From: trouse@cisco.com
Date: Sat Apr 03 2004 - 03:33:31 GMT-3
Thanks for sharing this story. It touches on alot of issues that many of us can probably relate to.
1. LACK OF EXPERIENCE>>>>> The one thing that I have found most intrigueing about my CCIE journey is that there is no way to remember it all. And occassionally people who appear to know it all cant seem to pass the lab very easily. Not that they are less of an engineer 'cause they seem to answer all my questions about CCIE topics but I think it is difficult for them to seperate from real world best practices and/or some just KNOW they they are very knowlegable on the topics but they cant humble themselves for this CCIE lab. We often hear of people who dont study much between a failed attempt and a successful attempt. They seem to humble themselves and focus on the basics and not make tedious mistakes. I give much respect to anyone who can tackle CCIE (regardless of experience). Specially considering the many unsuccessful attempts we hear about daily on GS.
I say all this to lead into my question: What is the equivalent experience level of a ccie? Say someone with no experience get a CCIE ( with hard work and commitment none the less ), what are they good for in your opinion? Are they not a valubable engineer? I have learned more in preparing for ccie than I have on any one job. Some jobs have very repetitive task (unless in external customer support -- and it is mostly repetition in TAC also) and/or you eventually get very intimate with the in-house network and its baselined performance, so when something goes wrong you usually know where to begin searching for a problem or you probably implemented the problem yourself. I have alot of work experience in voice but not in R&S and CCIE pursuit has made me a better voice engineer now that I have a better understanding of the medium over which NGN carry voice. I have never deployed a large OSPF or BGP shop, nor most of the CCIE topics that I have been practicing daily for the!
last year outside of my study equipment, which are the only routers I have been able to experiment with.
2. Why do people assume CCIEs know everything. I think if you're looking for someone with a SPECIFIC skill set, you dont need a CCIE. I can just find someone who has done what you want them to do (before) on a past job. They can be a CCNA/NP/MCSE, who cares if all you are looking for is a SPECIFIC skill set. if they've performed similar tasks before you can leverage their experience. Or do you want someone who can adapt to the needs of the company, tackle most networking project intellegently along and MOST daily interenetworking task and design projects. What are your expectations of a CCIE (fresh or experienced). I work with tons of CCIEs (at cisco) and you can definitely tell those that have a CCIE from the rest but it not becuase they know it all (as I stump many of them with my study questions and could easily do the same in an interview off the top of THEIR head) but because of the way the tackle project with a methodlogical approach and master of all technologi!
es that they are working with at any given time (on an as needed basis).
Thanks again for sharing this experience.
In my opinion CCIE is a BEAST that deserves respect for the level of focus and technical ability it takes to pass it. POINT BLANK. IF IS WAS NOT TO BE RESPECTED THERE WOULD BE NO NEED FOR THIS GROUP STUDY AND THE MILLIONS OF POST.
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