From: Warner, Thomas S (thomas.s.warner@lmco.com)
Date: Mon Oct 07 2002 - 11:11:49 GMT-3
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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