Cisco CCNA, CCNP, CCIE Certification MAJOR Update – Changes in 2020

I have had a handful of people ask me about the changes to the Cisco certification program that was recently announced at Cisco Live. Flaxbox provided a simple overview of the changes found HERE.

In summary, the CCNA program is being consolidated down to one CCNA exam and a new one for developers (also called DevNet) meaning programming skills. The CCNP program is being consolidated to more focused learning paths and there is a new developer program being released at the CCNA and CCNP level (the DevNet program i just mentioned). Check out the flaxbox post for deeper details.

I can’t answer questions about certain programs that are being consolidated or moved such as the Cyber Operation path at this point in time but I will post about them as those details become public. I can say that the CCNA Cyber Ops program has been very successful. The CCNA Cyber Opts focuses on the SOC via a security analyst position rather than specific products. This means the topics leveraged open source and industry best practices rather than learning Cisco products. I would expect more paths with this focus to emerge as changes are being implemented, which I will announce as they become public.

For those that invested in my CCNA Cyber Opts book, know that we wrote it with the goal of teaching security best practices along with passing the exam. Hopefully, those that invested in the book achieved their learning objectives regardless of the current state of the certification program.

I’ll post more on the Cisco Certification program this fall as more details are released. Feel free to reach out to me with questions and I’ll answer what I am able to speak about.