You have surely heard that the May 11th practical exam was cancelled. You likely also heard why, but I’ll summarize the facts here, just in case. It is widely believed that a training company acquired actual CCDE Practical scenarios and taught from them in preparation for the February 22nd CCDE exam date. A remarkable (in my opinion, unbelievable) number of successful candidates associated with this training company passed the exam. Given this information, Cisco made the correct decision to pull these scenarios from the rotation used in the CCDE practical exam. Unfortunately, this means that Cisco cannot offer the exam in May 2017.
The unfortunate aspect of this decision is that many legitimate candidates’ preparation schedules have been disrupted. Given the eight-day notice of cancellation before the exam date, many candidates are stuck with nonrefundable travel reservations. They have also taken off time from their professional and personal obligations to prepare for an exam which is not taking place. While Cisco did provide full refunds for the exam cost, they are not offering to cover any of the travel expenses incurred by candidates. This is consistent with their prior stance. I know several CCDE and CCIE candidates who had to reschedule their exams due to Internet or power issues at the testing site. Their experiences were the same; no travel refunds, just a refund of the exam fees.
Ultimately, this incident will be viewed as a speed bump in the long-term history of the CCDE program. I am certain that Cisco will strip those who stole the exam content of their Cisco certifications, just as they have done in the past with CCIE cheats. I am also confident that Cisco will remove the CCDE credentials of those who attended the offending company’s training. This is a necessary step to restore credibility to the rest of us who earned their certification through hard work and study. This is especially true of those who passed the practical exam in February 2017, including several of my students. I saw first hand the effort each of them put into their preparation. If anyone doubts their credentials, let me know. And for those who were wondering why my list of successful candidates was a bit shorter in the last newsletter (and below), know that I specifically left off names of candidates who attended my training and are purported to have attended the other company’s class.
What Do I Do Next?
Now that the facts and speculation/gossip is out of the way, what should CCDE candidates do? First and foremost, schedule your August 29th exam ASAP. Demand for this exam date will be extremely high. If you live in a part of the world where CCDE exam seats are difficult to obtain, lock in your spot first! American and Canadian students can procrastinate as usual; it is relatively easy to find a seat in your countries. One student from Toronto recently mentioned that he has three testing centers within thirty minutes of his home. The rest of the world has to fight over spots, Hunger Games-style. A few of my European students and I estimated that there are less than seventy seats in the entire continent, and Africa has fewer than twenty. The Frankfurt testing center is notorious for filling up quickly, as is London. Recent students have had to consider traveling to Athens, Madrid, and even Istanbul to find a seat. Get yours now and save yourself the stress. Remember, you can cancel your exam with 30 days’ notice. Set a calendar reminder so you don’t forget to cancel, if you must. A secondary benefit is that your preparation will become more real when you have an exam date on the calendar. Trust me, it will improve your motivation; especially once that 30 day cancellation period has passed.
Are you a student of mine who happens to live near me in the Mid-Atlantic area of the US? If so, I’ll extend to you my standing offer to buy your lunch during the August 29th exam. There are two conditions to this offer. First, you must take the exam at the Newark, Delaware, USA test center. Second, it’s a first-come, only-one-served offer. Students begin their lunch break as soon as they have finished their second scenario, so it would not be fair if I delayed lunch for subsequent candidates to finish. If you are interested, please email me. I’ll let you know if you were the first to respond. To further entice you, know that every student who has taken me up on this offer has passed the exam during this attempt. Yes, a 100% success rate. (one out of one, so don’t get too confident!). We will of course honor the NDA during lunch; there is no value in studying/researching during your break anyway, since after lunch you will start a fresh scenario.
The most significant concern I have heard from students is regarding the new exam content. Cisco has pulled all of the compromised materials from the exam. What does that mean for candidates? Cisco is working on new scenarios, with new questions. Thus far, word from Cisco is that they are not changing the exam format. It will still consist of four scenarios over eight hours (plus lunch). The exam will still be offered at Pearson Professional centers. I expect one or more may be removed from the lineup, given the theft that occurred (it is my speculation that the content was stolen from a test center and not from a Cisco server, but that is only my guess). If you notice a test center is missing, this could be the reason.
Cisco has committed to a six-month advance notice of any changes to the format of an Expert level exam. We are currently at CCDE 2.0, or CCDE 2.1 if you count the Emerging Technologies written changes. I personally do not count this as a change in the CCDE, as I am only focused on the Practical exam, which was not affected by Emerging Technologies. Developing CCDE 3.0 is at least a year long endeavor, and there is no evidence or even rumors that this process has begun. It’s probably imminent, now that recent events have forced their hand, but my best guess is that CCDE 3.0 will arrive in late 2018 (maybe November). I will save my hopes and speculation regarding CCDE 3.0 for a future newsletter article.
If you are a Cisco employee, you can plan to attend my class in San Jose the week of August 7th 2017. I invite all current students to my next CCDE quarterly review on Saturday, August 5th at 8am ET. Simply send me an email and I will put you on the Webex invite list. If your plans permit it, my final CCDE bootcamp of the year will be held in Orlando, Florida the week of October 9th 2017. You can also attend the October class vie Webex, if traveling to Florida is inconvenient.
The CCDE certification is not going away, I can assure you of that. Cisco is committed to guiding the next generation network designers, just as they helped thousands of engineers earn recognition for their configuration talents with the CCIE program.
Jeremy
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