Story of CCIE #23707

Congratulations......

His words...........

Obviously I cannot go into many details here, but I do want to share my story in hopes that others will benefit in some way. It is long, but will probably be my last for awhile :-)

First of all, CCIE has to be something you really want. There are many reasons to go for it: better job, more money, etc. That is fine, but underneath it all, you must have the desire to be a CCIE. I made many career choices and mistakes before getting somewhat settled in this industry, so don't ever think this task is too big for you. The industry needs people that have the desire.

I first heard of the CCIE exam about 6 years ago when I started out towards a networking degree. It was never in my mind that I would go for it. It was only for the Elite. My degree consisted of a couple Cisco classes, and that was enough for me at the time. Shortly after the degree, I was doing technical support for Nortel Networks and really starting to dig the L2 and L3 technologies. I mean I LOVED IT! THIS WAS MY BAG! Nortel did not have much rep (or a declining one at least) in the industry and I decided to focus on Cisco networking. I got my CCNA near the end of my tenure there.

The desire to be CCIE started after I was CCNA, when I started going for CCNP. I peaked ahead at the CCIE blueprint and thought to myself, "this is stuff that I can handle, and stuff that I want to learn." I knew CCNP was not required, but I took that path because I knew it would be good preperation towards that goal. It took me one year to get my CCNP and the day I passed my last exam I was already making notes on the blueprint and scouring the Internet for lab tips :-)

I started my blog a few months later because I really had no focus as to what I was doing. I didn't have any workbooks or anything, I just had the written guide, dynamips and my 3550/3560 switches. I played around with my own labs and blogged ideas. Mike Down at IPexpert found my blog and gave me good deal for some rack time and for the Blended Learning Solution. This was the turning moment as now I felt I had a real path to follow. I passed the written shortly after (about 6 months in) and then joined groupstudy and the onlinestudylist.

Around this time, so many people were passing, I felt like time was slipping away! I decided the best thing to do was ignore all the stories and rumors and focus on my own path.

I did all the volume 1, 2 and 3 labs in order. Took me about 6 months doing a couple every weekend, sometimes 3 or 4. Actually I jumped ahead to Volume 3 at times because they were graded and I wanted to see how I was doing along the way. Any issues or new technologies I ran into, I would break down to small scenarios and lab them and blog about them.

On my way to work I would listen to the audio bootcamp. I probably listened to each track twice. After Volume 3 I bought an IE mock lab and did both Assessor labs. If not anything else, these gave me confidence in my last month of preperation. I did well on all of them and the things I missed were mainly because I did not follow the questions properly. I spent my final week watching the VODs with Scott Morris. I watched ALL the videos in the final weekend, probably about 25 hours or more :-)

The day of a lab I had huge headache. I popped some excedrin and some tylenol and refused any caffeine for fear of worsening it. I got to the lab a little early and there ended up being about 10 people there, 4 for R&S. My mind was a wreck, I felt like crap. The one thing that kept me going was my belief in my preperation. I knew what I had to do. If it's one thing you will learn about taking the CCIE lab exam, it is to trust your preperation.

The procotor explained the deal with the open ended questions (to curb cheating) and to be honest, they were very simple. No tricks. He said one or two lines should be enough but you have 30 minutes and no documentation. I finished them in a few minutes with the only bottleneck being my slow typing skills.

I started reading the lab. It was almost 1 hour before I logged into a router. I kept a level head throughout. I heard stories of people saying they were so confident when they left, but the still failed. I understood them now but I did not want to be that way. I could see how this lab could defeat me. After 5 hours I was done, but I stayed until the end verifying everything 1, 2 or 3 times. Pinging everything, saving all the time.

One hour I left, I finally broke for a Mountain Dew! Boy did I need that. I was finding minor issues still 30 minutes left in the exam, I fixed a few but I really had to talk myself into relying on my configurations and instincts. I could see several ways of doing things and I had to pick one. I really think I saved at least 10 points in the last couple hours of verification. Do not leave early!

I watched a movie after the lab with my Dad who was in town that weekend. I got home at 10 or so and checked my email. The score report was ready. I was SHAKING. I had to re-type my ID and crap a few times to get it right. First thing I saw was "submit critique" or something like that. Then I saw "Congratulations..." or something. I didn't believe it. Then I saw "PASS"...I still didn't believe it. Then I saw #23707. It was official.

What a relief. It was wonderful journey and I learned so much. I met a lot of great people that I never expected to meet. I look through my blog archives and see how dumb I was! Just another noob, a little wannabe Cisco networker, a tiny little soul on the path to who knows where, a CCIE to be :-)

Story of 25143

Congratulations

Read his full story..

Oh where to begin…Lets see Ill start by when I passed my CCIE written back in November 2008. I took December off for obvious reasons and told myself on New Years that I wanted to CCIE by the middle of 2009.

Ok, That’s nice but where do I start? Well I initially looked at IPexert and work paid for the blended learning solution. I watched Scott Morris and listened to his audios for a good 2 weeks. Than I started the mini –labs really without a plan but to dive into to see where I was at..and did I need some work J but I quickly found that *** didn’t really have a guided approach with LAB1. So I went to Internetwork-expert and boy did I love the beta 5.0 vol. I signed up for the CCIE 2.0 program and was on my way (Still in Jan). At this time I had built my own rack at the house which helped a lot..Dyanamips was just a lot of work because I had to change the initial config every time (Im just to lazy).

For the next 3 months I really focused just on the LAB1ver5 labs…I watched every COD and open lecture series by far was the best. I really feel that Brian drives the technology into you….He just goes so fast sometimes that I have to re-wind the darn thing. When he would do each lab I would follow him on my own rack….this helped out a lot since I need to be in there doing/learning at the same time. So I have this plan layed out with each technology that I want to master week by week and than review every other week those technologies. Sometime I would skip around and sometimes not…For the last 4 months I hit the labs hard and than went back to learning the technology when I didn’t understand it. You HAVE to do this or you will not learn what it is your typing J enough of the story....

JOURNEY

I went to go take the lab in RTP on JULY 20^th 2009 . I woke up the day of the test and as you all know posted a blog, and than did some typing just so my hands wont be numb before the test. Went downstairs and waited for the bus, which took us to the location of the Lab. They took us into the lobby where we BS’d around with all the other guys and Howard telling us they hit their quota!! J Everyone had different reactions to that comment. I could care less because I was already focused on the LAB that nothing really bothered me. I was not nervous at all since I kept telling myself that you understand each technology and if a question throws me off than just move on to another…don’t think twice. We went into the lab area put our stuff away and than Howard talked for 5 min and said go. I sat at the computer and looked at my first question…and than did all four. I reviewed them reading every line 10 times just to make sure there was nothing fishy. I took about 15 min on these sections. Than moved to my lab.

LAB

When I was going through the lab I just kept hammering things out….I couldn’t believe how fast I was moving. I re-drew my diagram but not that great so used the ones they gave me since they would do. I skipped a couple questions but was done with Bridging/switching and IGP in 2 hours. I verified this section, than reloaded my lab. When it came back up I ran my TCL script and verified my routes. I did ask Howard about 2 questions during this time just to make sure they weren’t looking for something. You have to remember if the LAB doesn’t specify you don’t need to do it (or you don’t have to have full reach ability). You cannot think to deep into the questions they are pretty straightforward. So the next two hours I finished the rest of my lab jotting down which question I know I needed to go back and look at (only a couple)…I reloaded my rack and he called lunch. During lunch I ran out into the rain to smoke and came back all soaked with Howard laughing at me J I kind of smiled to because I was finished with my lab and everyone else was crapping their pants. Lunch sucked and everyone was thinking on edge…So I get back to my lab and do about 2 hours of verification and reloaded my rack about 4 more times. You need to have this verification time because I would have failed the whole multicast section because I skipped ONE word that made a difference of how to implement it. So I left about 2 hours early and called my sister who came with me and we went out to party!!! I did call Larry Hadrava (you should know him by know) who I was working with and told him I KNOW I passed this lab…so it was just a matter of waiting.

RESULTS

That’s when I got the results. FAILED…I was so shocked I couldn’t believe it. Looked a the lab report and it said 0% in CK…I called BS..The next day I posted to Cisco and requested a re-read. (I will post what I said at the bottom). That is when I was denied a re-read for no reason. I replied back and was denied again L….Pissed at this point because of no explanation I replied back and stated “I paid to much for this lab and the equipment to get denied without explanation” something like that. 2 Weeks later and I finally get a response back saying that they will review my questions. Not 2 hours later I was CCIE…

Story of Dmitriy Litvinko

Congratulations Dmitriy Litvinko

His story ....

Started to prepare for the lab in November 2008 but after 2-3 month of long hours I had to stop because I was burned out ... took month off and started back in February. Purchased the INE Moc Lab workshop (lead by Anthony Sequeira) in June. It’s a great class for final preparation before the lab. Unfortunately I didn’t get to meet in person with the other instructors (only know them by their voice and now thanks to facebook can add faces to the voices) but you guys are simply the best. When I came back from the Moc Lab workshop I scheduled my lab.

A long time ago I started using NMC as my training material and their awesome ShowIT engine but their labs are way too off-course (redistribution is a killer). Then last year in November I learned about InternetworkExpert.com and purchased their product. This is when I said to myself .. after investing so much money, you CAN'T stop. I have been motivating myself through out my long journey to help me stay on track. My son Ryan was born on August 20th 2008 and I had to dedicate my self to pass the test before his 1st birthday (actually if I wouldn’t, my wife would kill me .... another motivation . It was hard with a little one (crying and feeding often) to get normal sleep but a BIG thanks to my wife and whole family who gave me the opportunity to study and concentrate on what I need to do.

So, no personal life since November ... Sorry a bit off topic ... Going back to Preparation ...

I don’t know how many books I read (none of them cover to cover) but I do have a big library at home of almost all CISCO books that could help me with preparation. I am not going to list them all (but if anyone is interested i can post that) but i found that 1 book which i dont see a lot of people mention (CCIE Practical Studies, Volume II (CCIE Self-Study) by Karl Solie and Leah Lynch (Hardcover - Nov 17, 2003)) to be great material (with configuration examples and theory in one). I watched 10 day CoD and did all WB-I (few times). WB-II i did almost all labs (may be 17 of them) and 8 labs from WB-III. I took the Moc Labs 1-6 and all scores were ranging from 62-70. Not a great score but it showed me where i make the most mistakes and to work on those areas.

Week before the lab i did no configurations. I decided to relax my brain and just review my notes, browse configuration guide and command reference. During my preparation i didn’t goggle any topic until i searched the whole DocCD for answers so i was pretty comfortable with DocCD and finding stuff there. 3 days before the lab i did 1 WB-III lab just to do some typing (finished 4 hour lab in about 1.5 hours).

2 days before the lab i got sick and that wasn’t a good way to start. I am still stick but it is over.

I stayed at Wingate and i don’t know what to say but i think i was not lucky .... wireless was not working, and internet in the room was not. Good thing i brought my notes with me and some stuff on PC.

Lab

Open Ended Questions .... well they are nothing to worry about if you ware prepared for the lab. Read them carefully but don’t overthink .... I had to read each question at least 2 times to make sure i understood it. Level of questions .... Well i can say they were CCNP level difficulty.

Lab ... Well difficulty comparing to INE i would say about 7-8. Diagrams are not the best but can work with them. I drew my own for layer 2, mcast and BGP. IGP i used their diagram which i found to be very very poor. Questions are less vague than INE's but they do throw a monkey wrench once in a while ... I had to read questions multiple times to make sure i understood the requirements. They are pretty straight forward with telling you what they want. Pick the easiest solutions to implement. VERY IMPORTANT .... read the lab Do's and Don't as i had some that i had to go to proctor to clarify. Proctors answer to all my question ... Umm .... it's what Anthony tried to do during Moc Lab workshop (to be evil proctor), is look at you, smile and tell you ... Read the question . everything you need is in the question ... 5 times, the same answer and ... Hmm ... he IS RIGHT :-) what i am looking for is in the question. You are TOLD what to do and if you are NOT told then is there still a question?

Anthony Sequeira has Open Lecture Series about Skipped Tracket List which is GOLD in my opinion. I had been using this method on my own since i started studying in february and this helps me to see my overall progress. Do not spend more than 5 minutes on the Non-Core task, simply move-on. I was finished with IGP and BGP by lunch. Then came back and finished the rest with 2 hours to spare. Spent 1 hour and 15 minutes to verify everything and save configuration and 45 before the end i left.

This was a long and hard journey .... i couldnt have done it without the help of my family (my wife Susan especially) for helping me to dedicate 9 month of my life to this. INE team ... you are simply THE BEST ... Keep up a good work

Oh ... always wanted to tell Scott Morris that one of the other motivations i had was his quote which i love ... "Knowledge is power, power corrupts, study hard and be evil" ... absolutely brilliant.

Story of Zakir

Congratualtions Zakir

His Story.


With the blessing of the almighty Allah, I managed to pass the CCIE exam in my first attempt at Sydney, Australia! What a relief. It was a wonderful journey of 9 months of dedicated studying, spending large portion of the time on the Cisco devices, spending thousands of dollar on study materials and lab equipments, many hours of frustration, only 4/5 hours of daily sleep, travelling 16+ hours to the lab location, suffering from the Jet Lag, attending the 8 hours of lab exam and finally a 5 digit number beside my name.

So how it started? I decided to go for the CCIE when I started to work for an ISP here in Canada. But that time I was only CCNA. So I took CCNP, CCIP certifications to build up a good foundation for the CCIE R&S exam. As a part of my CCIE preparation, I went through several books (Doyle, Odom etc.), workbooks (IE), mock labs, Cisco documentation, various forums like groupstudy others. I spent thousands of hours on equipments. I was lucky enough to have my own rack of equipments.

Finally, when I planned to book my lab exam, I was unable to find any seat in USA (as I live in Canada). This is because Cisco recently announced to start the new format of CCIE R&S lab exam from October, 2009. So finding no other ways, I booked my lab in Sydney, Australia. I made a 16+ hours journey to Australia and reached there just before the exam day.

On lab day, I was in the Cisco building about 1 hour before the exam time. There were 4 other candidates... we all were waiting for the proctor to show up. The proctor was late, so our exam started at 9:15. The first 30 minutes was for the OEQ (Open Ended Questions). The OEQ questions were really really easy, very basic questions. No need to give any extra afford for those. Accoring to the proctor, those are marked manually by the proctor, and all they look for is the specific answer, they won't care about any spelling mistake or grammer. I was able to finish the OEQ in 20 minutes and started my lab immediately. I used the first 45 minutes reading the entire lab, making task tracking sheet, adding aliases/some common commands which I often use. After reading the lab it looked like a piece of cake to me comparing to the IE labs. I was able to reach "the golden moment" (full connectivity) before lunch. I was also able to do some non-core tasks before lunch. After lunch it went pretty smooth. I only visited the Cisco documentation site only once for a single task during the lab. When I finished my lab, I still had 2 hours left in my hand. So I fully utilized it by verifing every single task twice. In the whole exam I rebooted my rack twice - 1st time just before lunch and 2nd time at the end of the day.

After the exam I realized I have a good chance to pass it. And it didn't take very long. I got my result within 2 hours of finishing the exam. I was completely speechless to see my certified status along with the 5 digit number.

To tell you the truth, I was completely restless for the last 1.5 years. I used my vacation days either for studing or for the exams. So it's time for me to relax for a bit until I start my 2nd track.

So what's next? I am planning to attend the CCIE Service provider lab this December (after 4 months) as I feel like i am already 70% prepared for it. I also want to start playing with the "Security" track.

Finally, I would like to thank my family, my friends, my colleagues and everyone who helped me directly or indirectly along my first CCIE journey.

The key thing is... if you want something really bad you will get it… Motivaton and patience are the key factors… Always remember: "Winners never Quit & Quitters never win!!"

Story of TunerX

Congrats TunerX

Equipment used -
2x 3560-24TS
2x 3550
Dynamips to emulate R1-R6 and BB1-BB3 (emulated 2691 with WIC-2T)

Material used -
INE dynamips labs
INE V4.1 workbooks 1-3
INE V5.0 wokbooks 1-2
Cisco DocDVD
CiscoPress quick reference guide
CiscoPress official written certification guide 3rd ed
INE Mock labs 2-7
INE COD
IPexpert COD
CBT nuggets

Time involved -
Jan 20 - Jun 18 (6-14 hours per day)

I started January 20th by watch the INE COD and finished those up in about 1 week. Then I switched to watching CBT nuggets. Once I finished the CBT nuggets I did the nuggets practice lab. About the beginning of February I started the INE dynamips practice labs, and finished those in about 2 weeks.

After finishing the dynamips labs I stated INE V4.1 workbook one. I finished those in about a week.

I spent the next 3 weeks doing the INE V4.1 workbook 2 practice labs. Once I finished those I did the V5.0 workbook 1 technology labs. I spent about 4 days doing those then did all of the V5.0 workbook 2 practice labs over the next 5 days.

I then watched the IPExpert COD and went back to the INE V4.1 workbook two labs. I spent the entire time trying different methods to complete the same tasks. This really helped with finding many of the Cisco one liners and doing complex redistribution.

I then went over V5.0 workbook 1 another time.

Then I completed INE mock labs 2 and 3. The results weren't as expected but I knew exactly where my mistakes were.

After finishing workbook 1 I went back to V4.1 workbook 2 and completed labs 1-14. My goal again was to find different methods for completing the same tasks. I packed up my lab on June 18th to send home. I didn't do anymore reading. I figured that if I know it I know it. My goal during my last month of preparation was to be able to do any tasks without having to use the cisco documentation.

Between June 27-30th I completed INE mock labs 4, 5, 6, 7. I scored over the recommended 60 percent on 2 of them. Scored in the 50s on 1 and actually passed one. Again, I spent no time reading. Between July 1 and 8 absolutely no studying went on.

-Lab Day
I woke up at 5:30 ate some breakfast. Yogurt, banana, eggs, and one sausage. Followed with some OJ and a black coffee. I took the shuttle to the Cisco building at about 6:45 and waited outside for about 15-20 minutes. The cisco building is literally 5 minutes away from the comfort suites. I also brought a box of "commits" cherry nicotine lozenges (I am a smoker). Those really helped. I guess I can finish the box and try to quit now.

I finished the OEQ in about 2-4 minutes. Those things really are CCNA level. If you read the books and practice the tech then you shouldn't have a problem with them. I was worried about one of the questions because I thought about it later and thought that I should have added a little info to help clarify.

We started the lab at 7:35. By lunch time I only had one task left. I didn't eat, I just drank some water. After lunch I verified connectivity with a TCL script and finished the last task. After that I re-did the whole lab from start to finish, with verification using the cisco documentation... I did find some mistakes and some areas where I could shorten my configurations; I also used the Doc Site to verify everything. I finished at about 2:00PM. The DocSite probably put me over the top with needed points. There was only one task that I read and felt like a moron for not knowing what to do. It was a minor task so I saved that one until after lunch.

After I finished I felt like I failed. I called my wife to come pick me up and waited by the road until she came. We took the kids to see Ice Age 3 and then went to eat at Chilis. I was worried the whole time and started planning in case I failed. I was going to do the 360 program from start to finish. At about midnight there still wasn't any word in my email. I fell asleep and woke up at 6AM. When I checked my email I saw that my report was available. After logging in I was happy to see my new number and some congradulatory info from Cisco.

-Written
Sometime during the first week of April I started studying for the written again. I spent 1 week and only used the Cisco Press official study guide and DocDVD. I scored a pretty high.

- Final thoughts
The lab is much easier than the INE practice labs with a difficulty of 7-10. This is only if you can complete the labs without having to research anything. The only caveat here is that I have been working with Cisco for the last 14 years. I have studied and passed multiple tests and have gotten certs on my way. In 2004 I started studying for the CCIE reading all of the recommended books and doing practice labs. One of my coworkers failed so I put it off. In 2006 I started studying again this time using IPexpert and NMC DoIt labs. Again a coworker failed so I put it off once again. This time I figured that I would actually start and finish in 2009.

I am well versed in Cisco tech since I have a long history of working with the equipment. I don't know if only having a couple months or even a couple years of experience and using my study plan will help anyone but me.

Dates available only in Japan

Dates available only in Tokyo.But after august almost all dates were filled

CCIE lab booking only few more days

Only few more days to go ..i think by july 18 almost all dates will be over