Meraki Certifications

[Mr_IT_Guy]

I am currently a CMNO. @btevans995 wrote a post asking about access areas for CMNA and Masters. How does one become a CMNA or a Master?

[CarolineS-Meraki]

Hi @Mr_IT_Guy

CMNA and Masters are programs for Meraki partners - https://meraki.cisco.com/partners/. CMNO is the certification for customers.

Cheers!

[Mr_IT_Guy]

@CarolineS1 does Meraki have any plans for CMNOs to eventually be allowed to become CMNA or a Master?

[BHC_RESORTS]

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@Mr_IT_Guy wrote:

@CarolineS1 does Meraki have any plans for CMNOs to eventually be allowed to become CMNA or a Master?

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I too have asked about this, with some of the Meraki marketing management. But the more Meraki employees we pester about it, the better. Judging from some of the deployments I've seen mentioned here, a lot of the "end-users" likely make much more significant purchases than some of the partners who may just be resellers or VARs. It would be nice to be recognized as well with advanced training opportunities.

[dbate · Accepted solution]

Hi all, I can weigh in here, as my team owns Meraki trainings and certifications. CMNA and CMNO both cover the full Meraki product stack with a medium level of depth across the board. The main difference is that CMNA is intended for those positioning and selling Meraki, and CMNO is intended for those operating Meraki networks. As such, the content is presented in a somewhat different way in each course. But neither is more in-depth, and one is not the precursor for the other.

We've definitely heard the request for more in-depth, self-directed trainings as a follow-up to CMNA or CMNO, and that's a big area of focus for my team this year. So stay tuned for more over the coming months.

To that end, are there any particular areas in which any of you would like to go deeper? Thoughts on the best way to structure these advanced trainings? I'd love any input.

[cfraysier]

that's kinda silly.. why not just have one cert?

[MerakiJockey505]

Thanks @dbate for clearing up the distinction. I am currently a CMNO but would also love the ability to pitch Meraki equipment to other teams and clubs that I've worked with or consulted for. I think it's a much easier sell to others when you are actively using the product in practice. Also, the ability to develop plugins and extensions for the Meraki dashboard would be an awesome training course that I would definitely sign up for.

[dbate]

@MerakiJockey505 are you referring to trainings around how to leverage the Meraki APIs? Is that something that you're looking to do with your organization?

If that's what you meant, it's something that we're looking at.

[MerakiJockey505]

@dbate, Yes definitely! I've followed some of the work being done with Location Analytics API and 3rd Party integration and would love to see that kind of development utilize some of the other devices for various applications such as Penetration testing and more in-depth security application. A training along that lines and a corresponding cert program would be awesome!

[MRCUR]

Given the way Meraki products are administered, I certainly get the argument for one big cert. The problem with that (as I think anyone with CMNO/CMNA would know) is that it doesn't allow for a ton of depth to the cert.

@dbate I'd be very interested in certs for each product line that go into much more depth than CMNO did. I did really like the time and format of CMNO, so shooting for that with these other certs would be great. Given the simplicity of even the most complex deployments, I don't think this would be impossible. Self paced/self administered would be really, really nice as well.

[cfraysier]

If the CMNO and CMNA are covering the full stack then why wouldn't the CMNO be eligible for Meraki Masters?

[Mr_IT_Guy]

@cfraysier, don't you think we should also be eligible for the polo 😄

[cfraysier]

It is a pretty sweet polo..

[BHC_RESORTS]

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@Mr_IT_Guy wrote:

@cfraysier, don't you think we should also be eligible for the polo 😄

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I think I had to buy about $250k worth of equipment before I got mine!

[Mr_IT_Guy]

Oh.... We've easily done that.. I think our very first order with Meraki was $200k