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The CCIE certification is among the most prestigious marks of feat in IT, evolving over time to handle the wants of each the IT panorama and CCIE candidates. On the forefront of each change is our unwavering dedication to ship lab exams on the similar commonplace and rigor for which the CCIE is understood. And as we face new challenges which have led us to a brand new regular, our CCIE program has advanced and emerged, extra accessible and handy than ever earlier than.
CCIE and me
I began my certification journey again within the late nineties, round ’97 or ’98. I keep in mind making ready in these days — the instances have been so totally different. There have been no assets, no research supplies. There weren’t even any instructions or pointers on the market. Past only a few Cisco Press books about expertise, you have been mainly by yourself. That’s modified dramatically over time, with varied programs, bootcamps, and even digital CCIE sensible lab leases. We discovered that offering higher supplies doesn’t trivialize the examination; it enhances the training expertise and improves outcomes.
The important thing to making ready for and sustaining a CCIE is the understanding that incomes the certification isn’t the top of the street. You don’t end up after 5 days of coaching and name it quits. As a substitute, once you earn your CCIE, it’s an expertise validation. It’s the end result of years of information and experience constructing and the initiative to preserve your certification.
The flexibility to vary is important. We stay in a digital world now. After I took my lab examination within the 90s, it took two days. We spent the primary day connecting the wires and cables ourselves; we did all of this {hardware} stuff. It was powerful. It was rigorous. However within the early 2000s, we made a change and moved to at some point of testing. Folks didn’t perceive at first. They thought it appeared like a downgrade of what we have been doing. A part of the job meant explaining that, no, this was a recognition of the altering panorama of superior applied sciences and their rising complexities. We eliminated the trivial stuff to make room for extra superior matters related to the sphere. It was our job to acknowledge these adjustments and account for them. That’s nonetheless our job right now.
Your examination, your manner
The brand new method to CCIE is much less a few elementary shift in networking, however extra concerning the elementary change in our mid-pandemic world. Coincidentally, I used to be in China in November 2019, when the specter of COVID first started rising. It took just a few months, however by March, the escalation of the pandemic had impacted work world wide, and applications just like the CCIE certification program floor to a halt. Till this level, we may solely ship the CCIE certification in a single particular manner, in very particular areas. Clearly, that couldn’t proceed. This system slowed as we tried to determine how one can shield the well being of our clients, companions, and workers — whereas additionally defending the integrity of the examination.
Six months handed and not using a single CCIE earned, and the strain was escalating. Candidates have been nonetheless hungry to earn their certifications, however they wanted the exams to certify.
Why can’t you provide them [CCIE labs] remotely? Why can’t we take a look at from house?
We thought of distant testing, however it launched extreme points. The examination lasts eight hours, is intense, and desires to stay safe. In order that was out.
This considering introduced us to a brand new query: how can we provide an examination that’s versatile and accessible whereas remaining safe? That’s the place the Cell Labs got here in. The unique model of those labs consisted of a shippable end-user setting offered by Cisco. We strived to create a cellular setup that may enable us to deploy exams in additional locations and get extra folks scheduled (with an extended lead time), whereas nonetheless sustaining a managed setting for the protection and the integrity of the lab.
After all, offering the end-user setting is an costly endeavor. Organising the labs in varied areas means transport substantial quantities of substances, which then raises the examination value.
So, what if we didn’t should ship all the pieces to the lab location? That thought led to creating the Convey Your Personal Machine (BYOD) program. As a substitute of Cisco offering all of this costly-to-move tools, we labored to develop a manner for CCIE candidates to convey their personal tools. It allowed us to chop down on the prices for everybody. It additionally enabled us to run extra examination periods in a broader variety of venues.
Price financial savings aren’t the one good thing about the BYOD mannequin. In relation to such a rigorous 8-hour lab examination, confidence and luxury are key. Candidates profit when the instruments they’re utilizing to check are the identical instruments they’ve used to organize. They don’t should go in and attempt to make themselves comfy on tools that isn’t arrange the best way they like.
After all, that is all along with reopening our present brick-and-mortar everlasting areas. We’re not throwing away the profitable issues we’ve already created. We’re simply opening up extra doorways.
CCIE subsequent steps
If you happen to select the BYOD cellular lab choice, you’ll convey your individual package. Meaning you’ll have the chance to convey your individual laptop computer, keyboard, mouse, exterior monitor—all the pieces. You’ll arrive the morning of your examination at which period you’ll be capable to arrange your workspace the best way you prefer it. We’ll present a bootable flash drive, a safe working system you may boot from for the examination. That’s how we’re in a position to scale the cellular supply of our Skilled-level labs.
The place are we now?
As we proceed to navigate the reopening of our lab areas, the well being and security of our clients, companions, and workers proceed to be our high concern. Openings will likely be on a case-by-case foundation, primarily based on native situations, rules, Cisco Company, and medical steerage.
We’re increasing our cellular lab footprint and capability, offering you with an alternate take a look at supply technique to take your Skilled-level Cisco lab exams in your proximity. CCIE Cell lab areas assist all Skilled-level Cisco certification tracks.
Thanks for taking a second to study concerning the evolution of the CCIE and the official introduction to the Convey Your Personal Gadgets (BYOD) Cell Lab program. Go to the Cisco Studying Community for the newest on our new BYOD Cell Labs testing choice and how one can take your lab examination your manner — utilizing your very personal units. Please be happy to remark together with your ideas and share how your certification journey goes beneath.
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