What 350-701 actually tells a hiring manager

The 350-701 exam is the core exam for CCNP Security and also counts toward CCIE Security qualification. That matters because employers do not read it as a beginner cert. They read it as proof that you can work across a real Cisco security stack: secure network access, device hardening, firewalls, VPNs, identity services, basic automation, and security visibility.

If I see 350-701 on a resume, I assume the candidate should be comfortable discussing technologies like Cisco Secure Firewall/Firepower, ISE, VPN architectures, AAA, pxGrid, TrustSec, segmentation, secure routing/switching concepts, and security policy enforcement. I also expect them to understand how Cisco security products fit into production environments rather than just knowing isolated commands.

What it does not signal on its own: that you are automatically ready to lead an enterprise security program, architect zero trust from scratch, or run a SOC. This exam sits much closer to security infrastructure engineering than to governance, compliance, or threat hunting leadership.

For employers, the strongest signal is this: you can probably support and implement Cisco-centric network security environments without needing hand-holding on the basics. That is valuable in enterprises, higher education, healthcare systems, managed service providers, telecoms, federal contractors, and large regional integrators that already have heavy Cisco investment.

The cert is especially useful when a team is trying to hire someone who sits between classic networking and pure security. A lot of real jobs are exactly that. Companies need people who understand routing, switching, access control, remote access, segmentation, and identity enforcement as one connected system. 350-701 speaks directly to that need.

The jobs that really map to this cert

This certification shows up most often in postings for implementation, operations, and engineering roles rather than analyst-only jobs. You are not usually targeting entry-level SOC analyst positions with this cert. You are targeting teams that own the network security platform itself.

Common job titles that realistically align with 350-701 include:

Network Security Engineer
Cisco Security Engineer
Security Infrastructure Engineer
Senior Network Engineer - Security
Security Consultant - Cisco
Firewall Engineer

The titles vary by employer, but the work usually includes some mix of:

Managing or migrating Cisco Secure Firewall / Firepower
Administering Cisco ISE for NAC, posture, guest access, or policy sets
Building and troubleshooting site-to-site and remote-access VPNs
Supporting segmentation and identity-based access controls
Integrating Cisco security tools with AD, RADIUS, TACACS+, MFA, SIEM, and endpoint tooling
Participating in firewall rule reviews, change windows, incident response support, and platform upgrades
Using APIs or automation for repetitive security operations

Where these jobs are most common:

Large enterprises with mature campus and branch networks
Healthcare systems with Cisco-heavy access networks and strict segmentation needs
Universities using ISE, wireless access control, and layered campus security
Banks, insurers, and fintech firms with regulated network environments
Government contractors and defense-adjacent integrators where Cisco remains common
MSPs and VARs delivering firewall, VPN, and NAC projects for clients
Telecom and service providers supporting secure enterprise connectivity

A candid point: if a company is mostly Palo Alto, Fortinet, Zscaler, and cloud-native security, this cert helps less. Not zero value, but less direct value. 350-701 pays off best in organizations that are already standardized on Cisco security or want someone who can bridge Cisco networking and security.

What salary looks like in the U.S. for Cisco security-track roles

This is not an entry-level support cert, so salary expectations should be higher than general desktop support or junior admin work. But this is also not a guarantee of principal-level compensation by itself. Most people getting value from 350-701 already have a few years in networking, security operations, or infrastructure.

Entry-level for this cert's target market

For this certification, “entry-level” usually means entry into Cisco security engineering, not entry into IT. Think someone with prior network admin, NOC, systems, or junior security experience who is moving into firewall/NAC/security infrastructure work.

Typical U.S. base salary range: $85,000-$110,000.

At the lower end, you are usually looking at:

Regional employers
Internal IT teams with limited security complexity
Candidates with the cert but light hands-on experience in Firepower or ISE

At the higher end of this band, you usually have:

Strong networking background plus the cert
Some production experience with VPNs, ACLs, firewall policy, or NAC
Jobs in larger metro areas or with MSPs that bill Cisco security expertise

Mid-level market

This is where 350-701 becomes much more marketable. Mid-level roles usually expect you to independently handle implementation, changes, troubleshooting, and platform ownership for parts of the Cisco security environment.

Typical U.S. base salary range: $110,000-$145,000.

This range is common for:

Network Security Engineers supporting enterprise campus and branch environments
Cisco Security Engineers in consulting or managed services
Security Infrastructure Engineers owning firewall and ISE operations

If you can show real project work like Firepower migrations, ISE policy redesign, segmentation rollouts, or VPN redesign, you move toward the top of this range quickly.

Senior compensation

Senior pay is realistic when the cert is paired with meaningful architecture, migration, consulting, or leadership responsibility. The exam alone does not create this level; experience does.

Typical U.S. base salary range: $145,000-$185,000.

At this level, the role often includes:

Leading firewall or NAC modernization projects
Acting as escalation point for complex outages and policy issues
Designing segmentation strategy across campuses or branches
Guiding standards for identity-based access and secure connectivity
Owning client-facing design work in a consulting firm or integrator

In high-cost markets or consulting-heavy roles, total compensation can go above this, especially with bonuses. But for most U.S. employers, this is the realistic band. If you see job ads promising much more, they usually want broader architecture depth, cloud security expertise, clearance, or multi-vendor leadership experience beyond what 350-701 itself represents.

One more honest note: Cisco security roles are well paid, but they are not as numerous as general cloud engineering jobs. This is a solid market, not an unlimited one. It is strongest where Cisco is deeply embedded.

How people actually move into and beyond this certification path

The most common path into 350-701 is not from pure cybersecurity theory. It is from networking.

A realistic progression looks more like this:

Network Administrator / NOC Engineer / Systems & Network Engineer
You learn routing, switching, ACLs, VPN basics, authentication, and production troubleshooting.
Network Engineer with security responsibilities
You start touching firewalls, remote access, rule changes, ISE tickets, segmentation work, and compliance-driven network changes.
350-701 + CCNP Security track
This is where you formalize your Cisco security knowledge and become much easier to market for dedicated security infrastructure roles.
Network Security Engineer / Cisco Security Engineer
You own major parts of firewall, NAC, VPN, and secure access operations. This is the sweet spot for the cert.
Senior Engineer / Consultant / Security Architect (network-focused)
Here you are not just operating the tools. You are deciding policy models, migration sequences, segmentation strategy, high availability design, and integration patterns.

There is another path, especially in MSPs and consulting firms:

Network Engineer -> Cisco-focused implementation engineer -> Security consultant -> Senior consultant or architect

That route can accelerate salary growth because client-facing project work gives you more direct implementation stories.

Where people go after 350-701 depends on what they enjoy:

If you like deep Cisco specialization, you may continue toward CCNP Security completion or even CCIE Security.
If you like architecture, you may branch into broader enterprise security design and zero trust programs.
If you like operations, you may become the senior owner for firewall, NAC, VPN, and secure access platforms.
If you want more market breadth, you may add cloud security, SASE, identity, SIEM integration, or automation skills.

The weak path is treating 350-701 as if it automatically converts a help desk background into a security engineer job. Usually it does not. This cert works best when it sits on top of existing infrastructure experience.

Skills that make 350-701 pay off instead of just looking good on paper

If you want employers to take this cert seriously, pair it with practical capabilities that show up in interviews and technical screens.

1. Strong networking fundamentals

This still matters more than many candidates want to admit. Cisco security engineers are expected to understand:

Routing and switching behavior
TCP/IP and packet flow
NAT
High availability concepts
DNS, DHCP, and authentication flows
VLANs, trunking, and segmentation design

A lot of failed security troubleshooting is really failed network troubleshooting.

2. Cisco Secure Firewall / Firepower administration

This is one of the most commercially useful pairings. Employers want candidates who can discuss:

Access control policies
NAT policies
Snort/IPS basics
FMC management
Remote access and site-to-site VPNs
Upgrade planning and rollback concerns
Migration from ASA or legacy rule sets

3. Cisco ISE knowledge that goes beyond buzzwords

ISE is a differentiator because fewer people have real hands-on experience with it. Useful depth includes:

Policy sets and authorization logic
802.1X and MAB workflows
Guest/BYOD use cases
Posture basics
TACACS+ administration
Certificate dependencies
Troubleshooting endpoint classification and authentication failures

4. Identity and MFA integration

Modern security infrastructure is tied to identity. Be ready to explain how Cisco tools integrate with:

Active Directory
Azure AD / Entra ID in hybrid environments
RADIUS and TACACS+
Duo or other MFA platforms
PKI and certificates

5. Basic automation and API usage

350-701 includes automation concepts for a reason. You do not need to be a software engineer, but you should be able to talk about:

REST APIs
Python basics
Automating repetitive firewall or policy tasks
Pulling data for compliance reporting
Infrastructure-as-code concepts where relevant

6. Multi-vendor awareness

Even in Cisco shops, the environment is rarely 100% Cisco. Knowing how Cisco security compares with Palo Alto, Fortinet, Check Point, Zscaler, Okta, and common SIEMs helps a lot. Hiring managers like candidates who understand integration and tradeoffs, not just product branding.

How to use the cert on your resume without overselling it

The mistake I see most often is candidates listing the exam and then making no connection to real work.

Bad version:

Cisco 350-701 certified
Knowledge of cybersecurity concepts

That tells me almost nothing.

Better version:

Cisco 350-701 (SCOR), core exam for CCNP Security
Supported Cisco Secure Firewall policy changes across 40+ branch locations
Assisted with Cisco ISE authentication troubleshooting for 802.1X rollout
Managed VPN connectivity issues and firewall rule reviews in a regulated healthcare environment

The cert should reinforce your experience, not replace it.

If you are still building experience, use a project section. For example:

Built lab environment with FMC/FTD, ISE, AD integration, remote-access VPN, TACACS+, and segmentation policies
Documented policy design, authentication flow, and troubleshooting steps
Automated policy object reporting with Python/API calls

That gives a hiring manager something concrete to evaluate.

On LinkedIn and resumes, mention the cert in context with the exact technologies employers search for:

Cisco Secure Firewall
Firepower Management Center
Cisco ISE
VPN
NAC
AAA
TrustSec
Segmentation
pxGrid
TACACS+

That matters because recruiters often search by product names, not just certification codes.

What to say in interviews if you want this cert to help

Interviewers usually care less about the exam blueprint than about whether you can work through real situations.

Be ready for questions like:

How would you troubleshoot a user failing 802.1X authentication in ISE?
What is your process for validating a firewall rule change before and after implementation?
How do you approach segmentation in a campus or branch environment?
What breaks most often during VPN deployments or migrations?
How would you reduce risk during a firewall platform migration?
Where does automation realistically help in Cisco security operations?

Good answers sound operational, not academic. Talk about:

Packet flow and dependency mapping
Change control and rollback plans
Logging and validation methods
Authentication sequence troubleshooting
Coordination with network, identity, endpoint, and application teams

If you only talk about exam topics in abstract terms, employers will assume you studied well but have not owned production work.

A strong approach is to frame your experience in short case-study format:

Problem: legacy firewall rules were poorly documented
Action: audited objects, identified unused rules, staged changes, validated app dependencies
Result: reduced policy sprawl and improved change success rate

That style works very well for Cisco security roles because so much of the job is controlled change in complex environments.

Who should pursue 350-701, and who probably shouldn't

This certification is a smart move for:

Network engineers moving into security infrastructure
Security engineers in Cisco-heavy environments
Firewall/VPN/NAC administrators who want stronger marketability
Consultants supporting Cisco security deployments
Professionals targeting CCNP Security or later CCIE Security

It is less ideal if:

You want a pure SOC analyst path focused on SIEM, detection, and incident response
Your target employers are primarily cloud-native and not Cisco-centric
You are very early in IT and still lack networking fundamentals
You want the broadest possible security cert rather than a platform-specific one

If you are in a Cisco-heavy enterprise or integrator ecosystem, 350-701 is very practical. If you are trying to break into cybersecurity from scratch, it is probably too specialized to be your first move.

Bottom line: 350-701 has real hiring value when tied to actual infrastructure experience. It is most useful for people who build, secure, and troubleshoot enterprise connectivity, not people looking for a generic cybersecurity credential. In the right environment, it can help you move from “network person who touches security” to “security engineer trusted with Cisco platforms.” That is where the career payoff is.

Salary Information

Level	Salary Range
Entry Level	$85,000 - $110,000
Mid Level	$110,000 - $145,000
Senior	$145,000 - $185,000

Common Job Titles

Network Security Engineer
Cisco Security Engineer
Security Infrastructure Engineer
Senior Network Engineer - Security
Security Consultant - Cisco
Firewall Engineer