From: Warner, Thomas S (thomas.s.warner@lmco.com)
Date: Tue Oct 08 2002 - 10:19:47 GMT-3
This is a resend. I don't think it went through the first time.
----All
It's finally my turn to tell my story. I passed at RTP last Wednesday. I would have sent out an email sooner but I haven't really touched a computer since I passed. I needed to use the rest of the week to patch things up with my girlfriend, let my family know that I was still alive, and to clean up the mountain of papers and books that have cluttered my home office for the better part of a year now. I wanted to take this opportunity to share a little information about my quest to become a CCIE and the methods that I used to prepare. Here's a quick summary:
First complete your reading. I used the same list of books that probably everyone else out there on this list is using (Caslow, Doyle I - II, Halabi, Williamson, Solie, etc). Anytime you see a scenario in one of your books - take the time to actually configure and thoroughly understand each scenario.
If you have the money/time - attend a bootcamp. I personally attended the NMC-1 course offered by the gentlemen at Netmasterclass (<http://www.netmasterclass.net>). I cannot say enough good things about instructors, the class, the material, and their website.
Practice, practice, practice. Practice technologies thoroughly in isolation and then practice them in well thought out multi-protocol, multi-router 8 hour (Solie, CCBootcamp) type scenarios. <http://www.realrouterlabs.com/> offers very affordable rack rentals. They currently have a lot of my money in their pockets but I believe that it was money well spent.
Strategize. When you walk in that door at the lab know what you are going to do from the time that the proctor says go until the time that the proctor says stop. I chose to 1) draw the lab to become familiar with the addressing and layout prior to reading the lab 2) read the lab quickly but thoroughly to spot any issues. Don't be surprised if something you have to configure near the end of the lab is directly related to how you configure something earlier in the lab. 3) While reading make a list of any sections that you will have to use the Doc CD for and if possible, do those last. 4) Type my aliases into notepad and paste them into each router. 5) After completion and if time permits, check the entire lab more than once. I found mistakes each of the 3 times that I checked my lab. Those points may have been the difference between passing and failing.
And lastly, share your story. Every little piece of advice helps. I've learned something from every person who has sent out an email re-telling their story. Thanks to all for participating in this list and answering many of my tough questions. This was a great present to receive right before my 27th birthday! Good luck to everyone still striving for their numbers.
Tom Warner, CCIE #10402 Lockheed Martin Enterprise Information Systems Computing and Network Services email: mailto:thomas.s.warner@lmco.com
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