Cisco Certified Architect

416_guy

Hmm since this is "higher" than the CCIE...I'm curious if Cisco gives out # for this?

http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/cisco_certified_architect/index.html

reaper81

Not sure but as far as I know noone outside of Cisco has been certified yet. I think it holds very little value and is far too expensive. None of the big guys has gone for it yet (Scott Morris, Petr Lapukhov, Brian McGahan etc). I would rather go for the CCDE if I get the CCIE done but don't think anyone recognizes even that over here.

Not sure why Cisco decided to go for this cert but they need to change some things or retire it since there is zero interest right now.

Forsaken_GA

The problem with all of Cisco's design tracks is that they champion Cisco solutions. While none of the Cisco cert tracks are vendor neutral, enough of the knowledge is transferrable to other companies gear, at least in concept, it's just syntax that differs, that being Cisco certified is usually a plus.

Design is a whole different ball game. The solutions you pick, and the way you implement them have a dramatic effect on the network. So while OSPF and BGP are OSPF and BGP no matter what badge the iron has, the same does not hold true when it comes to things like security solutions, vpn solutions, load balancing solutions, proxying solutions, etc, and Cisco has alot of competition when it comes to the more specialized areas of network implementation. For example, if given a choice, I'm using F5 load balancers in my network. If I have to implement an SSL VPN, it's going to be a Juniper appliance, and so on and so forth.

And then there's the simple fact that Design isn't quite as operationally oriented. Architecture, which is what Design is closer to, and implementation are entirely different roles. I have Turgon to thank for clearing my head in that regard.

I may end up going for the CCDE at some point. I doubt I'll ever consider the CCA

PsychoFin

Don't forget that you need to have a CCDE and CCIE in order to apply for the cAr. I am sure that there isn't zero interest, just that there aren't that many CCDE's yet.