Juniper has a program called “Open Learning” where you can study for almost any track at associate through expert level. Yes, free training material for even the coveted JNCIE. Won’t see Cisco do that.
If you complete practice exams, you will also receive a 75% off voucher for the real exam. You can do this as many times as you like, there’s no limit.
I have extensive experience with both Open Learning and All-Access Pass, which I used to get about 8 certifications in a year, including JNCIE-DC.
Any questions, I can help.
Thank you so much! It was very helpful. I’m looking for some entry net technician, net admin job now, so I’ll go Junos first then, after my ccna. I got confused cause if I asked anybody for detailed networking books and certs, people say cisco immediately, not rly as recommended vendor certs, but also detailed general networking resources with application on cisco gear. I agree learning various platforms will benefit me. Thank you for advice, it clarified a lot for me.
Cisco does a decent job at teaching general networking concepts, but most of them are “the Cisco way”, which I despise. Juniper is a much more standards-focused vendor vs magical bullshit like Cisco. The downside is that Juniper assumes you know networking already and doesn’t do that great of a job at teaching.
Another thing to keep in mind is that Cisco, unfortunately, is still the most prevalent networking vendor. This means the jobs are more plentiful and the skillset is more saturated in the market. Most people are mega fanboys of Cisco and either are too stupid or too ignorant to learn other vendors, which limits their thinking and skillset growth. Cisco is very much a cult.
Get some experience and see what makes you happy, then pursue that knowledge. Ultimately, if you aren’t happy with the work then your career will be miserable.