The downside of getting a CCDE if you are a CCIE
TL;DR Let’s say you are 5-year CCIE, only five years shy to qualify for Emeritus status. If you get a CCDE, you would need to wait another ten years instead to get the most out of the Emeritus program.
CCIE/CCDE Emeritus program
The CCIE/CCDE Emeritus program recognizes long-term CCIE/CCDE individuals that might no longer stay active configuring and designing networks.
Becoming a CCIE/CCDE Emeritus
At the 10th anniversary of being a CCIE, CCDE or both CCIE and CCDE Cisco will send an email informing the potential eligibility for Emeritus.
The wording isn’t totally clear. Maybe it’s me, I’m not a native english speaker, so I wasn’t sure if the CCIE Emeritus status would cover your CCDE.
The Catch
The recertification policy for the CCIE and CCDE are the same, so it probably makes little sense to pay the CCIE Emeritus fee if you still need to pass an exam to recertify your CCDE. This is because that exam would also recertify your CCIE.
I asked around to check other people’s experiences. It looked good on paper. I just missed, for example, that Pete is a genius and got his CCDE before I did.
I got my first CCIE in 2011 and my CCDE in 2013. I applied to the CCIE/CCDE Emeritus program in late 2022.
The bad news
My CCDE expired in January 2023, 9 years and 2 months after that unforgettable trip to Chicago in 2013 to take the exam.
The Cisco Certification and Communities Support Team confirmed this:
After reviewing your certification records, I was able to see your CCDE has expired already and has not even reached its 10th year as it was started on 2013–11–22.
Please be advised that in the policy, to obtain the Emeritus, you should reach the 10th year. Your CCDE still lacks 10 months to complete the 10 years and gain the Emeritus.
Conclusions
If you get a CCDE after your CCIE, you might want to wait ten years before becoming CCIE Emeritus to say goodbye to recertification exams for good.
This might sound like a rant, but it isn’t. I think the policy is fair; I love the CCDE team, and I even developed an exam scenario for the CCDE exam.
At this point, I think I can live without my CCDE. It has already served its purpose, I wouldn’t be where I am without it. I only want to document this to help others better understand the Emeritus program, so they are aware of their options and implications, and more importantly KEEP their CCDE if they need it.
