China CCIE count grows 11 times more than U.S.

By Brad Reese on Wed, 01/07/09 - 11:20pm.

This week Cisco released the January 2009 net new worldwide CCIE count. According to Dual CCIE #18532 Security/Routing and Switching - George Morton, Ph. D:

"The trend from the last update done in November 2008 has continued to show that the growth in CCIEs is coming from outside the U.S. Using a five month average the growth during this period was just above the five month average.

"Now for the U.S. you could argue that Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. played a role, and you might be right; but then why did Europe have more CCIEs in the same period?"

Morton continued that the answer comes around to a few simple ideas:

	That the marketplace still places a very high value on the CCIE; but perhaps the certification candidate has decided it is no longer worth the effort. With the income growth in other certifications, is pursuing a CCIE worth it?
	Is the CCIE relevant? Is the value of the certification in terms of job performance been reduced due to the lack of "new." Everyone has a router, everyone has a switch. This might also be true at Cisco, why aren’t the Cisco U.S. employees passing the Lab?
	Has the ISP channel taken such a beating that demanding more CCIEs has become counterproductive? The stock prices and financials of many ISPs might suggest that the need for new CCIEs might now be sliding in tandem with the price decline of ISP stocks.
	Have corporations stopped looking to have network professional staffs, shifting instead to Project Management and outsourcing adds, moves, and changes? The problem; perhaps the outsource industry is outsourcing too!
	The trend is very clear that the U.S. is no longer the CCIE factory, Asia has replaced it.
	Does Cisco see the U.S. as a Cash Cow? With the future growth in Asia and the past in the U.S. The answer just might be Yes.