Cisco certifications

CCNA 200-301 is the routing and switching credential and the one a job advertisement means by Cisco certified: two hours, graded pass or fail without a published cut score, results within 48 hours, valid for three years. CCNA Automation 200-901 stands beside it at the same tier. Cisco moved the DevNet track into its main naming scheme in 2025, which turned DevNet Associate into CCNA Automation without changing the exam code; the exam tests Python, REST APIs and Cisco's platform tooling rather than spanning tree, and study material sold under the DEVASC title still matches it. CCNP Enterprise is the professional tier: the ENCOR core exam 350-401 plus one concentration exam of the candidate's choice, and the core exam is the step up from either associate credential.

Cisco or a vendor-neutral certificate

The CCNA is the right exam where the employers in question run Cisco hardware. Carrier networks, large campuses, public-sector infrastructure and the integrators who serve them are Cisco estates, and in those organisations the certificate is read as the standard proof of employability for a network role. CompTIA Network+ is the better first exam where the first networking job sits closer to a helpdesk than to a core switch, where the employers are cloud-first, or where a German sitting matters: Network+ is tied to no manufacturer's command line, is offered in German, and renews through continuing education as well as by exam. A CCNA proves that the holder can configure and reason about Cisco IOS under a clock. It does not prove that the holder has run a production network, designed one, negotiated a support contract or touched hardware outside a simulator, and hiring managers for network roles read it that way.

Renewal by exam or by credits

All three certificates lapse after three years. A CCNA is renewed by a pass in any Cisco exam of associate level or higher, or by 30 continuing-education credits earned within the period; ENCOR needs 40 credits or a further professional exam, and a pass in ENCOR renews an existing CCNA as well. The cheapest way to stay certified is therefore to keep climbing, which is how the scheme is designed. Cisco's certification page and its CCNA exam page state different fees for the CCNA; the exam page's cost table carries both figures with their sources, and Pearson VUE shows the binding amount at booking. Cisco Learning Credits are accepted for all three exams. Preparation is heavier than for most multiple-choice programmes: the exams include lab-style items, the exam topics published on the Cisco Learning Network are the only authoritative blueprint, and Packet Tracer, Cisco's free simulator, covers the associate syllabus. Cisco announces each blueprint revision with a last exam day. The last sitting of CCNA v1.1 is on 2 February 2027 and v2.0 is live from the following day, so a course bought in late 2026 should name the version it teaches.

The free Networking Academy courses

• **Introduction to Cybersecurity**: roughly six hours with seven short labs and a closing exam that unlocks a Credly badge, offered in nineteen languages. It starts with the learner's own accounts and devices before turning to the organisation.
• **Networking Basics**: twenty-two hours of material with thirteen labs in the simulator, five checkpoint tests on the way to a final exam passed at 70 per cent. Of the three courses it is the longest, and the natural step before CCNA preparation.
• **Python Essentials 1**: thirty hours and as many labs, developed together with the OpenEDG Python Institute and nothing to do with routers; the PCEP certification exam is a separate, paid step.
• None of the three is a Cisco certification. The final exams are unproctored, the badges sit outside Cisco's certification tracking system and show no expiry, and their use is a free, structured way to find out whether networking, security or programming suits the learner before an exam fee is paid.