From: Thomas Larus (tlarus@cox.net)
Date: Thu Feb 26 2004 - 13:41:28 GMT-3
I think CCIE training camps, even the ones that do not offer one-on-one
instruction, can be very helpful. Still, you really should know "the
basics, the basics, the basics" before you go, so you can absorb the subtle
lessons a good training camp should teach. (I do not teach CCIE classes, so
I am not saying this out of fear for my job).
And then, as you say, work on getting the basics right some more. It is
amazing how easy it is to make mistakes involving the basics. Forgetting to
put a loopback interface or LAN interface into a routing protocol, or making
a simple mistake with a mask or wildcard mask, or making a mistake involving
static frame relay mapping. One must maintain vigilance.
I did not go to a one-on-one CCIE training place, but I can understand why
that would be valuable. But it is not the only kind of CCIE training class
that has value. I went to one that provided exactly what I needed. It
covered many technologies, rather than assessing your weaknesses early on
and then focusing on them. It reviewed basic landmines and potential
glitches, and introduced many subtle and advanced ones.
Just as importantly, it cleared up some points where there are errors in the
literature (even in their own excellent book). It also introduced a point
or two that I perhaps should have run across in my own studies, but had not
learned. The example that sticks out is the command to reset DLSW+ that is
kind of analogous to clear "ip bgp *" ("dlsw disable," and "no dlsw
disable"). It seems obvious and trivial, but I had not noticed or absorbed
that useful command yet. A lot of things that we all know now were not so
much a matter of common knowledge a year and a half ago.
The class made new wrinkles in my brain about IS-IS interface-type mismatch
issues and multicast RPF issues and BGP next-hop reachability. Perhaps many
candidates know about these problems now at an earlier stage in their CCIE
lab preparation.
Some people say that one-on-one instruction is the only sort of CCIE class
that has any value, and this is not always fair to the alternatives. I am
not saying this applies in this poster's case, but I have seen too many
posts praising the one-on-one instruction, and deriding the old-fashioned
CCIE classes. In a few cases, someone took the old-fashioned class, but did
not pass until after getting the one-on-one instruction. This does not
necessarily indicate that the old-fashioned class was somehow inadequate or
inferior, but could be due to a the student being at a different stage when
attending the first boot camp from when he or she later got individualized
instruction. I was barely ready for the boot camp I attended, and I felt
pretty underprepared for the half of it. If I had attended the class one
month earlier, I would have been struggling so hard on configuring the basic
stuff right, that the more advanced and subtle lessons and pointers would
have sailed over my head.
I went on to fail the first try a few weeks after the boot camp, but I knew
that I was not quite ready to pass, and the boot camp had helped me to
understand where I was in my preparation. I passed on the next try, nearly
two months after the class, so I learned a lot in that class and in those
two months after that class. In fact, one really basic thing I learned in
that class (relating to efficient switching between routers connected to the
terminal server-- embarrassingly basic stuff) helped me to be more
efficient with time and mental energy in my practice, which permitted me to
learn more in two months than would have been possible if I stuck to my old,
inefficient ways.
Also, to say that the last training one attended was the only one with
value, and that all the others were a waste, is like saying "I found the
object I was looking for in the last place I looked. Therefore, I was
wasting my time when I looked anywhere else." You may well have learned
things from the other classes that allowed you to get to the stage where you
could focus on getting the details right and learning advanced and subtle
lessons.
Sincerely,
Tom Larus, CCIE #10,014
Author of CCIE Warm-Up: Advice and Learning Labs
----- Original Message -----
From: "Q A" <hkdnow@yahoo.com>
To: <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2004 10:06 AM
Subject: CCIE
> I finally got the number 12915!!
> I have been lurking groupstudy for a while. After
> going through it and buying countless labs, books and
> countless rack rentals. If someone is beginning or in
> the journey just remember basics basics basics. And
> before wasting your money at training camps. Did I say
> it yet review you basics. But then review your basics
> again :) I have also been to some training camps. The
> only one I have been to that talks the talk and
> provides one on one interaction to understand the
> concepts and configure the concepts every which way
> that is even conceivable. Even when you may be telling
> yourself this is inconceivable. Cyscoexpert if you
> want the best it is Cyscoexpert.
> A house build on mud will slide into the sea. But a
> house build on a solid foundation will forever hold.
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Get better spam protection with Yahoo! Mail.
> http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> Please help support GroupStudy by purchasing your study materials from:
> http://shop.groupstudy.com
>
> Subscription information may be found at:
> http://www.groupstudy.com/list/CCIELab.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Fri Mar 05 2004 - 07:13:57 GMT-3