The Cisco CCDE refers to the expert-level certification and is the only one on the design track. It is intended for candidates who plan to perform in the expert-level job roles in network architecture and design field. The owners of this accreditation possess top-notch skills to design and architect complex Enterprise network solutions. For that, they should have 5-7 years of experience in designing network solutions as well as be engaged in other different activities, such as pre-sales, for instance.
The process of obtaining this certification implies passing one qualifying exam (CCDE Written 400-007) and one lab exam, CCDE v3.0. Exam 400-007 checks your core skills in implementing Enterprise network technologies and architectures. The evaluation contains 90-110 multiple-choice questions, which are to be completed within 2 hours. This exam covers 5 topics.
The first domain is dedicated to business strategy design. It will check your skills to apply various customer-oriented project management methodologies, such as agile and waterfall, for instance. The exam questions will also measure your skills to implement solutions based on business continuity and operational sustainability. Thus, you should be proficient in dealing with ROI, PRO, CAPEX/OPEX cost analysis.
The second domain is focused on control, data, management plane, and operational design. In this part, you should demonstrate your skills to work with end-to-end IP traffic flow, data, control, and management plane technologies, hybrid, centralized, and decentralized control plane. You also should be able to provide automation design, integration, on-going support for networks, and software-defined architecture.
The third part is about network design, that’s why you should possess skills to deal with safe and scalable modular networks, be ready to consider operational and technical constraints, business requirements, implementation plans, application behavior, and migration.
The fourth part is centered on service design. Thus, your skills to secure modular network design, support apps based on the IP network, implement solutions based on business-critical operations will be assessed. It implies that you should be proficient in data governance, service placement, security, cloud connectivity, and PaaS, SaaS, IaaS.
The fifth and final topic tested in this exam refers to security design. It’s very important that you understand everything about network access policy, policy enforcement, segmentation, visibility, CIA triad, and regulatory compliance.
CCDE v3 Practical is a scenario-based exam that lasts for 8 hours. In addition to proving your skills in dealing with core Enterprise architecture technologies, it is focused on your area of competency. Among the areas you can choose currently are large scale networks, on-prem and cloud services, and workforce mobility. Though, it’s not excluded that some other areas can be added to the exam list in the future. Since each area of expertise refers to definite technologies, exam-takers should have an in-depth knowledge of transport technologies, Layer 2 and Layer 3 control planes, network virtualization, security, wireless, and automation.
If you are a perfect candidate for the Cisco CCDE certification, be ready to earn annually about $51,826. Still, gaining more expertise, your paycheck can increase up to $122,000 per year, as indicated on the Ziprecruiter website.