Congratulations to Michael Wong, CCIE #60064! And yes, you’re reading that right. Cisco has certified 30,000 new CCIEs in the last nine years. The next big milestone for CCIE nerds will be 65,536, otherwise known as CCIE 0x10000. How did we get here? And what does this really mean for everyone in the networking industry?

A Short Disclaimer

Before we get started here, a short disclaimer. I am currently on the Cisco CCIE Advisory Board for 2018 and 2019. My opinions here do not reflect those of Cisco, only me. No insider information has been used in the crafting of this post. Any sources are freely available or represent my own opinions.

Ticket To Ride

Why the push for a certified workforce? It really does make sense when you look at it in perspective. More trained people means more people that know how to implement your system properly. More people implementing your systems means more people that will pick that solution over others when they’re offered. And that means more sales. And hopefully also less support time spent by your organization based on the trained people doing the job right in the first place.

You can’t fault people for wanting to show off their training programs. CWNP just announced at Wi-Fi Trek 2018 that they’ve certified CWNE #300, Robert Boardman (@Robb_404). Does that mean that any future CWNEs won’t know what they’re doing compared to the first one, Devin Akin? Or does it mean that CWNP has hit critical mass with their certification program and their 900-page tome of wireless knowledge? I’d like to believe it’s the latter.

You can’t fault Cisco for their successes in getting people certified. Just like Novell and Microsoft, Cisco wants everyone installing their products to be trained. Which would you rather deal with? A complete novice who has no idea how the command line works? Or someone competent that makes simple mistakes that cause issues down the road? I know I’d rather deal with a semi-professional instead of a complete amateur.

The only way that we can get to a workforce that has pervasive knowledge of a particular type of technology is if the certification program expands. For everyone that claims they want to keep their numbers small you should have a bit of reflective doubt. Either they don’t want to spend the money to expand their program or they don’t have the ability to expand it. Because a rising tide lifts all boats. When everyone knows more about your solutions the entire community and industry benefit from that knowledge.

Tradition Is An Old Word

Another criticism of the CCIE today is that it doesn’t address the changing way we’re doing our jobs. Every month I hear people asking for a CCIE Automation or CCIE SDN or some thing like that. I also remember years ago hearing people clamoring for CCIE OnePK, so just take that with a grain of salt.

Why is the CCIE so slow to change? Think about it from the perspective of the people writing the test. It takes months to get single changes made to questions. it takes many, many months to get new topics added to the test via blueprints. And it could take at least two years (or more) to expand the number of topics tested by introducing a new track. So, why then would Cisco or any other company spend time introducing new and potentially controversial topics into one of their most venerable and traditional tests without vetting things thoroughly before finalizing them.

Cisco took some flak for introducing the CCIE Data Center with the Application Control Engine (ACE) module in version 1. Many critics felt that the solution was outdated and no one used it in real life. Yet it took a revision or two before it was finally removed. Imagine what would happen if something like that were to occur as someone was developing a new test.

Could you imagine the furor if Cisco had decided to build a CCIE OpenFlow exam? What would be tested? Which version would have been used? How will you test integration on non-Cisco devices? Which controller would you use? Why aren’t you testing on this esoteric feature in 1.1 that hasn’t officially been deprecated yet. Why don’t you just forget it because OpenFlow is a failure? I purposely picked a controversial topic to highlight how silly it would have been to build an OpenFlow test but feel free to attach that to the technology de jour, like IoT.

Tom’s Take

The CCIE is a bellwether. It changes when it needs to change. When the CCIE Voice became the CCIE Collaboration, it was an endorsement of the fact that the nature of communications was changing away from a focus on phones and more toward presence and other methods. When the CCIE Data Center was announced, Cisco formalized their plans to stay in the data center instead of selling a few servers and then exiting the market. The CCIE doesn’t change to suit the whims of everyone in the community that wants to wear a badge that’s shiny or has a buzzword on it. Just like the retired CCIE tracks like ISP Dial or Design, you don’t want to wear that yoke around your neck going into the future of technology.

I’m happy that Cisco has a force of CCIEs. I’m deeply honored to know quite a few of them going all the way back to Terry Slattery. I can tell you that every person that has earned their number has done so with the kind of study and intense concentration that is necessary to achieve this feat. Whether they get it through self-study, bootcamp practice, or good old fashioned work experience you can believe that, no matter what their number might be, they’re there because they want to be there.