Cisco certification updates were announced on February 24th, 2019. The day after Cisco Live US 2019. Significant changes were made.
A summary of the major updates and their key points is provided below.
Changes to current certifications
Associate level
The various CCNA certifications have been consolidated into only one now. And the CCDA also disappears. Remaining certs at the associate level are:
- CCNA
- DevNet Associate (I will talk about DevNet certs in more detail below)
- CyberOps Associate
Professional, Specialist, and Expert levels
The CCNP and CCIE Routing & Switching (R&S) track is now called CCNP Enterprise, CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure, and CCIE Enterprise Wireless.
The certification technology tracks for CCNP and CCIE have been consolidated to:
- Enterprise
- Security
- Service Provider
- Collaboration
- Data Center
At the professional level, each of these tracks contains a Core exam and many specialist exams, called Concentration exams.
To obtain a CCNP certification on one of these tracks, you must pass one core exam and one concentration exam of the track. This, in any order. And there is no prerequisite for the CCNP level.
For each core or concentration passed exam, you will receive a specialist certification.
In brief: one passed exam = at least one certification.
To obtain a CCIE certification in one of these tracks, you must pass the professional core exam of the track (the same core exam as for the CCNP level). And then, the corresponding CCIE lab exam. Once you pass the core exam, you have three years to pass the lab exam. No more CCIE written exam.
Here is a list of the current exams:
(click on the image to see a larger version)
CCIE Lab changes
The CCIE lab exam format has also changed. The lab exam consists of two modules that are fixed in time and will be delivered in a fixed sequence:
- Module 1: Design (3 hours)
- Module 2: Deploy, Operate, and Optimize (5 hours)
Automation and Network Programmability skills are an integral part of both modules.
New DevNet certifications
The new DevNet certifications include:
- Cisco Certified DevNet Associate
- Cisco Certified DevNet Specialist
- Cisco Certified DevNet Professional
The principle is the same as for the other Cisco certifications: to get the associate level, there is one DevNet associate exam to pass. And to get the DevNet CCNP certification, there is one DevNet core exam and one DevNet specialist (concentration) exam to pass.
Each DevNet specialist (concentration) or DevNet core exam passed gives you a DevNet specialist certification. And some of the DevNet concentration exams are also part of the CCNP tracks of other technologies.
Since a picture’s worth a thousand words:
(click on the image to see a larger version)
Certifications validity
For all levels of certifications, this is now the same: recertify every 3 years.
Renew a certification
We are now able to recertify by either taking exams, earning Continuing Education credits, or a mix of both. Continuing Education activities include attending Cisco Live training sessions or completing training courses and more.
More details here: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/training-events/training-certifications/recertification-policy.html
And for more details on Continuing Education, go to: https://ce.cisco.com
More information
- Cisco Training and Certification Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Cisco Next Level Certifications Website
- Cisco Learning Network Certification part