There’s a new live stream series coming to the automation community, and we couldn’t be more excited to tell you all about it. We recently sat down on Snack Minute with our good friend Matt DeNapoli to share the news, so consider this your official invitation to join us for CCNA Automation Prep.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Why now? The move to CCNA Automation

Formerly known as the Cisco Certified DevNet Associate, the certification is now known as the CCNA Automation certification. Here’s the important part: the content for the Associate-level certification hasn’t changed. However, by associating it with the CCNA, we’ve set a clear floor that helps everyone understand exactly where they stand.

And with that rebrand, we’re seeing a real uptick in interest and adoption.

We wanted to help the community ride that wave. And honestly? We couldn’t let Patrick Gargano and Hank Preston have all the fun with their CCNA Prep series focused on networking.

So, we threw out a wild idea. What if we did something similar for the automation community?

Between the two of us, we’ve been talking automation for what feels like 10 jillion eons. It was time to put that to good use.

CCNA Automation Prep is more than a webinar series

CCNA Automation Prep: Season 1 is not a traditional webinar series where you sit back and watch. Rather, we designed it as an interactive workshop to demystify network automation for CCNA Automation certification candidates.

Automation is now a critical component of the modern network engineer’s toolkit. This series takes a focused, practical approach to the CCNA Automation exam objectives. Instead of broad, surface-level overviews, we’re going granular, helping you build the real understanding you need to certify with confidence.

You’ll be able to:

• Watch us live code and walk through each of the CCNA Automation exam topics
• Interact with us in real-time as we work through the material
• Ask questions—and have those questions actively steer the direction of each session

Live participation is encouraged

The keyword here is live. While we have a clear vision for each session, we’ve been doing this long enough to pivot when needed. If the community is having trouble with a particular concept—say, a specific part of Git—we can shift the discussion toward what’s actually tripping people up.

That’s why live participation is encouraged. Even if you think everyone else already knows the answer to your question—or you think maybe it’s too niche—ask it anyway. Chances are that at least one other person needs to know the answer, too. So please, chime in!

And yes, you’ll also get to hear the two of us joke around throughout the entire series. (Knowing Quinn, he’ll probably have his AI assistant sitting right next to him to field questions—because that’s what he does all day.)

Your automation learning roadmap, from REST APIs to Python

We’ve modeled the series after our own personal automation journeys. Here’s how the first season builds, episode by episode:

• Working with RESTful APIs: The bread and butter of the CCNA Automation. We start with understanding how to query them.
• Data Formats: When you query REST APIs, you get data back—usually JSON, but sometimes XML if you’re working with older APIs. We walk through how to handle it.
• Git: Using Git as a network engineer.
• Interacting with Devices: Over the next few episodes, we cover how to interact with devices through various means, whether that’s REST or NETCONF. Some topics will stretch a bit beyond the blueprint; for example, we may bring in a little YANGSuite (exceeding the required knowledge from the exam topics list) to show how those payloads come together.
• Bringing it All Together with Python: We finish by setting up a Python environment, which we’ll dive into further next season.

And yes, that final episode also teases what we hope will be Season Two: more Python development (assuming the audience doesn’t vote one of us off the island!).

What to expect: live, interactive, and built to build on

This series is modeled after the fantastic work Hank Preston and Patrick Gargano have done with their CCNA Prep (networking) webinar series. Here’s what makes it special:

• Live coding and walkthroughs: We’re not just demonstrating concepts—we’re coding live and working through the material in real time.
• Episodes that build on each other: We’ve threaded the topics so each one builds on the last. Join where you need to, or start at the beginning if you want a full refresher.
• Truly interactive: Again, come ready to ask questions!

When and where to watch

Sign up to join us.

Cadence: New episodes every two weeks. We chose a bi-weekly rhythm intentionally—this material builds on itself, and we want to give you enough time to digest each piece before moving on. We’ll also make the resources we use during the webinars public on Github.

Where to watch: Live on the Cisco Learning Network (CLN), with a simultaneous stream on our YouTube channel.

Who is this for?

This is an exam prep series, so our goal is to get you ready to pass the CCNAAUTO exam and get the CCNA Automation certification.

Here’s who will get the most out of it:

• Networking pros who want to learn something new: If you’re in a networking role doing hands-on CLI work every day, automation is a bit different. You don’t get that same daily hands-on exposure, so it pays to spend a little more focused time on it. That’s exactly what this series provides.
• Learners near the finish line: If you’re toward the end of your CCNA Automation learning journey and getting ready to sit the exam, the close cadence of these sessions gives you a real boost.
• Anyone who’s been sitting on it: If you’ve been meaning to certify but haven’t pulled the trigger yet, consider this your push to finally pursue that certification.

Join us live

We’re passionate about automation and programmability, and we’re just as passionate about our community. Bringing these live, interactive sessions together just makes sense.

Come join us! It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be interactive. And we can’t wait to learn alongside you.

See you there!