As I've written previously, the Juniper
Networks Education Services team is committed to providing training that equips learners to use our products in real-world scenarios. We have deep experience on our team that
enables us to produce high-quality training
courses. However, just like really good software
developers need beta testers for their software, we also need beta testers for
our classes.
When we write new training
classes (or even significantly revise existing ones), we conduct various kinds of
reviews to ensure that the training
teaches the correct audience the correct skills in the correct way. Sometimes, we get input from members of the
"target audience" prior to writing the training
(or even while writing the training),
to find out what they really want to know, or to find out if a particular
example is going to work well. However,
one of the biggest tests of a new class is the beta class.
A beta class is the first real-life test of a new
class. It is conducted in our Sunnyvale offices using
student guides and labs that are candidates for final release, and it is taught on a schedule that imitates the
final class. This is where we find out
whether the four-day class really is four days, whether that slide on the second day really does explain four-byte AS numbers
well enough, and whether that lab really does explain the topic
accurately. This is our opportunity to
double-check that the class includes the correct material for the target
audience, that it teaches that material well, and that there are no missing
"building blocks" of knowledge.
We need beta testers for these
classes. Just as we have many kinds of classes (introductory, intermediate, and advanced) on
many different topics (routing, VPNs, MPLS, security,
management, etc.), we need many different kinds of beta testers. You don't need to be an expert to be a good
beta tester. In fact, we don't really
want you to be an expert. We don't
expect you to correct things in the class that are wrong; instead, we expect
you to raise your hand and say,
"this doesn't make sense to me."
(That's our clue that there is a "bug" that we need to fix in the
class.)
If you are interested in being a beta tester, please send
an email to our alias "training" at
the domain juniper.net. Include your
name, preferred email address, preferred phone number, the languages you
understand, a brief description of your experience/skills, and a quick
description of the kinds of classes
you are interested in beta testing. Participants
in the beta classes are allowed to
attend the class for free (however, all incidental expenses,
including travel, are the participants' responsibility).
Another option for free training is to take one of our many available
online courses, any time. You'll find a complete listing at juniper.net/us/en/training/technical_education/. Find the links to these online courses under the eLearning sections of each certification area.
aicasiano
on:
May 2012 Microsoft Patch Tuesday Summary
