Newcomer Seeking Advice: Palo Alto Certification Path

[ABHIYADAV]

Hi everyone,

I'm excited to join the Palo Alto community! My name is Abhi, and I'm eager to learn and grow my career in cybersecurity with Palo Alto Networks.

I currently hold AWS certifications and have a good foundation in networking. However, I'm unsure which Palo Alto certification best fits my background and career aspirations.

I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions or guidance from this experienced community. Whether it's sharing personal experiences, recommending specific certifications, or offering general advice on navigating the Palo Alto security landscape, your insights would be invaluable.

Thank you for your time and support!

Looking forward to connecting and learning from all of you.

Best regards,

Abhi Yadav

[Claw4609 · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Welcome!

To answer you question I feel like that would depends on what knowledge you're looking to gain. Will you mainly be working with Primsa, Cortex, or Strata products? Strata are the physical firewalls and the central management platform Panorama. Strata is generally what people refer to so thats what the below will be referencing.

I have personally have the PCSNA and PCNSE and would say the PCNSA focuses more on Palo Alto products and a whole and more general how an enterprise firewall works, I would personally say this would be best suited for some in a sales role. The PCNSE would be more of the technical of specifically Palo Alto firewalls. If youre mainly working with Cortex or Prisma products Palo has certs specific to those as well.

In terms of learning Palo has the Beacon site which has some courses and videos: Home : Beacon (paloaltonetworks.com)

While working with firewalls you will regularly refer to the admin guide (this is the technical documentation): Getting Started (paloaltonetworks.com)

I personally like this book by Reaper as it goes over some more real world stuff then the certifications may: Mastering Palo Alto Networks - Second Edition: Build, configure, and deploy network solutions for yo...

PCNSA Study Guide (paloaltonetworks.com)

PCNSE Study Guide (paloaltonetworks.com)

[ABHIYADAV]

I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for your valuable advice on navigating my career in Palo Alto. Your insights have been incredibly helpful, and I truly appreciate your support.

Thank You.