In reply to William Fields.

Hi William,

I'll try to shed some light on your query.

Cisco certifications portfolio is a diverse collection of programs, and we have carefully designed the portfolio to align with two important aspects; 1) Technology, and 2) Job-role alignment.

From a technology standpoint, we have two distinct flavor of certification groups - Career-oriented certification (CCNA/CCNP/CCIE), and the Specialists-oriented certifications which go deep into a particular domain. www.cisco.com/go/certifications

For the technologies mentioned below such as Cloud, SDN, Network Programmability (aka SDN), IoT etc... they have been infused in both portfolios (Career/Specialist) depending on the depth and need of the job roles.

For example, we have a dedicated new Career-cert for - CCNA Cloud, and CCNP Cloud; and we also have Cloud covered in our recently announced CCIE DC v2.0
Cisco ACI is a major focus area in the new DC portfolio. Check out the new CCIE DC 2.0 blueprint which goes live in July 2016.

Similarly, we have Specialist dedicated portfolio on Network Programmability; and this is also sprinkled in other Career-certs such as CCNA/NP/IE DC, Design, SP, etc.

We recently announced integrating an array of new Evolving Technologies into our CCIE/CCDE programs (all tracks) covering new technologies such as Cloud, IoT, Network Programmability (not too deep but at a level required for CCIEs to understand the new stuff).

I guess what I am trying to say is - it depends how you want to approach your learning and may have to combine between Career certs vs. Specialists certs.

Hope that helps.

Yusuf Bhaiji
Sr. Manager, Global Certifications Team