Professional-level enterprise networking certification covering advanced routing, switching, SD-WAN, and wireless technologies. Requires passing core exam (350-401 ENCOR) plus one concentration exam.
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May 10, 2026
HR Value
Worth Cost
Learning
Exam Difficulty
Renewal: 80 CE credits over 3 years (vs CCNA's 30). Earning lower-tier Cisco certs counts toward CCNP renewal. CCIE Enterprise the technical-elite next step. SDN / cloud-network-engineer roles increasingly want CCNP + AWS/Azure networking.
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May 10, 2026
HR Value
Worth Cost
Learning
Exam Difficulty
Concentration exam choice matters: ENARSI (advanced routing) most popular, ENWLSI (wireless) and ENSDWI (SD-WAN) growing fast. Pick the concentration that matches your target role; the credential is identical regardless.
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May 10, 2026
HR Value
Worth Cost
Learning
Exam Difficulty
High cost: $400 ENCOR + $300 concentration = $700 minimum. CBT Nuggets / INE / Boson ExSim widely cited prep. Lab time on Cisco Modeling Labs (CML) or GNS3 essential — pure book study insufficient.
Aggregated from r/networking CCNP threads
Does not count toward average ratings or recommendation %.
May 10, 2026
HR Value
Worth Cost
Learning
Exam Difficulty
Cisco's professional-tier networking cert. 2-exam structure (350-401 ENCOR + 1 concentration). Strong HR signal for senior network engineering roles. Career-switchers from CCNA report meaningful salary uplift after CCNP.
CBT Nuggets video courses for ENCOR + concentration exams. Standard 2024 prep stack.
Industry-standard CCNP practice exams. Most-recommended on r/networking.
Cisco's official lab simulator. Essential for hands-on CCNP topology / config practice.
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2h
Pass Score
Not published (scaled)
Remote Proctored
Test center only
Exam Languages
Study Time
~200 hours