DevNet Certifications: How to Get Ready for the Collaboration Automation Specialist Exam

Recently 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.

“Blueprints” for the DEVNET Associate, Professional, and Specialist exams are now available, this post aims to shed more light on the “Collaboration Automation Specialist exam” in particular, and to highlight useful resources for study.

Join me on November 26 for a live webinar in which we’ll take an in-depth look at the DevNet Collaboration Automation certification track.

Automating and Programming Cisco Collaboration Solutions (300-835)

There are different ways you can approach exam depending on the certification you seek:

On its own — earning the DEVNET Certified Specialist

As the second exam (with DEVNET CORE) — earning the 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.

Cisco Unified Communications and Cloud Collaboration

Cisco’s suite of on-premise Unified Communications and Cloud Collaboration products is the premiere, market-leading solution for over 95% of the Fortune 500, as well as many other small/medium/large/huge companies.

Providing secure, interoperable, and feature-packed voice, video, messaging and meeting capabilities empowers users to work efficiently and collaboratively – and UC/Cloud Collab product APIs and SDKs have long been key to integrating these capabilities into entprise automation workflows and enabling innovative 3rd party applications.

This certification and exam covers a broad selection of key UC and Cloud Collab platforms, focusing on use of APIs for management and automation tasks helpful to Cisco collaboration system administrators and IT Pros.

Whether you want to code a collection of Python scripts to make daily moves/adds/changes easier, create automation to manage bulk user/device/configuration tasks, or integrate enterprise apps and systems with collaboration data, DevNet is an IT pro’s go-to source for API docs, code, developer support…and just-plain inspiration!

Now, whether you’re a seasoned software developer, a script-curious IT professional, a communication network engineer, or a student/hobbyist, the Devnet Collaboration Automation certification track is a great place to start learning the basics, hone your coding chops, and prove your skills to yourself and 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 CLAUTO Exam page to learn more. For now, lets take a deeper dive into some of the exam sections:

1.0 Network Programmability 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 programming tools (like Git), REST API basics, async Python coding patterns, and coding-relevant network architectures.

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

Intro to Coding and APIs

A brief introduction to Git

Intro to Python Part 1

More DevNet coding-related Learning Labs

2.0 Unified Communications

Cisco Unified Communications Manager is the core of Cisco’s enterpries collaboration platform, and this section will cover some of the key APIs on CUCM, including AXL for admin configuration and serviceability, CTI/IP Phone Services for phone-control, and Finesse for contact center customization and integration.

Check out these resources to get up to speed with UC programmability:

Get free access to UC product Sandboxes

Try this learning lab: Using AXL API with Python

Learn more about Finesse: add a Finesse Gadget to the Agent Desktop

DevNet developer sites:

AXL

JTAPI

IP Phone Services

Finesse

3.0 Cloud Collaboration

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:

Automating Webex Teams

Creating Webex Teams Bots

Devnet Express for Cloud Collaboration

DevNet Developer Site for Webex Teams

4.0 Collaboration Endpoints

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:

Introduction to xAPI

Creating custom in-room controls and Macros

Exploring on-board xAPI Macros

DevNet developer site: Room Devices

5.0 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:

Get free access to the Webex Meetings Sandbox

Try this learning lab: Automate and integrate meetings with the Webex XML API

DevNet developer site: Webex Meetings

Don’t forget to Join me on November 26 for a live webinar. We’ll take an in-depth look at the DevNet Collaboration Automation certification track.

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