How Does Cisco's Overhaul of the CCNP Certification Affect CCNP Candidates? An Interview with Wendell Odom

Linda Leung talks with Wendell Odom about the major changes in the new Cisco CCNP exams, what new knowledge is required of candidates, and how the changes benefit network professionals in their careers.

Cisco last month introduced a complete overhaul of its CCNP certification track to better reflect the evolving job tasks of global network professionals. Greater emphasis has been placed on maintaining a highly secure, complex routing and switching network that supports branch offices and mobile workers, as well as deliver voice and video services. Cisco has reduced the number of exams for the certification from four to three: ROUTE #642-902, SWITCH #642-813, and TSHOOT #642-832. The changes ensure that networking professionals have a deeper knowledge of the tasks they need to perform in the real world, with more emphasis on troubleshooting and planning.

The exams are scheduled to be available in March/April 2010, and the last day to take the old exams is July 31, 2010. To help you prepare for the new exams, Cisco Press has published (or will soon publish, in some cases) a comprehensive portfolio of CCNP self-study resources. One key title is CCNP Routing and Switching Official Certification Library (Exams 642-902, 642-813, 642-832), by Wendell Odom, David Hucaby, and Kevin Wallace.

I caught up with Wendell and asked him what are the major changes in the new CCNP exams, what new knowledge is required of candidates, and how the changes benefit network professionals in their careers.

Linda Leung: What are the overarching differences between the new CCNP vs. the old?

Wendell Odom: The biggest difference is that the old had much broader topic coverage, while the new CCNP gives much more focus on skills, and probably more depth for each topic. Gone are the ISCW and ONT exams, which together included QoS, multicast, wireless, MPLS, and security. The ROUTE exam removes IS-IS and multicast as well. But the addition of the TSHOOT exam is huge: a skills-based exam with a large degree of coverage from the ROUTE and SWITCH topics. There's also more emphasis on implementation and verification planning. So, think deeper mastery, more focused topic breadth, with the emphasis on routing and switching. Read More >>>