From: Kevin Young (kvyoung@xxxxxxxx)
Date: Fri May 19 2000 - 05:07:32 GMT-3
Ben,
congratulations!!! thanks for your experience, maybe i'd better look for a
good girl friend like lisa. :)
----- Original Message -----
From: Ben Rife <brife@bignet.net>
To: <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2000 9:12 AM
Subject: CCIE #5886
> I first of all want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement
> along the way. It was a very long and difficult journey for me.
>
> In response to many requests, here's my story.
>
> I started the certification about 3 years ago when working with my buddy
> Greg. We worked on a project to install and configure a 20-router
> internetwork of Cisco routers for the City of Troy, MI.
>
> Greg told me how hot the market was for a CCIE. That began my pursuit.
>
> I began the journey by taking a couple of Cisco classes from ARG: ICRC,
> ACRC, CIT, and CIM. These proved to be a waste of time and money, so I
> decided to dive in and take the written qualification exam to begin the long
> journey to CCIE.
>
> I took a flyer at the test and failed, but it gave me an idea of what to
> study for. I used The CCIE Study Guide, by Roosevelt Giles, to prepare for
> the test. A couple of weeks later, on February 9th, 1999, I passed the
> written qualification exam with a 66%, on my third try.
>
> At this point, I made Cisco my primary product of business. I pursued
> customers with the hopes of implementing some type of routing or switching
> to gain experience. It proved to be very profitable for the company and for
> me, however, this was not enough experience. I needed experience with legacy
> protocols and obscure technologies. This could only come from having my own
> equipment.
>
> After trying to buy routers on ebay.com and other various sites, I grew
> tired of loosing the auction at the last minute, so I called around until I
> found a used Cisco hardware dealer. I bought 5 routers, a catalyst switch,
> and many V.35 cables from him. I also bought a Teltone ISDN Demonstrator, a
> new PC, and many books.
>
> In all, I have invested about $12,000 on the equipment, $4500 on the test,
> $3000 on books and various Internet subscriptions, and $1000 on rented rack
> time and purchased labs, for a grand total of about $20,500 out of my
> pocket. Note that I said "Invested".
>
> My inventory consists of the following:
>
> Cisco 2501
> Cisco 2502
> Cisco 2503
> Cisco 2504
> Cisco 2509
> Cisco 2520
> CAT2902
> Teltone ISDN Demonstrator
> 2 Token Ring MAU's
>
>
>
> Bridges Routers and Switches, (Referred to as the CCIE Bible), Andrew Bruce
> Caslow
> The CCIE Study Guide, Roosevelt Giles
> Advanced IP Routing, William Parkhurst
> Cisco Routers for Bridging, DLSW+, and Desktop Protocols, Tan Nam-Kee
> Internet Routing Architectures, Bassam Halabi
> IP Multicast Routing, William Parkhurst
> Cisco Router OSPF, William Parkhurst
> Cisco TCP/IP Routing, Chris Lewis
> Cisco Switched Internetworks, Chris Lewis
> OSPF Network Design Solutions, Tom Thomas II
> CLSC Exam Certification Guide, Kevin Downes and Tim Boyles
> Routing TCP/IP, Jeff Doyle
> CCIE Prep.com Study Guide, Rossi
> Voice and Data Internetworking, Reld
> Network Design and Case Studies, Cisco Press
> CCIE Lab Study Guide, Satterlee and Hutnik
>
> Now that I have passed the qualification exam, it was off to Raleigh, NC
> (RTP).
>
> I first took the lab in July; I was one point away from making it to day
> two. Disappointed, I went home and rescheduled. I couldn't get enough
> motivation to even look at my routers for a month after coming back from
> Raleigh.
>
> My second attempt was in September. Yet again, I was a couple of points shy
> from making it past day 1.
>
> My third attempt was December 5th-6th. For the third time, I was told that
> I could not go on to day 2. I was beginning to wonder if this was worth it.
> At this point, I felt like giving up for good, but I had invested so much
> time, effort, and money to turn back now. The sacrifice was starting to
> weigh on me.
>
> I scheduled a fourth attempt for February 6th-7th. This time, I had enough
> points to see what was waiting for me on day 2. It was exactly as I had
> expected, but I hadn't prepared well enough for the legacy stuff! I was a
> few points shy of making it to troubleshooting.
>
> This time, I was determined to give it 110% or resign to never having those
> 4 numbers after my name. I couldn't handle it any more. There was a
> tremendous sacrifice involved in obtaining CCIE, and I had put my life on ho
> ld for the past two years. I couldn't endure another failure.
>
> I decided that I needed some incentive, so I prepared a 30+ page "Proposal
> for Promotion" for my boss and his. It was a document to justify my asking
> salary, benefits, and other perks, upon obtaining the CCIE. I presented it
> to them over dinner. It was well received and encouraged me to pursue the
> CCIE once again.
>
> Now, the preparation for my final attempt began.
>
> I purchased time on racks of equipment from cciebootcamp.com for ATM and
> VoIP experience, and purchased many sample labs. I worked on my weak points
> heavily, after making sure I was solid on the basics. I studied for about
> two months for 6 hours a day. Two weeks before the test, I studied every day
> for about 16 hours. I stopped studying 2 days before taking the test to give
> myself a break and time to relax.
>
> I flew out Friday afternoon and made my way to hotel Marriott. By the way,
> the other times, I stayed at Holiday Inn. The place is so run down, I
> thought I was in the inner city. The food/service is despicable; my rental
> car was starting to look attractive after staying there. My point is that it
> 's important to stay somewhere where you can be comfortable. For me,
> Marriott was very accommodating.
>
> Friday night, I called my girlfriend before going to bed. She spoke a few
> words of encouragement "This is your time", "You go in there and take names
> and numbers, cause you're going to be one of the few", "You can do it, I'm
> so proud of you!"
>
> After tossing and turning all night, I awoke in the morning and called my
> girlfriend before leaving for the test. She prayed with me on the phone and
> spoke sweet words of affirmation. Her prayer was simply that "the test would
> be easy and that I would be confident".
>
> Lisa's prayer worked. The test was unbelievably easy for me. In fact, I
> finished in 3 ½ hours. I sat around for the next 4 hours and contemplated
> how I would look in that CCIE leather jacket that was hanging in front of
> me.
>
> I went back to the hotel feeling pretty good. I had a nice dinner and
> reviewed some legacy stuff that I thought I might see on day 2.
>
> The next morning, I called my girlfriend, who prayed with me again and
> encouraged me. Once again, her prayer worked. I walked into the lab and the
> proctor told me "Yours was easy to grade, you got a perfect score". That's
> right, I smoked day 1. That meant that I was definitely going onto day 2 and
> that I had a nice cushion.
>
> The day 2 exam was handed to me and the clock began to spin faster and
> faster. The heat was turned up for sure. I knew I wouldn't have it quite as
> easy as day 1. I ran across some interesting land mines in the test. There
> were things that I had never seen before and just skipped over. At this
> point, I was just hoping, my cushion from day 1 would help me get to
> troubleshooting. In the last few minutes, I did a quick search on the Doc CD
> to find an answer and what do you know? I found it. I found the answer to a
> problem I didn't know. Something, I've never seen before. Thank God. That
> secured my position.
>
> After a 15-minute lunch break, the proctor graded our labs and told us if we
> were going to troubleshooting. The proctor told me that I had lost 7 points
> in the day 2 stuff. That meant that I had a total of 68 out of 75 total
> points. Needing 80 total points to pass, I needed to get 12 points in
> troubleshooting to pass. It was so near.yet so far away. While waiting for
> the proctor to "break" my equipment, I contemplated all the time that I had
> spent preparing for the lab and all that was riding on those last 12 points.
>
> The proctor had introduced some major faults into my network. Some of the
> problems were so complex that I just had to laugh. After working for 3 hours
> and documenting and fixing 27 problems, I was finished. The proctor sent me
> out of the lab while he checked everything. I was hoping and praying that it
> was enough. After being this close, if I had failed, I would have to give up
> for good.
>
> After 30 minutes, the lab door opened and the proctor handed me a CCIE
> T-shirt and my CCIE number (5886) on a card. I had done it. It was finally
> over. Now, I can move on with my life.
>
> I have found that the tests are not necessarily different at different
> testing locations. The difference is the proctor. The proctor can make you
> or break you. The proctor I had on day 1, Denise, bent over backwards to
> help everyone and to calm nerves. The proctor I had on day 2, nameless, was
> very rude and unorganized. I feared that he would lend to my demise. It
> worked out though. Too bad you can't request a certain proctor!
>
> The thing that helped me the most was to take the lab and fail. That
> experience disproved all the rumors I had heard and showed me my weaknesses.
> It allowed me to focus. It also showed me that it was obtainable. The other
> thing that helped me was practice, practice, and more practice on my
> routers. I implemented every possible lab scenario I could think of or buy.
>
> There were many people that didn't believe in me. One of which, was my boss'
> s boss. He demonstrated this, by refusing to pay for my repeated failures
> and the associated travel. It was his expectation that I should have passed
> on the first couple of tries. He thought that I was pursuing it too
> aggressively and that I should take some time off. He even went so far as to
> say that he would pay for it if I put it off for a month. To me, that was
> ridiculous. I knew what the test required and I wasn't about to delay the
> ultimate. I decided that once again, I would pay for it myself. That way, I
> would have no one to answer to! Meanwhile, my boss, Rich, was backing me up
> 110%. He went to bat for me and did everything he could to help me out.
> There was only one thing I needed, time.time on the routers.
>
> As with any CCIE Candidate, their spouse/girlfriend are forced to live in
> solitude until the CCIE status is obtained. Lisa (Lise), my girlfriend, has
> sacrificed her time with me, weekends, birthdays, holidays, etc. She has
> been my encouragement when I came back empty handed. She always encouraged
> me to re-schedule the test and to never give up until I have reached my
> goal. She believed in me and understood the level of dedication involved.
> Thanks Babe!
>
> There is a great deal of sacrifice involved in obtaining CCIE. For me,
> personally, which is very common among my peers is a complete dedication to
> the pursuit.
>
> The first time I took the test, I spent probably 12 hours a day for two
> months, studying, while working from home. This was an unusual work
> situation, but my boss allowed it so I could dedicate the time required to
> pass. Each time I took the exam, it was preceded by many more hours of
> intense preparation, missing out on birthdays, holidays, and special get
> togethers. I put off seeing family and friends and became a little less
> involved in the things that really matter to me. One of those was my Church,
> Kensington. For the past two years, I have not been quite the regular
> attender that I would like to have been. When I did get a chance to get away
> from the books and routers, I felt guilty and couldn't enjoy myself. I
> struggled with that on a daily basis. The past two years are gone; I have
> missed spending time with my father, brothers, and girlfriend. I couldn't
> fish, golf, workout, ride my bike, etc. I even put off buying a house
> because I didn't want to have to worry about maintaining the lawn or take
> the time to look for a house. Luckily, I was in a position where I had to
> sign a new lease on my apartment or move, so I quickly found a house. My
> agent, the best agent in the world, Bob Harris, was very understanding of my
> schedule. The beauty of it is that I close on the house the day after I get
> back from RTP. I feel like I have won the lottery this week! Thanks Bob!
>
> If I had it to do over, knowing what I know now, I probably wouldn't do it.
> The cost is great, not just financially. When I'm faced with the end of my
> life. I certainly won't be thinking of how glad I am because I got my CCIE,
> but I will think about how glad I am to be married the woman of my dreams,
> or of how I lived my life to the fullest and pursued God with reckless
> abandon. The moral of this saga is that you need to carefully count the cost
> and make your decisions based on that. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I made
> it, but I shouldn't have put so much emphasis on it. It can consume you, if
> you let it. That type of dedication is required though. You better be ready
> when you start.
>
> Now that I have passed, you might ask what's next? We shall see.
>
> One last thing, THANK YOU JESUS!
>
> Benjy T. Rife
> MCSE, CNE, CCIE #5886 (That feels so good!)
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Thu Jun 13 2002 - 08:23:30 GMT-3