Okay.|So,|you studied hard. You practiced what you learned in labs. Then you practiced again. You were ready. You scheduled your exam, and you nailed it. You're now Cisco certified. Congratulations! Now what do you do?

Keep up with the latest technology

All Cisco certifications come with a three-year life span. You need to keep recertifying to demonstrate that you're keeping up with the latest technology changes, APIs, configuration procedures, etc. You have a few options here to keep those certifications fresh. You can re-take that same exam every three years, and that will certainly recertify you. But what if you want to branch out a bit?

Say you successfully passed the CCNA and now you're looking to learn more about network automation or cyber security? One approach would be to study and pass the DevNet Associate or Cyber Associate exam. Another isContinuing Education.

Continuing Education allows you to earn credits
for the learning you undertake to build new skills.

These credits are applied to your recertification
and do not require you to keep taking exams. 

Let's take the automation and cyber security examples above.  There are courses that can teach you the skills for the Cisco Certified DevNet Associate certification (DevNet Fundamentals and Developing Applications and Automating Workflows using Cisco Platforms).  Completing one of these courses will earn you 48 continuing education credits.  Likewise, completing the Understanding Cisco Cybersecurity Operations Fundamentals to build those cyber security chops will earn you 30 continuing education credits.  Maybe you want to take your CCNA to the next level and start to prepare for your Enterprise Core by taking the Implementing and Operating Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies course. One of these courses are enough to recertify that CCNA!

Keep Your Skills (and Certifications) Fresh with Continuing Education

Automatically recertify on the CE Portal

As you take Cisco courses, either online or in person, visit the CE Portal and enter your course completions details under the Submit Items tab.  Each course will count towardsanyCisco certification's recertification.  Once you hit a required credit count for a specific level (i.e., 30 for Associate, 40 for Specialist, 80 for Professional, and 120 for Expert), all exams at that level willautomaticallyrecertify for another three years!

It's not just certification prep courses that offer continuing education credits.  Check out the full catalog of courses that will earn you credits while building your skills.  And as you're honing those new skills, you might be preparing for that next certification.  Continuing Education makes it easy to build your skillset while progressing toward your career certification goals.

So let me ask you again,"what do you want to learn next?"

Related resources:

• Learn more about DevNet certifications

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