About

Keyboardbanger.com is a blog made by a network engineer for network enthusiasts. It contains technical articles about computer networking, home lab settings, tutorials, reviews of IT certification courses and programs, step-by-step guides, exam guide reviews, etc.

Who sits behind this network engineer blog?

On the one hand, I work as a full-time network engineer since 2008. On my journey filled with ups and a LOT of downs and failures, I earned the following IT certifications (Thank Allah Almighty):

• CCNP Routing&Switching, and recently converted it to CCNP Enterprise
• Cisco Certified Specialist – Enterprise Core
• Cisco Certified Specialist – Enterprise Advanced Infrastructure Implementation
• Cisco Certified Specialist – Data Center ACI Implementation

• HP ATP FlexNetwork Solutions v3
• ITIL 2011 Foundation
• IPv6 Forum Certified Engineer

Expired certificates

• Cisco CCNA Voice
• Solarwinds Certified Professional SCP
• Vmware VCA-DCV
• VMware VCA-Cloud
• Microsoft MCP Windows XP
• Juniper Networks JNCIA-EX
• Juniper Networks JNCIA-M

Languages

• English (TOEIC Gold)
• German (Goethe B1)
• French
• Arabic

In the academic world, I published/helped publish the following documents:

• “Consignes et Astuces”, Securimag 1st Edition p.16,2004
• “Étude et Intégration d’une Solution Monitoring CACTI Dans un réseau LAN/WAN” – Academic project supervisor

On the other hand, I am a husband and father who has to juggle with a lot of family obligations constantly.

So if you are in the same situation like me -and many of you probably are- you acknowledge how hard it is, to manage between work, family, study and blog time! 

No I am not special. Yet I am a regular guy from a third world country making lots of mistakes in my corner and  paving my road towards becoming a Rockstar Network Engineer. In fact, I no longer fear unintended mistakes. I welcome the surge of emotions that comes with them! And I was not this way years ago. I constantly push myself and experience emotional pain.

If you find errors, please drop your comments and let me know. I believe in the old network engineer motto “An expert is a man who made all the possible mistakes”. I will reply to you as soon as possible.

What this blog is NOT about

• I will not reveal any data/network topology/documentation/configuration or names related to my current or past employers/clients.
• I will not promote products, whether electronic or physical, unless I am personally convinced of them. In other words. So to you, certification companies: stop sending me your free samples of exam questions to be reviewed, if you know they are dumps!
• I am not transmitting the opinion of my past or current employer; All thoughts, comments and opinions are my own.

Why am I doing all this?

Walking the path of network engineers is a tedious task, full of anxiety, pain and frustrating experiences. My primary goal from this network engineer blog was to track my study notes and with it all those difficult moments behind the countless study hours and lab time. But then I realized, my notes and experience can help other fellow network engineers who just started down their path or want to improve their skill set. There’s so much to learn in network engineering. Not only you need to read a lot of books, articles, how to guides, but also learn from experienced engineers. Why? Think about it for a second.

If you were sick and wanted to go to the doctor, which one would you choose:

• the fresh medical school graduate? or
• the experience doctor.

I have been in the networking industry since 2008 and I can help you in one way or another in your own journey.

All you need to do is read the stuff I have in my blog and listen to my advice whenever I open my mouth (or more precisely type on the keyboard LOL). 

“But you are not a CCIE!”

Oh really? Do you really still think a CCIE guy is always an expert? Do you think getting a CCIE is still hard? I can throw you a couple of companies in Asia that produce dozens of “paper CCIEs” a month. But I don’t want to get in useless legal Wishiwashi with them because it is pointless and a waste of my time. In those companies you pay to get the CCIE lab dump exactly as it appears in the exam! The end result is yes, you get a CCIE. But you are far from being an expert!

So if you, the reader, whether you are still in college thinking about network engineering, or starting your career in IT, or preparing for an IT certification exam, or converting from another completely different field. I firmly believe that you need to do your part of the hard work and follow the advice of someone who’ been there, done that.

Salam Alaikum,

The Keyboard Banger