Whoa! New Cisco cert...

BobSutan

BobSutan

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Apr 5, 2000
Messages
12,123
http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/cisco_certified_architect/index.html

CiscoPyramid_Revised.jpg


First you must have a CCDE and then you have to sit before a board.

...candidates wishing to attain their Cisco Certified Architect certification must meet before an in-person board made of Cisco-appointed exam committee members during which the candidate defends their proposed network solution.
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The crazy part, this is more or less my job description:

Responsibilities of the Cisco Certified Architect

* Lead creation and evolution of architecture
* Analyze technology and industry market trends
* Establish governing principles for networks
* Selection of technology and products
* Identification of organization resource needs
* Lead the development of communication and education plan for network architecture
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It's a good cert and I'm happy to see these large architecture certifications being created. Microsoft has one. VMware has their VCDX. With the VCDX you must have the standard VCP cert, then sit two enterprise exams (Enterprise Admin and Design), then create a complete customer deliverable set of documentation for an overall virtual environment design and submit that for review. If you pass that you are invited to defend that design in front of a committee. While there you have to defend the overall design, do an ad-hoc design, and then do a troubleshooting scenario. It's not something that's easy to fake. Right now there are 58 VCDXs in the world. I'm #49. :)
 
wow, good job Netjunkie on the cert!

to the topic:

This cert has been around for well over a year now, so not really too new as Vito said.

As for the description of the topics, they're set that way to be super broard... I would bet most mid level engineers fall under those as well, so you can't really say "this is my job description" and think that you're at the level of a CCDE or CCA. Gotta give respect where its due, and every single CCDE Ive met was......i cant even think of a way to describe how skilled they are at EVERY cisco technology. Most of them are TME's but well versed in everything.

the CCDE has a bit more clout than the CCA at this point, due to the fact that there are more people certified.

Valnar,

said like a true old timer, its guys like you that give "youngins" like me job security, thanks again bud! Everyone has time for certifications, "I design and run" our entire worldwide corporate network and datacenter network(5B+ transactions per day w/ 100% SLA) and still have time to knock out tests.
 
Thanks xphil3! And you're right. The description on these certs is very broad...there are a lot of VMware admins that start down the VCDX path thinking they have the experience when they don't. The key on these is breadth of knowledge, and really a lot of that isn't about the vendor products but about how you use them to solve business needs.

A lot of my defense on the VCDX isn't about the VMware parts but instead the storage design, networking layer 2 design, etc. The VMware stuff is easy...the rest is what trips people up. "How hard can it be?" and then I show them my >200 pages of design deliverable documents that I created and they start to get it. :)

As for time...you make time. I have a 2yo. Did my VCDX while finishing my MS degree and working well in excess of 40 hours per week. Just have to see if it's worth it. For me it was.
 
Valnar said:
Same here. I design & run our whole network top to bottom and I'm "just" an ex-CCNP.

I wish I had time for these certs still, but I leave that for the yungins'.
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That's how I feel. I stopped chasing certs a while ago. I'll reup my CCNA when I need to. As a professional goal, sure I'd like to have my CCIE at some point. But do I need it? Nope. At most the jobs in my area would like to see a CCNP. Plus I'm still working on my degree, which is what I've been focusing on--unlike certs, degrees doesn't expire. Only reason I haven't needed a degree thus far is because of my years of experience, but the job market is getting tighter even in govt work so I need that piece of paper, otherwise I'm stuck. I've basically topped out where I can go and don't have any upward mobility without the degree.
 
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BobSutan said:
That's how I feel. I stopped chasing certs a while ago. I'll reup my CCNA when I need to. As a professional goal, sure I'd like to have my CCIE at some point. But do I need it? Nope. At most the jobs in my area would like to see a CCNP. Plus I'm still working on my degree, which is what I've been focusing on--unlike certs, degrees doesn't expire. Only reason I haven't needed a degree thus far is because of my years of experience, but the job market is getting tighter even in govt work so I need that piece of paper, otherwise I'm stuck. I've basically topped out where I can go and don't have any upward mobility without the degree.
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I agree. A Masters degree means much more. Regarding certs, my Cisco experience speaks for itself. The only kind of job where certs are important are for consulting gigs. I got tired of consulting years ago. My current company can care less about certifications, although there are a few people here who do them. My biggest gripe is staying up on it. With a full family, I don't have the time to rinse & repeat every 3 years just for a piece of paper. I'd rather learn new technologies.
 
I'm probably CCNA ready, as well as MCITP, MCSA, etc, but I keep putting off the certifications to learn more.

I just haven't found a good resource that lets me take some (free) practice tests and reliably determine if I should sign up for a test. If I could confidently pass a practice test I think it would really help motivate me to start taking some of the certification tests.
 
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