From: Kent (cciecn@xxxxxxxxx)
Date: Mon May 22 2000 - 13:08:21 GMT-3
I was thinking the same thing.
Good Luck to everyone!
Kent
--- Kevin Young <kvyoung@sina.com> wrote:
> 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
>
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