New CCNA, CCNP, CCIE and Cisco DevNet Certification 2020!
UPDATE 8/27/2019 – The New Exam topics are up and posted by Cisco!
-200-301: View the new exam topics here.
For comparison, here is a link to the current 200-125 topics here.
This course is over 45+ hours long and will cover all the needed subjects to be successful in passing the CCNA 200-120 exam and the new CCNA 200-125. Students will acquire the knowledge and practice labs in this course to make it transferable to real world use, as a Cisco and/or IT Professional.
We are super excited for the awesome changes Cisco is bringing to the Cisco Certification paths! We think that these are extremely positive revisions that are going to bring even more strength, demand and value to the already prominent classification of being Cisco Certified! These new changes really bring the current tracks into the future, further prepare engineers for the field and make them even more desirable to an even broader range of employers.
Before we get into the breakdown of everything, let’s touch on the two biggest questions everyone is asking.
“What if I am currently studying for a Cisco Certification!?!”
“Should I just wait for the new exams!?!”
Cisco has presented an excellent opportunity here. First off, the cutoff dates for the current CCNA, CCNP and CCIE exams is February 24th, 2020. So, we recommend everyone plans their exams by the Friday before that, which is Friday, February, 21st, 2020.
CCNA:
If pass before the cutoff date, Cisco automatically grants you the new CCNA certification!!! Your cert will be good for 3 years after you took the exam and you will retain CCNA Status! Even if you plan to start studying in December of 2019, for example, you will still have a solid 12 weeks to crank out that certification exam. There couldn’t be a better time to buckle down and hammer out this cert! The new Cisco CCNA in 2020 is going to be a hot ticket and the buzz of the tech world! (It already is!) Our sincere advice is to take advantage of this and crank out that cert!!!
CCENT > Go finish your ICND2 > CCNA Certified.
If you are going after your CCNA right now, double time it and get it done!
No, really, DO IT! You’ve got this! Dedicate yourself and be one of the first people out there with the shiny new cert that is the biggest excitement to hit this certification path since its beginning 26 years ago! Everyone will be looking at you!
CCNP:
If you certify before the cutoff date:
If you pass one of the current cert exams (Route, Switch, TShoot) you’ll receive “badging” for the associated new exams and that will count as credit towards the new CCNP applicable certification.
If you complete the full CCNP before, just like CCNA, you will receive the new equivalent certification after the cutoff date. Once again, our advice, go conquer that exam! Don’t wait! Seize the day!
Your certification will be good for three years after you passed the exam.
Once again, Feb 23rd 2020 is the last day to test. The new test starts February 24th. The last Friday before this is February 21st.
Fresh and New:
Something completely new to the certification options here is the additiol of Cisco Certified Devnet at the associate and professional level (and apparently the CCIE level, but no promises on release dates here). These are an interesting and pretty cool addition, especially because they will still require fundamental knowledge of networking. These are very software based and will have a split of something like 80%/20% with networking. The concept here was so that programmers and networking guys can actually communicate instead of always speaking two different languages! We will definitely be looking at what we can put together to get anyone interested in the networking side of this all setup to add to their programming skills! Exciting stuff and may solve a long time problem in the IT world. Communication is key.
The Details:
So, let’s get into the nitty gritty here a bit. Cisco is still passing down more information on all of this and we will update this as it released and post to our social media pages. For now, here is everything we know and so far and it looks great!
Once again, test by the Friday the 21st, 2020. After February 23rd, 2020, 200-125 is gone. The 200-125 will be replaced with the new composite CCNA, 200-301
All Certification tracks (CCNA, CCNP, CCIE) are affected by this.
However, the main levels will stay the same… meaning we will still have the division of CCNA, CCNP and CCIE. Where CCNA is being completely combined into one composite exam, the tracks are being consolidated for CCNP and CCIE level
First let’s take a look at CCNA:
The CCENT will be gone. The exam will now be only available as a single test, but don’t let this scare you! There may be more material this time, but many of the advanced levels pieces will be getting moved to CCNP. So, does this mean the CCNA will be easier? We can’t be sure of that, but we can say that it will still cover a lot of material, but the core concepts of them. We always like to say that the CCNA is like 10 football fields long and an inch deep. Where-as a focused certification, like CCNP Security, is one football field long and 6 inches deep.
The current CCNA options are:
CCNA Routing and Switching (the primary exam everyone goes for)
CCNA Cloud
CCNA Collaboration
CCNA Cyber Ops
CCNA Data Center
CCNA Industrial
CCNA Design
CCNA Wireless
CCNA Security
CCNA Service Provider
Cisco Certificed DevNet Associate
The new CCNA consolidates all of these tracks into a single exam, then adds some automation and programability to the mix.
Yes, this does mean that all of these other specialization or focus exam that are currently offered by Cisco will no longer be available. The CCNA exam will now be a blanket or consolidated style exam and you will break into the focuses at the CCNP level. Which, if you think about it, really makes a lot of sense.
The Current CCNP Options Are:
CCNP Routing and Switching (The primary exam everyone goes for -Route, Switch, TShoot)
CCNP Cloud
CCNP Collaboration
CCNP Data Center
CCNP Security
CCNP Service Provider
CCNP Wireless
CCDP Design
After the cutoff, CCNP will be reorganized into:
CCNP Enterprise (wired and wireless)
CCNP Data Center
CCNP Security
CCNP Service Provider
CCNP Collaboration
Cisco Certified DevNet Professional
The new way these tests will work:
- You first pass a technology core exam – foundational and common concepts are covered here.
- Then you pass a focus/concentration exam – This is a focused exam on a specific technology
– No prerequisites anymore -If you know your stuff, you can skip right into CCNP!
CCIE:
Before Feb 24th:
CCIE Routing and Switching
CCIE Collaboration
CCIE Data Center
CCIE Security
CCIE Service Provider
CCIE Wireless
CCDE Design
After Cutoff Date:
CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure (wired)
CCIE Enterprise wrieless
CCIE Data Center
CCIE Security
CCIE Service Provider
Collaboration
Cisco Certified DevNet Expert – In the works. No release date yet.
Currently you need to pass a written and a lab exam for each proficiency/track.
After the cutoff, there will be 2 exams to pass for each track”
-Technology Core exam (Just like CCNP)
-Then a Lab Exam which is broken down into two modules.
- Design – 3 hours
- Deploy, operate and Optimize -5 hours
-Overall, still a hardcore 8 hour exam
You will see more Automation and Network Programmability here as well.
Finally, our favorite update! After the cutoff you can now take a higher exam to recertify everything underneath it or use continuing education credits to keep your certification! These will be very similar to the continuing education credit program offered by Comptia where you can take additional courses, attend seminars (such as Cisco Live), etc. This is something we have all been waiting for! We couldn’t be more excited about this!
In review, we really think these changes are going to keep Cisco certs at the top of the mountain. These seem like major changes, but they will assure that being Cisco certified will remain one of the most powerful certs in the IT community, will open door, create job opportunities and lead to exciting careers where the sky is the limit! Don’t wait, get started right away and dive right in! We will be watching this constantly for any and all updates to assure you that we are on top this and will continue to bring the very best options to assist in your certification goals! Remember, only at CertificationKits are you also covered by our trade-up program. So, you get that extra level of future-proofing that no one else offers to make sure you are covered, even if we see hardware changes. We have your back and will be ready to go!