Holding a CCNA and unsure what comes next? Compare CCNP Enterprise, Cisco's Automation track, security and cloud options by career goal.
Your CCNA is valid for three years, and the clock is already running. That deadline is worth taking seriously, because Cisco's renewal rules quietly reward candidates who keep climbing: passing any professional-level exam renews your CCNA automatically, while standing still means paying to re-certify a credential you have outgrown. The real question is not whether to take another exam within those three years — it is which one, and that depends almost entirely on the kind of engineer you want to be in five years.
Short answer: if you enjoy routing, switching and infrastructure and want the highest-recognition next step, start CCNP Enterprise with the 350-401 ENCOR core exam. If your interest is network programmability and Python, take CCNA Automation (200-901). If you are drawn to security, choose between the network-security engineering path (CCNP Security) and the SOC-analyst path (CCNA Cybersecurity or CompTIA credentials). There is no formal prerequisite blocking any of these — Cisco removed prerequisites from its written exams in the February 2020 restructure — so the decision is about direction, not eligibility.
This article assumes you already hold the CCNA. If you are still preparing for the 200-301 exam, bookmark this for later — the decision below only makes sense once the associate credential is behind you.
Every sensible post-CCNA move falls into one of two categories, and naming yours simplifies everything that follows.
Deepening means staying inside network infrastructure and going up a level: CCNP Enterprise, then perhaps CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure years later. This suits people who genuinely like the work they trained for — designing, configuring and troubleshooting networks — and want seniority within it.
Pivoting means using CCNA as a foundation for an adjacent discipline: network automation, security engineering, security operations or cloud networking. Your CCNA knowledge still carries weight in all of these; you are redirecting it rather than abandoning it.
A useful test: think about the tickets or tasks you volunteer for. If you reach for the routing problem before anyone asks, deepen. If you find yourself scripting around repetitive configuration work, or reading incident reports with more interest than change requests, pivot.
CCNP Enterprise is the natural successor and the most widely recognised professional networking credential in most job markets. Its structure matters more than many candidates realise:
That is roughly US$700 minimum in exam fees, varying by country, before study materials. Cisco suggests three to five years of experience for CCNP-level content, but there is no rule stopping a motivated CCNA holder starting earlier — just be honest with yourself about the jump in depth.
On earnings, the Skillsoft IT Skills and Salary Survey (fielded May–September 2024, published 2025, US respondents) reports CCNA holders averaging $112,333 and CCNP Enterprise holders $144,912. Treat those as survey averages shaped heavily by experience and location, not a promised raise — but the gap illustrates why CCNP is the standard deepening move.
A network engineer with one to two years post-CCNA experience might structure the climb like this: spend a study cycle on ENCOR while doing day-job work that touches its topics; sit ENCOR (which immediately renews the CCNA and removes deadline pressure); then take six months over ENARSI or ENSDWI, choosing whichever matches the technology their employer actually deploys. Front-loading ENCOR is deliberate — it is the longer, broader exam, and passing it first converts your renewal problem into a solved one.
In February 2026 Cisco rebranded its DevNet track as the Automation track: DevNet Associate became CCNA Automation, keeping exam code 200-901. If you have seen both names and wondered whether DevNet was retired, it was not — same content lineage, new name, and existing DevNet holders were recognised automatically under the new titles.
The exam covers Python fundamentals, REST APIs, infrastructure-as-code tooling such as Terraform, NETCONF/RESTCONF with YANG, and Cisco platform APIs. It sits at associate level (US$300, widely reported), so it broadens rather than elevates you — a sideways move that pays off because automation skills increasingly appear in senior networking job descriptions anyway. The 350-401 ENCOR v1.2 refresh pushing further into automation is a signal worth reading: Cisco expects its senior engineers to script.
Choose this pivot if you already tinker with Python or feel the pull every time you paste the same configuration into your fifteenth switch. You can explore the Cisco DevNet Associate 200-901 exam page to see the style of question the exam asks. If automation genuinely excites you, the ladder continues to CCNP Automation (350-901 DEVCOR core plus a concentration).
CCNP Security is the network-security engineering track — firewalls, identity services, VPNs, zero-trust access on Cisco security products. It mirrors the Enterprise structure: core exam 350-701 SCOR plus one concentration (Secure Firewall, ISE, VPNs and others — check Cisco's live roster, which changes). SCOR also doubles as the CCIE Security qualifying exam.
This is the strongest pivot for a CCNA holder because it wastes nothing: the routing, switching and ACL knowledge you already hold is the substrate the security content builds on. In the same Skillsoft survey, CCNP Security holders reported an average of $168,159 — though Skillsoft flags that figure as drawn from fewer than 100 responses, so quote it cautiously.
Be careful not to confuse security engineering with security operations. If your interest is SOC analysis — triaging alerts, investigating incidents — the relevant Cisco path is CCNA Cybersecurity (renamed from CyberOps Associate in February 2026), not CCNP Security. Many CCNA holders heading this way also take CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) first for its vendor-neutral breadth and its recognition in roles connected to US Department of Defense workforce requirements. Once you hold Security+, the branching options from there — analyst, penetration testing, governance — are a decision tree of their own, which we map in what certification to take after Security+.
Cloud is a legitimate direction, but it usually works better as a complement than a replacement. An associate-level cloud credential — AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate ($150) or Microsoft's AZ-104 Azure Administrator ($165) — teaches you how VPCs, virtual networks, load balancers and hybrid connectivity work in the platforms your employer is migrating to. Networking specialists who understand cloud networking are harder to replace than either generalist alone. If you are aiming at architecture roles specifically, our guide to certifications for solutions architecture jobs covers how the platform certs stack.
| Factor | CCNP Enterprise | CCNA Automation | CCNP Security | Cloud associate cert |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Professional | Associate | Professional | Associate |
| Exams | ENCOR + 1 concentration | One exam (200-901) | SCOR + 1 concentration | One exam |
| Approx. cost (US, varies by region) | ~$700 | ~$300 | ~$700 | $150–165 |
| Renews your CCNA? | Yes (professional exam) | Renews via CE/exam rules | Yes | No (different vendor) |
| Best for | Route/switch depth, seniority | Scripting-minded engineers | Network security engineering | Hybrid/cloud-era relevance |
| Difficulty jump from CCNA | Significant | Moderate, different skills | Significant | Moderate |
| Leads toward | CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure | CCNP/CCIE Automation | CCIE Security | Platform professional certs |
One renewal detail worth repeating: any Cisco professional-level exam pass renews all your lower and equal active Cisco certifications, and CE credits (30 for CCNA) offer an exam-free route. A non-Cisco certification, however valuable, does nothing for your CCNA expiry date — factor that into timing if you pivot to CompTIA or cloud first.
Wherever you land, the study method matters as much as the choice: work through the official exam topics, lab everything you can, and once the domains feel covered, use a timed run through Cisco practice questions to expose the weak areas that need another pass before you book.
No. Cisco has had no formal prerequisites on written exams since 2020, and cross-track study is common. The only ordering pressure is your CCNA's three-year expiry, which Cisco exams renew and outside exams do not.
Structurally nothing stops you — the CCIE requires only the qualifying core exam (ENCOR for Enterprise Infrastructure) plus the 8-hour lab ($1,600 per attempt). Practically, Cisco suggests five to seven years of experience for expert level, and most candidates treat CCNP as the intermediate proving ground.
It was renamed, not retired. On 3 February 2026, DevNet Associate, Professional and Expert became CCNA, CCNP and CCIE Automation. Only four automation/DevOps specialist certifications were retired outright.
Not in the core. ENCOR v1.2 (live since 19 March 2026) removed wireless topics; wireless now lives in the dedicated concentration exams and CCIE Enterprise Wireless.
Pick by trajectory, not by prestige. The engineer who wants to own enterprise networks takes ENCOR next and lets the concentration follow the technology in front of them. The one who automates everything they touch takes 200-901 and grows into the Automation professional track. The one drawn to security decides whether they want to build defences (CCNP Security) or hunt through alerts (the cybersecurity operations path), and the one watching workloads leave the data centre adds a cloud associate credential to a Cisco backbone. All four are defensible; drifting for a year while the CCNA quietly expires is the only genuinely bad option.
Exam facts in this guide were checked against official certification-provider pages on . Fees, exam codes and policies change — confirm on the provider’s own site before you book.
Put it into practice
Reading about an exam only takes you so far. Work through practice questions for your certification and find the gaps before exam day does.
·10 min read
A five-step decision process for choosing a professional certification: goals, market demand, true cost, prerequisites and renewal — with a comparison worksheet.
Continue reading·12 min read
The strongest professional certifications for 2026, ranked on demand, recognition and cost of ownership — with the year's retirements and AI-driven changes factored in.
Continue reading·8 min read
How certifications actually influence recruiters when you change employers, which types move offers upward, and how to time one around a job search.
Continue reading
