New CCNA = New CCNA Training

A behind-the-scenes look at creating (or revising) a certification and training course

- DANA FELLOWS

During Cisco Live, in June 2019, I was totally expecting an update to the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) exam. I figured they would add some new content and enhance some current content. Having been a teacher, part of me was hoping for not a lot of change. For teachers, changes to the exam mean changes to the syllabus, as well as rearranging labs and assignments.

I’ve been a course developer for the past few years, however, so mostly I was wondering what topics would be removed and what new topics would be added. In the end, I was mostly just expecting some minor tweaks, much like what happened the last time that the core CCNA exam was updated, in 2016.

What happened instead was that Cisco dropped a bombshell on everyone. They didn’t just change things, they drastically changed things. After years spent spreading out its associate tier of certifications across multiple different specializations, Cisco reversed course and collapsed everything back down to just a single CCNA. Instead of the previous nine CCNA credentials, we’re back to having just one.

Mostly: CCNA CyberOps was spared from the purge but has been relabeled Cisco Certified CyberOps Associate (CCCA).

At any rate, in the aftermath of Cisco’s big disclosure, most of us were left with a lot of questions. Unfortunately, there were not very many answers. And as information trickled in, over the next several weeks and months, many of us were left with even more questions.

For example, many schools and training programs plan to take up an entire year preparing students for the CCNA exam (most often meaning, under the old regime, the Routing and Switching variant). When Cisco announced that the changeover would happen in February 2020, well, most classes were slated to start in August 2019 and finish around May 2020.