From: Frank Jimenez (franjime@xxxxxxxxx)
Date: Wed Sep 20 2000 - 14:21:59 GMT-3
It is outrageous that an employee for Cisco would have asked for information li
ke this, which would clearly be against the NDA. I'm still trying to figure ou
t what's worse. That he didn't read the NDA that he had to sign when he took h
is written exam, or that he'd admit that he didn't read it on the CCIELAB Group
Study list.....
I'm tempted to answer that IPX routing isn't a lab topic anymore, just to see i
f he doesn't study it - but with my luck he'd get one of the exams and there re
ally *wouldn't* be any IPX routing on it. Ugh!
Everyone - If it's in the Router IOS or the Catalyst IOS, it's fair game. You
may use your own methods to determine if you're more likely to get asked about
OSPF or <insert obscure IOS command here>, but *everything* is fair game....
Good luck and future success to all:
Frank Jimenez, CCIE #5738
Systems Engineer
Cisco Systems, Inc.
franjime@cisco.com
At 09:56 AM 09/20/2000 -0700, you wrote:
>Ken
>
> Very good comment and I should have said it stronger to Lei when
>I first saw this question. The response that he didn't know about NDA
>wasn't very convincing.
>
> My general comment is for the newbies is to take the lab test and then
>you really find out what you don't know. For most people it's going to take
>two or three times to pass anyway. Use the first time as a learning
>experience.
>
> Kevin
>
>At 09:13 AM 9/20/00 -0700, you wrote:
>>Lei Chen,
>>
>>So far today this is the 2nd time you have broken the NDA
>>or asked someone to break the NDA. As a Cisco Employee,
>>you aren't setting very good examples. Now I'm not the
>>most vocal Cisco person on this list, but some guys will
>>turn you in for this type of behavior. Please reread
>>the NDA and adhere to it as a Cisco employee.
>>
>>Regards Ken
>>Cisco Systems
>>IOS WAN Development
>>
>>Lei Chen wrote:
>> >
>> > Congratulations!
>> > My lab test is scheduled a week later from now, at SEp 27th. Helps from ne
w
>> > CCIEs are definitely needed. Could you tell me what kinds of questions on
>> > ipx routing and ip multicast routing you were asked during the test?
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> >
>> > Lei
>> >
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: "David H. Brown" <DHBrown@PipeLine.com>
>> > To: <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
>> > Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2000 9:29 PM
>> > Subject: CCIE #6231
>> >
>> > > Today I was awarded CCIE # 6231 in RTP, NC!!!!
>> > >
>> > > Since I don't have a web site to refer everyone to, I will post my story
>> > > here. Feel free to delete it... I have been looking forward to writing
>> > > this note, and I must have created 25 mental post-it's of things I wante
d
>> > to
>> > > be sure to include. All of that memory was reclaimed and filled with IO
S
>> > > commands, so now I'm going to have to wing it after all.
>> > >
>> > > I started this adventure last October when I passed the written exam. I
>> > > then bought and read Caslow, Doyle and Hutnik, and I found this list and
>> > > joined in January -- clearly a good move. I found out how little I knew
,
>> > > and how much more I have to (even still) learn. I bought a rack and
>> > filled
>> > > it with routers, an ISDN simulator and a phone line simulator. This was
>> > > beginning to be fun! I configured the rack with any scenario I could
>> > find.
>> > > I strongly recommend ccbootcamp.com, Marc's labs are an excellent
>> > > preparation tool for the real lab. I also used labs from fatkid.com, an
d
>> > > then any scenarios that popped on the list. Being with a Cisco partner,
I
>> > > was able to have access to the ASET program, which was also a huge help.
>> > > After all of that preparation, I failed badly on my first attempt in
>> > March.
>> > >
>> > > Feeling whooped by the ten-to-floor-ya lab, I avoided touching my rack f
or
>> > a
>> > > few weeks. My next attempt was set for June, so I figured I would start
>> > up
>> > > again a few weeks before then. Bad choice -- avoid waiting until the la
st
>> > > 'few weeks' to study. Take a look at some of the posts of people lookin
g
>> > to
>> > > trade dates to get more time -- I would venture to say some of them shou
ld
>> > > have not waited for the date to come so close to prepare for it. I went
>> > in
>> > > to the second attempt thinking I would see something close to what I saw
>> > the
>> > > first time, and I could just skate through no problem. Time to interjec
t
>> > > that I have been certifying for quite some time. I passed the CNE in
>> > 1990,
>> > > I had been working with NetWare since 2.0a was the cat's meow. MCSE was
>> > not
>> > > a terrible challenge, nor was Citrix, Checkpoint was not hard -- I even
>> > > passed the CCNP and CCDP. The CCIE lab is nothing like any of those
>> > > certifications, and may it never be. With the other certs, there are
>> > study
>> > > mechanisms and a limited number of potential questions. Well, I suppose
>> > > there are a limited number of questions that can be asked on the lab, bu
t
>> > > that number is much much higher than the pool of 150 questions that are
on
>> > > the other tests. Needless to say, I was quite surprised to see a
>> > completely
>> > > different exam. I did well, making it to day 2 but not to
>> > troubleshooting.
>> > >
>> > > I had scheduled to go again in September, and I apparently didn't learn
>> > from
>> > > previous experience NOT to wait around. See, I learned even more than h
ow
>> > > to properly route and switch packets. I bought a bunch of Cisco Press
>> > > books, and read through most of them. I also read the Cisco Voice book
by
>> > > Robert Caputo, it seems to have all the basics -- though nothing replace
s
>> > > hands on. There was a problem with my new lab date, and I was able to
>> > move
>> > > up quite a bit and get in in August (thanks Christine!). That was only
2
>> > > weeks away!! I figured I could slam the routers full time nights and
>> > > weekends, like I did before, and I would be fine. Nope. Another
>> > completely
>> > > different test, with a twist I could not figure out (until I got back
>> > home).
>> > > I was again able to make day 2, but a few careless mistakes and I went
>> > home
>> > > again before troubleshooting. This was getting old. I realized I must
be
>> > > worse than average, since the average pass was on the third attempt. In
>> > > reality, I was just not an expert yet -- since experts don't make carele
ss
>> > > mistakes like I did.
>> > >
>> > > This entire time, I was trying to balance having a life along with worki
ng
>> > > full time and studying for the exam. There were vacations to take and
>> > > church functions to prepare for and attend that would take much of my
>> > > non-working time. After reading other's posts about not having a life a
nd
>> > > reading the "what will I do now that I passed" posts, I realized that
>> > there
>> > > is something more important than passing this exam. It's about
>> > priorities:
>> > > God, Family, THEN occupation. When you mess these up, life gets messed
>> > up.
>> > > Although I tried to get my priorities straight before my third attempt,
I
>> > > was unable to because I felt the short time I had to prepare should be
>> > spent
>> > > completely on the routers. Ehhhnnnt, wrong. After the third failure, I
>> > > changed the priorities back to where they should have been right along.
I
>> > > was blinded for months by the allure of gaining the medallion, forgettin
g
>> > > that all this will be gone someday, and that day could be any day for an
y
>> > > one of us. Oh, I did keep studying in every moment I could, but my
>> > attitude
>> > > was changing. It was not an overnight change, but a process that I am
>> > still
>> > > dealing with daily. When the children asked me to play a game with them
,
>> > my
>> > > February answer was "don't bother me now." I did mellow that response
>> > after
>> > > a while to "I can't right now, but after June 17." For the last few
>> > weeks,
>> > > the answer became, "sure, let's play -- but you need to be in bed on tim
e
>> > so
>> > > Daddy can get his studying done." Oh, that was much sweeter to them as
>> > well
>> > > as to me -- since I love to play games with my children. I came home
>> > > tonight to a small congratulatory reception, and we proceeded to play a
>> > > game. To me, that is the right way to be. This experience has been a
>> > > tremendous period of growth for me -- not just technically, since even t
he
>> > > exam is not just about knowing the IOS. It's about the pressure you are
>> > > under at any time, can you do it in this very limited amount of time? A
nd
>> > > can you get it right the first time, because when you go over it with th
e
>> > > proctor, it's too late to fix it. Speaking of the proctors, I have seen
>> > > messages that have said bad things about the RTP proctor Alan Lanier.
>> > Could
>> > > it possibly be enjoyable to have a job where every day you have to tell
>> > 80%
>> > > (or more) of the candidates that enter the room that they have failed??
I
>> > > think not, after seeing his joyful demeanor while presenting me with the
>> > > coveted yellow sticky note. I think THAT is the fun part for him. After
>> > all
>> > > of my tests, I say that he was always fair -- although I really would ha
ve
>> > > enjoyed passing on my first attempt, it was not Alan's fault. I have on
ly
>> > > my poor preparation to blame for my (yes MY) failures. Now I will be ab
le
>> > > to reap the rewards of my successful completion of the lab exam. Lesson
>> > > learned: keep your priorities straight.
>> > >
>> > > For this fourth and final attempt, I again had a completely different te
st
>> > > (they seem to have lots of different tests.) I was able to manage my ti
me
>> > > well and complete the lab very early, leaving myself time to go over it
to
>> > > find and fix anything I may have misinterpreted. I was ecstatic to reac
h
>> > > troubleshooting, quite sure that at least one of the other two that
>> > started
>> > > day two with me would make it before I would. Sadly, it was just me. Th
e
>> > > last section is very stressful, but I was able to gather enough points t
o
>> > > reach the mark.
>> > >
>> > > In the final part of my note (one of my mental post-it's came back to me
),
>> > I
>> > > wanted to say thank you to the ones who helped me in some way to reach
>> > this
>> > > goal of mine. Some helped me technically, others were my non technical
>> > > support:
>> > > God
>> > > My wife and five children
>> > > Jay Thompson
>> > > Meredith Davison
>> > > Mark Martin
>> > > Christine Jeffrey
>> > > Lori C.
>> > > Ron P.
>> > > Angelo M.
>> > > Jomi S.
>> > > The DNE Team
>> > > Paul S. & family
>> > > Pat & Jeff
>> > > CCIElab@GroupStudy.com
>> > >
>> > > David
>> > >
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