Python Essentials 1
Python Essentials 1 is the odd one out in Cisco's catalogue: a programming course, written with the OpenEDG Python Institute, unrelated to routers or switches. It is also the most demanding free course on this page, because you cannot pass it without writing code that runs.
Thirty hours, thirty labs, a final project and a course exam for the badge. The paid PCEP certification sits one step beyond it.
Certificate facts
- Level
- Foundational
- Field
- Development & DevOps
- Access
- Free
- Assessment
- Online exam, not proctored
- Languages
- Arabic, English, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, uk
- Price
- Free (read 26 September 2026)
- Validity
- never expires
- Exam delivery
- Pearson VUE (test centre or online proctored); registration through the Cisco Certification Tracking System
Prerequisites: None. The course page states that no prior programming knowledge is required.
Renewal: None. The Credly badge shows no expiry date
Source: certificate page at Cisco · Price: Cisco Networking Academy lists the self-paced course as free, including the course final exam and the Credly badge (read 2026-09-26); the separate PCEP certification exam is not part of this price
How to prepare
1. The vendor's free learning path
Cisco publishes the exam objectives and a learning path free of charge — the authoritative source for scope and weighting. Open the learning path (opens in a new tab)
2. The programme
The certificate is earned inside this programme. Its facts, price and the provider's own page are on the course page; the link there carries no commission.
Affiliate disclosure: the course link above is an affiliate link — buying through them may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. The vendor's learning path and booking links carry no commission.
Two credentials, one syllabus
The course page lists two assessments at the end, and they are not the same thing. The first is the course's own final exam, which is what the Credly badge rests on. The second is PCEP, the entry-level certification run by the OpenEDG Python Institute, which the course is written to prepare you for. The badge costs nothing and is earned inside the Networking Academy. PCEP is a separate exam with its own fee and its own rules, and passing the course exam does not award it. Most confusion about this course comes from treating the two as one.
| Aspect | PE1 course badge | PCEP |
|---|---|---|
| Issuer | Cisco with OpenEDG, via Credly | OpenEDG Python Institute |
| Assessment | Course final exam, online | Separate certification exam |
| Fee | None | Charged by OpenEDG, not read here |
| What it is | A course completion badge | A certification in its own right |
What thirty hours buys
Four modules take you from what a program is to functions, tuples, dictionaries and exceptions. In between come data types, operators, input and output, conditions, loops and list processing, including the bitwise operations that most short courses skip. The thirty labs are exercises you complete in the browser, and the final project asks you to put the pieces together into something that works. That is the part to take seriously. Watching someone else write Python teaches you to recognise it; writing it yourself, badly and then less badly, is how you learn it.
- Suits complete beginners, people who automate small tasks at work and want a structure, and anyone heading for a data or security role where scripting is expected.
- Does not suit anyone who already writes Python regularly. You would be collecting a badge for work you already do.
- Continues in Python Essentials 2 on the same platform, which Credly lists as the related next badge.
How much weight the badge carries
Credly labels the badge intermediate, which reflects its length rather than its difficulty: the content is genuinely introductory. The course exam is unproctored. For a hiring manager, the badge says you finished a structured beginner course; a small public repository with scripts you wrote afterwards says considerably more. If you want a credential that stands on its own, PCEP is the one the course points to, and for most learners the sensible order is course first, project second, paid exam only if a role or programme asks for it.
Language choice is broader than for most programming courses, with eight editions including Hungarian, Polish and Ukrainian, which makes this one of the few structured Python introductions many learners can take in their first language. The code itself is the same in every edition. The sensible way to work through the course is to type every example rather than paste it, run it, change something, and run it again, and to leave the final project until the four modules feel comfortable. The project is the only part of the course where nobody tells you which construct to use, and it is the part that most resembles the work that follows. Finish it properly and the badge describes something real.
What a question looks like
Written by us in the exam's style. It is not a real question from any question bank, and we do not publish those.
A loop is meant to print the numbers one to five, but it prints nothing and the program ends without an error. The loop condition compares a counter with five, and the counter starts at zero. What is the most likely mistake, and what single change would fix it?
The program runs, so there is no error message to follow. You have to trace the condition by hand and notice that it is false on the first check. Questions in this style reward reading code the way the interpreter does, which is the skill beginners most often lack.
What it costs to get and to keep
| Item | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Course, labs, final exam and badge | 0 USD | listed as free on the Networking Academy course page (read 26 September 2026) |
| PCEP certification exam (optional) | not published | a separate exam run by the OpenEDG Python Institute with its own fee; the amount was not read for this record (read 26 September 2026) |
| Renewal | not published | none; the badge shows no expiry (read 26 September 2026) |
How much preparation, from where you are
- You have never programmed
- The intended reader. Expect the loops and list-processing module to be the hardest, and do every lab even when it feels repetitive.
- You have written scripts in another language
- Much of the logic will be familiar; the value is in Python's own conventions and data structures. You could move quickly and spend the saved time on the final project.
- You already write Python
- Skip the course. If you need a credential, look at the paid certification exams instead.
What passing this does not prove
- Anything beyond the four modules' scope, such as object-oriented design or larger programs split across files.
- Any real-world tooling such as version control, testing or virtual environments.
- Your identity: the course exam is taken online without proctoring.
- Whether you can build something useful without a guided brief.
Against the alternatives
- Data Fundamentals
- IBM's data course describes the languages and tools of data work; Python Essentials 1 makes you write the language. If you want to work with data, take this one for the skill and the IBM course for the map.
Python Essentials 1 — quick answers
Is Python Essentials 1 free?
Yes. Cisco charges nothing for the course, the labs, the course exam or the badge. The separate PCEP certification exam is run by the Python Institute and has its own fee.
Does finishing the course give me PCEP?
No. The course prepares you for PCEP, but PCEP is a separate exam taken under the Python Institute's rules. The badge from the course confirms you completed it and passed its own final exam.
How long does Python Essentials 1 take?
Cisco estimates thirty hours including thirty labs. Beginners who write the code themselves rather than copying the solutions often need longer, and that extra time is well spent.
What comes after it?
Python Essentials 2, also on the Networking Academy, which Credly lists as the related next badge. After that, a small project of your own matters more than another badge.
Where this certificate sits in the field
What comes next
Concepts this certificate draws on
Glossary entries with the reason each one matters for Python Essentials 1.
- Python
The course teaches the language from first principles.
Last reviewed 26 September 2026 · Getting Digital