Cisco has always been an industry leader in networking solutions. With solutions for enterprise networks, wireless networks, network security, network automation and DevOps, Cisco’s offerings are tremendous.
To accompany these solutions, February 2020 saw the launch of Cisco’s revamped certification program, completely redefining their certification tracks and creating several brand new certifications.
To highlight the changes, gone are CCNA level specialties, and a single CCNA certification remains. Additionally, the traditional professional level and CCNP specialties have changed a bit. The professional and CCNP level certifications call for passing a core exam within each specialty, and then learners will choose a single concentration exam to further measure their skills. Also of note, the CCNP level core exams constitute the written exam portion of CCIE certification.
It’s a lot to take in, but the good news is that Pluralsight is ready with many certifications already covered and plenty more to come!
Available paths
Cisco CCNA
Ever Cisco’s flagship certification, the new CCNA no longer has specialties, instead being consolidated into one single CCNA certification covering a wide breadth of Cisco networking concepts and solutions.
Ross Bagurdes approaches the certification in depth to bring viewers a foundational understanding of networking and Cisco solutions: Cisco CCNA: Cisco Certified Network Associate (200-301)
Cisco Certified DevNet Associate
One of Cisco’s new certifications, the DevNet associate certification measures the skills needed for developing and maintaining applications on Cisco platforms. Built for devs, DevOps folks and those with a mind for automation, this certification stands for the future of IT Infrastructure.
Nick Russo guides you through the intricacies of Cisco DevNet while offering plenty of hands-on examples and instruction: Cisco Certified DevNet Associate (DEVASC 200-901)
Cisco Certified DevNet Professional
Another new certification, the DevNet professional certification further validates a learner’s mastery of software development and maintenance on Cisco platforms. More coverage on the concentration exams is on the way!
Nick Russo covers the core exam for this professional certification and continues his DevNet excellence, creating in depth training to guide you to DevNet mastery: Cisco DEVCOR (350-901) for Cisco Certified DevNet Professional
CCNP Enterprise
Largely the replacement for the old CCNP Routing and Switching track, this certification adds additional competencies to measure your skills in implementing enterprise network solutions. More coverage on the concentration exams is on the way!
Ben Piper covers the core exam for this professional certification, bringing his expertise in networking into this extensive series. Ben is hard at work finishing up the series: Cisco ENCOR (350-401) for CCNP Enterprise
Sean Wilkins and Leigh Bogardis will guide you on your path to mastering enterprise network design in this series covering the Designing Cisco Enterprise Networks (ENSLD) exam: Cisco ENSLD (300-420) for CCNP Enterprise
Nick Russo covers everything you’ll need to know about enterprise network automation in his series covering the Automating Cisco Enterprise Solutions (ENAUTO) exam: Cisco ENAUTO (300-435) for Certified DevNet Professional and CCNP Enterprise
CCNP Data Center
Cisco’s CCNP Data Center certification remains, validating skills in data center solutions. More concentration exam coverage is on the way!
With extensive examples and instruction, Sean Douglas covers the core exam for CCNP Data Center certification. His courses dive deep into configuring networking, computing, storage, automation and security for Cisco data centers: Cisco DCCOR (350-601) for CCNP Data Center
CCNP Security
The CCNP Security certification remains, but has now been fully fleshed out with Cisco’s security product offerings. More concentration exam coverage is on the way!
Craig Stansbury walks you through everything you’ll need to know about implementing Cisco security solutions. You’ll get a sampling of just about everything Cisco has to offer, making it easy to then dive into the certification’s concentration exams: Cisco SCOR (350-701) for CCNP Security
Martin Brown takes you deep into VPN implementation and operation in his coverage of the Implementing Secure Solutions with Virtual Private Networks (SVPN) concentration exam: Cisco SVPN (300-730) for CCNP Security
Upcoming paths
CCNP Collaboration
This certification focuses on collaboration infrastructure and measures your ability to implement solutions to get said infrastructure up and running as well as maintained. At the moment, we don’t have any live offerings, but coverage is underway and we’ll be hoping to get more content in the library soon!
Cisco Certified CyberOps Associate
While the old CyberOps certification is still live, a new version will be coming at the end of May 2020. We’ll be working to get out content to cover the new version of the certification as soon as possible. The exam measures a professional’s ability to work in security operations centers and detect and react to cybersecurity breaches and threats.
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