Career Opportunities

Excelling in the Cisco 350-601 exam will help you qualify for different technical roles, and some of them are discussed below:

• Network operations engineer

  Network operations engineers, on the other hand, are tasked with performing a scheduled review of system firmware, iOS, and application software. These individuals manage networks, servers, and other relevant equipment to streamline business processes. In many organizations, they work closely with other support staff to identify and document measurement requirements, troubleshoot different solutions, and provide administrative support in case of incident management or reporting. A typical network operation engineer in the modern IT industry earns up to $93k in the USA, according to PayScale.

• Senior data center engineer

  Senior data center engineers are responsible for installing, testing, and maintaining a wide variety of IT communication infrastructure within data centers. These individuals spearhead engineering tasks, design project documentation, and give valuable technical advice to help manage different issues within data center infrastructures. According to ZipRecruiter, a vast majority of senior data center engineers earn an average of $115k annually.

• Data center network engineer

  A data center network engineer is a competent IT professional with a crucial role in managing the everyday operations of Network Operations Centers (NOC). These individuals interconnect network-centered and physical devices with the required equipment to successfully erect data center facilities. While their job majorly involves streamlining digital connections within the nodes of data center infrastructure, they still have a crucial role in installing or maintaining applications, network servers, and clients using a unified map. This ensures seamless running and monitoring of several data centers under the same environment. At the moment, most of the data center network engineers are earning a mean annual salary of $94k, as stated on ZipRecruiter.

Reference: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/training-events/training-certifications/exams/current-list/dccor-350-601.html

An In-depth Look at the Exam Domains

The Cisco 350-601 exam has a 120-minute duration. It is administered by Pearson VUE, are candidates should register for it on the company's website. The questions one will face relate to the following domains:

• Security

  Security as part of the Cisco data center technologies requires candidates to be skilled in the application of security for networks, computing solutions, and storage. Under this section, one also should demonstrate familiarity with the AAA and RBAC, keychain authentication, fabric binding, port security, and CoPP, among others.

• Compute

  This is another broad topic that emphasizes the skills in implementing Cisco Unified Compute System Blade Chassis, Cisco UCS Rack Servers, compute configuration management, and infrastructure monitoring, including Intersight and SPAN. Besides, it also addresses firmware and software updates and their effects on C-series and B-series servers, and mastery of the benefits of HyperFlex Infrastructure Concepts.

• Automation

  Of all the test objectives, automation covers the least sub-topics. It assesses one's knowledge of automation and scripting tools as well as orchestration technologies. Here, you must have some background experience working with a ton of data center networking products such as Ansible, Puppet, POAP, PowerShell, DCNM, REST API, and EEM, among the rest.

• Storage Network

  This domain focuses on the 5 key skills, including the implementation of Fibre Channel, FCoE Unified Fabric (FIP and DCB), and NFS as well as NAS concepts. What's more, it will confirm if you understand the concepts of software updates and their effects and the implementation of infrastructure monitoring.

• Network

  Conversely, this domain will address the concepts such as the application of routing protocols, switching protocols like LACP, vPC, and RSTP+, and overlay protocols, including VXLAN EVPN and OTV. Furthermore, the questions under this module will confirm the applicant's understanding of packet flow and cloud service analysis, understanding of the updates for software and their effects, the implementation of the network configuration management, infrastructure monitoring, and the concepts of network assurance.