the term DevOps was all shiny and new. But, DevOps has grown to be such a complex and inclusive branch of IT that it almost feels like a catch-all for anything IT that no one knows what to do with.

That couldn’t be further from the truth, though. Part of that confusion is that DevOps is mainly associated with programming, computational sciences, and software development. DevOps has grown to include a lot more than applications, though.

DevOps has branched to include everything that powers development operations and applications. This includes the physical network infrastructure and security mechanisms.

Good DevOps engineers wear multiple hats. They may be a programmer one day, a systems administrator another day, and a network engineer at the end of the week. That’s because the entire point of development operations is to automate and maintain the whole development lifecycle.

Part of the development and application lifecycle is both deployment and maintenance. During these periods, applications will be used by end users or customers. That means these applications and the infrastructure they are built on need to be secure. That means DevOps engineers may need to integrate Fortinet services into their products and services.

3. Network Engineer

Saying that a network engineer needs to know how to use security appliances is a ‘duh’ statement. Nevertheless, we need to make that ‘duh’ statement.

Here’s the thing. What a lot of people think a network engineer does is very legacy. It’s not that it’s wrong. It’s just outdated.

Network engineers still build and maintain networks. That means they are still installing and configuring switches, routers, MPLS circuits, VLANs, and VPNs.  A modern network engineer also connects internal networks to cloud providers like AWS and Azure. AWS and Azure have their own networks that need to be managed, too. All these networks are typically autonomous as well.

That means a network engineer is bordering on being a cloud engineer and a programmer. As a result, the role of a network engineer has become much more complicated.

That means the tools network engineers use have become more complicated and robust, too. Though Fortinet might be a security company, its security products include tools not just for securing networks but for automating things as well. That makes Fortinet a popular choice in the enterprise IT world.

4. Cybersecurity Engineer

It seems evident that a cybersecurity engineer would need the NSE4 certification. Nonetheless, it’s worthwhile to mention that cybersecurity engineers need these certifications for anyone interested in a career path in cybersecurity.

The role of a cybersecurity engineer is much like an auto mechanic in this way. Auto mechanics don’t need any certifications to do their jobs. Instead, they learn an awful lot from the school of hard knocks. With that said, the certifications that auto mechanics can obtain are difficult and mean something. You can learn a lot from the school of hard knocks. Still, an ASE certification in the auto mechanics world will help him diagnose issues quicker and explain why something is happening rather than simply understanding how to fix it.

In the mechanics’ world, that means they can earn more revenue. They can help more customers and take on more complicated tasks. The same is true in the cyber security world. It’s easy to learn how to mitigate security issues, but not why you should. Understanding the why and the complex internals of security systems means that you can better design systems and identify weaknesses where others can’t. That makes you more valuable and increases your revenue stream.

Much like a mechanic, the last engineer to touch something owns every problem in that system that came before them. So equip yourself with the knowledge to be able to explain to customers or your manager why that isn’t the case. Don't forget you can delight your customers by fixing their issues.

5. Technical Analyst

When you hear the title Technical Analyst, what do you think of? Do you picture an IT tech that walks around fixing computers? Maybe you imagine someone in a fancy suite consulting with business owners on how to reduce their technical debt? But, unfortunately, a technical analyst is about as broad of a term as an engineer.

Technical analysts come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. A technical analyst is like your doctor at the end of the day, though. They are a general practitioner in the IT trade. They are a jack of all trades and a master of none.

Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not. Everyone thinks that you need to specialize in something. I guess, in a way, being a general practitioner is a specialization. There are not that many people that can learn a wide variety of information about tons of different topics. Even fewer have the aptitude and willingness to master skills on the spot.

You see, technical analysts need to be able to understand complex systems at a high level. If required, they need to dig into the intricacies of complex systems quickly, too. That means having a logical mindset that can think critically and work through complex problems on the fly.

Even if a technical analyst isn’t NSE4 certified, studying through earning the certification is vital to the role of being a technical analyst. This is how they learn and improve their craft.

Final Thoughts

You’ve just learned of five different jobs with which you can use an NSE4 certification. But, of course, this article is by no means an exhaustive list of positions that use Fortinet security products. There are a lot more.

But the NSE4 certification isn’t about the piece of paper you earn at the end of the journey but rather the journey itself. Studying for the NSE4 certification teaches IT pros a lot of new skills. If you want to learn more, check out an NSE4 online certification training course. These NSE4 online training classes are designed for busy IT professionals that want to upgrade their skill set. They are among the best ways to learn how to use Fortinet and other complex security ecosystems.