From: Jim Brown (Jim.Brown@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Date: Wed Dec 26 2001 - 19:13:56 GMT-3
I try to stay out of, or ignore conversations such as the one that has
transpired over the course of the past week.
But I can't hold my tongue anymore.
I purchased a subscription to BootCamp months back in preparation for the
lab. Everyone proclaimed how important they were in pursuit of the numbers.
I followed the rest of the flock and plunked down my money and received my
package. Don't Do It!
I quickly became disenchanted with the material. It is littered with errors
and outdated technology not to mention poorly or incorrectly worded
questions. If someone can tell me how to assign traffic to the highest
priority in custom queuing or adjust the default datagram size of a priority
queue I will eat Doyle's Volume I and II in a single sitting. This is just
one of many examples. Don't get me started on this one. Some of these labs
are from '95 where is the errata?
How many of you have subscriptions to a magazine or book club? Do you have
milk delivered to your home? Do you call and ask the publisher for next
months issue! With BootCamp you must call and REQUEST the new labs. Why
doesn't BootCamp send the lab, without my asking, when a new one is
produced? Isn't this what a subscription is? They sure have my address,
phone number, and e-mail. They had no problem acquiring this information
when payment was rendered and from what I understand they want to charge for
every faxed page on new labs!
They refuse lab e-mail delivery to protect their material. If anyone is
intending on illegally distributing the material, a fax or mailed copy isn't
going to stop them! Just e-mail me the @#!%$ new labs and keep your costs
down!
Lets ask ourselves a few questions. If these labs are soooo great would you
pay $800 for the set? How about $1000. I find myself saying no way. Now lets
compare this with the defunct, other piece of the "CCIE mandatory puzzle",
ECP1. Would I pay $5000 for ECP1? How about $6000? You bet your bottom
dollar I would. That freaking class was awesome and taught me so much in a
short period of time as well as boosted my confidence.
This is the sort of litmus test I use to determine how critical the need is,
or if my perceived value is really in a product. My gauge is.... how much
farther would I be willing to go, or pay for a particular item.
All I really want are correct and concise labs, with current material,
delivered to me as the should be under guise of a subscription.
I know I could create better labs, I'll admit it, I just to stinking lazy to
do it.
I don't even use BootCamp anymore. I took a chance and purchased the set. I
screwed up, or maybe that is all that was available at the time. In any
event, I sure wish I had my money back and I hadn't laid eyes on them.
---- END RANT -------
To anyone who is seeking material. My personal recommendation would be to
purchase the CCIE Lab Practice Kit and the new CCIE Practical Studies. Start
with the Practice Kit and complete the BGP Lab and the OSPF Labs. If you
UNDERSTAND both of these you have enough understanding for the actual lab.
In my opinion these are GREAT teaching labs. They also have a few errors,
but the content is to the point without the fluff. The Lab Practice Kit
includes step-by-step explanations towards the solution. I wish all labs
were documented in this fashion it makes learning easier. Do the BGP lab and
you will know BGP.
Next, pick up the new CCIE Practical Studies from Cisco Press. You won't be
disappointed. The total cost for the two items is around $140USD. If you
complete the six labs at the end of the Cisco Press Book and two of the four
in the Lab Practice kit you should be well on your way, if not ready, for
the real deal. If you find yourself yearning for more material, then by all
means purchase BootCamp material, but I would use this as an expensive last
resort.
My only goal is to receive my numbers in the most economical fashion
possible and according to my calculations BootCamp doesn't figure into the
equation. I'm still waiting for that next lab hoping it will be better than
the last and absolve my disappointment. Maybe 21 and 22 will be the cure I
need.
These are only my personal opinions and I have donned my flame retardant
underwear for responses.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Thu Jun 13 2002 - 10:32:47 GMT-3