Programming for Network Engineers

Learn how you can manage a network more efficiently with Network Programmability and develop Python programming fundamental skills.

This course is designed to be of immediate value to Network Engineers looking to use Network Programming to simplify or automate their tasks. It covers the fundamentals of Python programming within the context of performing functions relevant to network engineers.

This Cisco self-paced course is designed with interactivity in mind — through hands-on labs, review questions, and summary challenges. This renders the learning experience more real-world and helps increase retention. Additionally, gamification features such as badges and leaderboard provide social visibility and motivation to perform better.

This course is intended for:

• Network administrators
• Network engineers with little or no programming or Python experience
• Network managers
• Systems engineers

Before taking this course, you should have:

• Familiarity with Cisco IOS®-XE software or other Cisco network device configuration and operation skills
• Basic network management knowledge
• Cisco CCNA® certification or equivalent knowledge

The following Cisco course may help you meet these prerequisites:

• Implementing and Administering Cisco Solutions (CCNA)

After taking this course, you should be able to:

• Create a Python script
• Describe data types commonly used in Python coding
• Describe Python strings and their use cases
• Describe Python loops, conditionals, operators, and their purposes and use cases
• Describe Python classes, methods, functions, namespaces, and scopes
• Describe the options for Python data manipulation and storage
• Describe Python modules and packages, their uses, and their benefits
• Explain how to manipulate user input in Python
• Describe error and exception management in Python
• Describe Python code debugging methods

This course will help you:

• Explain the need for network engineers to learn how to program
• Explain how programming relates to the journey into network automation and programmability
• Create useful and practical scripts to retrieve data and configure network devices
• Create, apply, and troubleshoot simple network automation scripts
• Gain hands-on experience with Python programming