People have been debating on one topic for quite a long time now. The debate is shouting which of the two exams are harder: the CISCO CCDE exam or the CISCO CCNP exam. Well, below is a quick glance at the Cisco CCDE exam and the CCNP Enterprise. By the end of this guide, you will see a clear difference between the two and can analyze which of the two exams is harder. Let’s start.
Cisco CCDE Exam
The CCDE (Cisco Certified Design Expert) exam is designed for all expert-level individuals in IT. This involves network engineers, network leads of infrastructure teams, design engineers, and network leads of architectural teams that work in such job roles which need them to translate all business budgets, needs, and operational constraints to converged solution designs.
Typically, the CCDE curriculum helps designers design, develop, and prepare all design solutions for huge customer networks at an infrastructure level. Before taking the exam, make sure to learn CCDE written exam material. We have talked about it in details in the next few paragraphs.
To acquire the CCDE (Cisco Certified Design Expert) certificate, individuals need to undergo two exams. Namely, the CCDE Written Exam, and the CCDE Practical Exam.
CCDE Written Exam
This is a 2-hour qualification written examination. The paper covers all the network design in several areas including tunneling, routing, management, capacity, quality of service, cost, and security. Individuals are required to clear the written examination in order to be eligible for scheduling the next stage of the CCDE exam.
CCDE Practical Exam
This is quite different from the written exam. This is an 8-hour examination that involves all practical tests. The exam aims to test the individual’s capacity to justify and elaborate design requirements, perform and execute design analysis, and develop design implementation. However, this should be done on the basis of best practices.
Note that only the candidates that gain a certain score, or let’s say, acquire a passing mark on the written CCDE exam will be qualified to register for the next stage, i.e, the CCDE Practical Exam.
Are There Any Prerequisites?
Well, no. The CCDE exam does not require any prerequisites. Furthermore, the examination does not require any other specific training or professional certifications.
About The Certification: CCNP Certification Exam
The CCNP is another enterprise certification. This particular certification is specially designed for all pro-level roles involved in enterprise networking solutions. Unlike CCDE, the CCNP certification examines your efficiency and expertise with the existing enterprise solutions.
The CCNP Enterprise certification is considered one of the most renowned certifications in the industry. Their certification renders core knowledge besides providing you the opportunity and flexibility to personalize the certification in the technical areas of your preference.
Coming to the exam, the CCNP Enterprise certification is quite a tough one. To get this, individuals need to pass 2 exams: the core exam and the concentration exam.
Speaking separately, the core exam strictly is dedicated to the core enterprise infrastructure. This involves dual-stack (IPv6 and IPv4) architecture, infrastructure, security, virtualization, automation, and network assurance.
On the other hand, the concentration examination focuses on topics that are industry-specific. This involves wireless, network design, SD-WAN, and automation.
Are There Any Prerequisites?
Yes. Individuals need to hold a good understanding of each topic included in the examination. Additionally, individuals require 3-5 years of experience in executing enterprise networking solutions.
What About Recertification?
Typically, the CCNP Enterprise certification is only valid for up to 3 years right from the acquired date of certification. You can simply apply for the Recertification process by selecting any of the two procedures.
Method 1: Exam Only
- Clear 1 technology core exam
- Clear any 2 individual professional concentration exams
- Clear any 1 expert-level practical examination
- Clear any 1 expert-level written examination
Method 2: Exam and CE(Continuing Education) Options
- Clear any 1 professional concentration exam to earn 40 CE credits
- Earn 80 CE credits
For recertifying the CCNP Enterprise examination, individuals need to retake the examination to gain an active status. You can easily apply for the recertification amidst your active period by acquiring CE (Continuing Education) credits, the next level certifications, or both.
Now that you have a clear idea regarding both the exams, you can decide which among the two exams is harder. What do you think?