Average time for CCNP R&S

Hi,

Is there any data out there from Cisco or other which gives the average time it takes for a student to go from CCNA to CCNP certification?

Adrian

Find more posts tagged with

SAVE $250 on Your CISCO Boot Camp — Use Code "EXAM26"

Exclusively for TechExams members for Infosec Boot Camps starting before April 30, 2026

View CISCO Boot Camps

Comments

negru_tudor

adrianm68 wrote: »

Hi,

Is there any data out there from Cisco or other which gives the average time it takes for a student to go from CCNA to CCNP certification?

Adrian

Well CCNA took me quite some time (about 1 year give or take a few months) then worked hands-on with real gear for a long time (not only Cisco's). I'm now studying for CCNP Switch for nearly 2 months now and have a feeling that I might sit the exam sometime in February. Then onto Route and Tshoot. Based on how the material is structured and my experience (I don't really do that much Cisco all day long but on occasion I really use their gear for VoIP deployments, branch sites etc) I might have things wrapped up somewhere around September 2017 (that is if I don't fail any exam too many times).

So, about 1 year for CCNA (IF you're fresh in the IT field) and anywhere between 6 months to +1 year for the CCNP. That's based on what I've seen other people who I know literally studied things and didn't just **** the exams.

brewboy

Not sure if there's data out there but t took me about 6 months for route, 6 for switch and 2 or 3 for tshoot. I was mostly working on switches at the time and very little routing, plus I am a sloooow learner (constantly re-reading and re-labbing) so you can probably do it quicker.

hurricane1091

It took me around 7 months. I only had 8 months experience before I started studying, and I don't feel like I went at a fast pace at all.

ImYourOnlyDJ

negru_tudor wrote: »

So, about 1 year for CCNA (IF you're fresh in the IT field) and anywhere between 6 months to +1 year for the CCNP. That's based on what I've seen other people who I know literally studied things and didn't just **** the exams.

X2

Really depends on your experience both past and present along with how fast you learn. I would say for me 6 months to a year after CCNA if I was diligent. In my opinion going from zero to CCNA is harder than CCNA to CCNP. Part of that is because generally you are either new to networking or trying to get in when going for your CCNA and by the time you go for CCNP you probably have a decent about of experience.

If possible don't treat this as a race or you'll end up with a CCNP but without the expected skills of a CCNP level engineer (paper warrior).

EANx

adrianm68 wrote: »

Hi,

Is there any data out there from Cisco or other which gives the average time it takes for a student to go from CCNA to CCNP certification?

Adrian

More important is the average time for people like you. A career changer shouldn't be compared to a long-term engineer whicch shouldn't be compared to an IT manger. Someone who has worked with a lot of the tech but never took the exams can blow through it all in less than a month, but that data would be useless to most people.

So when you say "student", what does that mean?

adrianm68

EANx wrote: »

More important is the average time for people like you. A career changer shouldn't be compared to a long-term engineer whicch shouldn't be compared to an IT manger. Someone who has worked with a lot of the tech but never took the exams can blow through it all in less than a month, but that data would be useless to most people.

So when you say "student", what does that mean?

Well, when I say student, I mean the opposite of a teacher...a student in the study of Cisco. And the neat thing about averages, is that it takes into account all those experienced ppl who fly through in less than a month, and those who take 3 years. I wanted a figure to give to my manager - who knows nothing about Cisco or the cert path - so he could apply his own estimation of effort based on the 'average' time it takes from someone to complete the certification. But alas, it seems things are not so cut and dry.

EANx

Snark will get you nowhere when you're asking questions. Yes, a student is the opposite of a teacher but there is the person who has an IT background and is learning the specifics of Cisco gear and there is the student in the Networking Academy who has zero practical experience. There are no studies on the big average but with some real data, you might get info that is a little more helpful for your situation.

adrianm68

Yes. too True. It was snarky. I was a bit pissed off yesterday. Backstory is that I'm on contract, and have just been offered a full time position with a big pay rise, but the role is Project Management. So far in the wrong direction from where I want to go. I was asking the study time question in the hope of getting 1-2 days off per month as study leave, but my boss won't recognise Cisco training, only PM training. And I hate PM work. Just seems like I am studying for nothing - like an earlier comment, a paper CCNP is kind of worthless without the experience, and at this rate, I'm never going to get the experience I need...

On the flip side, I guess I'm lucky to have a job in this climate......rant over....

daveyb

I went from nothing to CCNP in about 3 months. I have been working in this field for 10 years though. Decided it was finally time to cert up.

EANx

First, big props for admitting it was snark. A lot of people will get defensive and dig that hole deeper. That you didn't says a lot about your character.

In general, this is what I've seen in my organization. We have a lot of contractors in various areas.

Have experience and hands on: ~3 months to prepare for the exams
CCNA and IT experience better than help-desk but no Cisco experience: ~6-7 months
CCNA and IT experience at help-desk: 12+

I've never known anyone who said taking a job they knew they would enjoy worked out to be a good thing. If you don't want to be a PM, after a certain point, more money won't make you happier. But is there any way to combine the two? To say that a PM without the relevant technical skills is nothing more than a secretary and scheduler? (caveat: a good PM is worth their weight in gold)

What are you looking for your boss to support? Work time for study? Paid training? Work hours flexibility for training? What if your boss offered a class but you had to make up the time in the evenings and weekends?

ande0255

daveyb wrote: »

I went from nothing to CCNP in about 3 months. I have been working in this field for 10 years though. Decided it was finally time to cert up.

I gotta sort of pull one of these, except I am going to start now and hopefully get the ROUTE finished by January, SWITCH by March or April, then cap it off in May with TSHOOT.