300-135 TSHOOTA candidate would have to successfully pass all three of
these exams as well as the CCNA in the same track in
order to become CCNP Routing and Switching certified.
Today, only two exams are required in order to become
CCNP Enterprise certified. Candidates can now start
wherever they want; there are no prerequisites, and a
candidate can start earning any level of certification—
even Associate, Specialist, Professional, or Expert level
certification. For the CCNP Enterprise certification, the
first exam is the 300-401 ENCOR exam, which covers
core technologies in enterprise networks, including the
following:
Dual-stack (IPv4 and IPv6) architecture
Virtualization
Infrastructure
Network assurance
Security
AutomationOnce the ENCOR exam is completed, a concentration
exam must be taken. This is perhaps the most important
and fundamental change made to the CCNP. The
available concentration exams include a variety of
different technology specialties and allow candidates to
build their own certification (or “choose their own
destiny”). Each CCNP track has its own core exam and
concentrations.
Cisco made a number of changes to the specialist
certifications, which allow candidates to get certified in
specific areas of expertise. For example, a candidate who
is proficient at Cisco Firepower can pursue a specialist
certification for Firepower. The specialist certifications
are important because candidates, especially consultants,
often have to use many different technologies in many
different customer environments. Specialist
certifications can help show a candidate’s ability to work