CCIE Number Association

Some Rules of the Road

I enjoy friends who have likes and dislikes similar to my own. The passion to protect and promote CCIEs is something my best friend at Cisco, (who leads Cisco’s Worldwide Certification Program) and I share. So I asked her a few questions posed to me by readers of the CCIE Flyer and my posts on TechRepublic. There has been a lot of movement in the population of CCIEs recently so I have been getting a lot of calls about number association. Several of the calls were about disassociation, something I have not asked about because I was not sure it was necessary to do that after leaving a Channel Partner for a non-reseller position. Then there were questions about where to go to get the scoop directly from Cisco. There were a few more I have captured her in this discussion. So read on because Monica Cojocneanu (my best friend at Cisco) has come to my rescue again with the answers to some of the recent questions I have received.

Here we go:
Q: Is it possible to disassociate your number if you are not moving from one Channel Partner to another, but instead are going to a non-reseller role?

A: Of course, and it is highly recommended. Otherwise, the CCIE runs the risk of giving the impression they are “renting” the number.

Q: Does the online tool allow for this?

A: Of course, just go to PSS (Partner Self Serve) and it can be done in 10 sec.

Q: If you are going from one reseller to another as in the case where company A is laying off and company B wants to associate your number, does online tool simply allow you to change to the new employer without pause?

A: Yes. That is easy to do. The PM in my team validates the facts and allows the association to be used for certification.

Q: When working for an active Channel partner that has used your CCIE number to pass an audit is it more complicated to move your number to the next employer? Is there a mandatory period of delay even if the employer agrees to release the number?

A: No. It is the same. The policy is that another partner can use the CCIE # for certification only if the partner who loses the CCIE allows them to do so prior to the 12 months. The 12 months rule is invalidated by layoff or firing of the CCIE.

Q: What situation will invoke the 12 month rule on number association move from one channel to another?

A: The only cases where the 12 month rule is not invoked are if the CCIE is the target of a layoff or firing, or if the partner agrees they did not need the CCIE in a letter to Cisco

Q: Will an auditor accept a “Memo of Intent to Release” from a previous employer in a Cisco reseller certification audit?

A: It is not the auditor, the PM in my team that needs to be convinced. The auditor simply finds the facts on the ground.

Q: When signing an agreement with a Channel Partner to use your CCIE number as a contractor what is the Cisco rule on the amount of utilization required for the CCIE’s number to be used in an audit?

A: Full time or 40 hours a week.

Q: Where can a CCIE go to review the Cisco policies on CCIE number association?

A: To the audit document published on line.

These are important points to remember since there is a lot of misinformation out there on this subject. I for one had no idea that the CCIE should disassociate their number

by: Eman