September 3, 2019 3 Comments
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DevNet Certifications – How To Get Ready for the Webex Specialist Exam

This past June at Cisco LIVE! in San Diego, Cisco and DevNet were proud and excited to announce our new certification track offering courses, exams, and real-live Cisco Certs for coders and developers. You can read all about the launch in Susie Wee’s blog.

DevNet CertificationsWith blueprints for the DevNet associate, professional, and specialist exams now available, this post aims to shed more light on the Webex Specialist exam, and to highlight useful resources for study.

Join me on September 19 for a live webinar taking an in-depth look at the Devnet Webex certification track.

Developing Applications for Cisco Webex and Webex Devices (300-920)

There are a couple of different ways you can approach this exam:

  • On its own – providing DEVNET Certified Specialist
  • As the second exam (with DEVNET CORE) — providing DEVNET Certified Professional
  • As part of a re-certification for your Cisco Certified CCNP

More information about DevNet certifications is available on the DevNet website.

Webex: Cloud-based collaboration solutions

Long a preeminent name in online meeting services, the Webex brand today encompasses an extensive, transformative suite of cloud-based communications and collaboration solutions.

Webex logo

With world-class online meeting experiences, rich and secure messaging and collaboration, powerful desktop and conference room video devices and flexible network calling capabilities, Webex is poised to delight, connect and empower your users to do what they do best: transform your business at internet speed.

A key aspect of this rich platform of services and applications is the extensive programmability and development possibilities offered via open APIs and SDKs.

DevNet is the software specialist’s go-to source for API docs, code, developer support…and just-plain inspiration, for any number of tasks you want to do with Webex:

  • embed a Webex meeting link in an invitation
  • code an interactive chat-bot
  • integrate click-to-dial/screen-pops into your line-of-business application
  • or embed secure high-quality video experiences into your customer-facing mobile apps

Now, whether you’re a seasoned software developer, a script-curious IT professional, a communication network engineer, or a student/hobbyist, the DevNet Webex Specialist certification track is a great place to start learning the basics, hone your coding chops, and prove your skills to yourself (or perhaps, your next HR recruiter!).

What does the exam cover…and how can I start learning today?

The full list of technology knowledge expected for the exam can be found on the certification page at Cisco Learning. And visit the Cisco Learning Network WEBEX Exam page to learn more.

Let’s take a deeper dive into some of the exam sections:

1.0 Webex API Foundation

Before you can fly, you must first learn to crawl/walk/run…in this section your core coding skills are tested in the context of Webex API security/authentication, REST basics, async JavaScript patterns, and OAuth lifecycle implementation.

Some great learning labs and links to go hands-on with the basics of Webex coding:

Learning labs:

2.0 Meetings

Webex is all about collaboration – from one-on-one support sessions, to weekly team standups, to global company-wide events. Multiply this productivity platform by the power of automation, customization and integration by leveraging Webex APIs to schedule meetings automatically, manage your Webex users and licenses programmatically, and integrate with features like Webex recording management/playback.

Check out these resources to get up to speed with Webex Meetings programmability:

3.0 Devices

Taking high-quality real-time collaboration beyond the browser, Webex desktop and conference room devices transform a simple meeting room into a telepresence portal to anywhere. These devices are powerful and easy to use out-of-the box, but when integrated into your line-of-business workflow applications and environmental systems they become seamless community hubs where business collaboration accelerates to web speed.

Explore these key resources to expand your Webex device coding experience:

Learning labs:

4.0 Messaging

Whether its persistent group messaging, sharing code snippets and spreadsheets, or intelligent chat bots interacting with users, Webex Teams provides the collaborative power of words, images, documents and instant team video securely and from any device.

Check out these resources which will help you get up to speed on programming Teams messaging capabilities:

5.0 Embedding Webex

The Webex PC, mobile, desktop and room clients are delightful and powerful, but what if you could make this power ubiquitous by embedding those rich collaboration features into custom web sites and apps?

Explore the learning materials below to understand how to embed Webex functionality into custom apps:

6.0 Administration and Compliance

Managing and supporting an enterprise collaboration platform can be a big job, touching hundreds or thousands of users, devices, and daily moves/adds/changes. Securing that platform, monitoring its performance/utilization and ensuring regulatory compliance are also big challenges faced by collab admins.

The good news is that Webex Meetings and Teams management APIs can help automate and integrate these tasks with your change management systems, analytics tools, and HR/workflow applications to make (most) everything seamless, predictable, and error-free.

See these resources to get up to speed on Webex management APIs:

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Watch for more in this series where you can get our take on the new certifications and our top picks for learning material! Or alternatively, reach out to us on Twitter @CiscoDevNet