From: Wayne Lawson (groupstudy@ipexpert.net)
Date: Wed Jun 30 2004 - 11:48:26 GMT-3
David,
Congrats! Be sure to send your success story to success@ipexpert.com w/
your shirt size (polo shirt) and mailing address. Great Work!
Thanks - We Truly Appreciate Your Business!
Wayne A. Lawson II
Founder & CEO - IPexpert, Inc.
// CCIE #5244, CCNA, CCDA, MCSE, CNE
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Mailto: wayne@IPexpert.com
URL: http://www.IPexpert.com &
"Self-Paced, Instructor Led & Distance Learning Certification
Training for the CCIE (R&S, Sec, SP and Voice Lab), CCSP, CCNP,
CCNA & Cisco Wireless Technologies"
David Buechner writes:
> At long last I get to send "the note." I got #13539 in RTP yesterday!
>
> Like many who have passed I have the usual collection of books. I've used
> the IPExpert WB (version 4 I think) and the Internetwork Expert work book.
> The Internetwork Expert book has an excellent solution guide and very
> challenging scenarios and was a good final prep stages book.
>
> I also took a vclass from Internetwork Expert. Brian McGahan did a
> wonderful job of explaining various things. It wasn't so much that I
> learned a lot that was "new" but I sure did get a lot more detail on some
> things. It helped me move from "knowing the options" to "knowing which
> option was appropriate - quickly." Thanks guys!
>
> While I'm thanking people - my wife Kathy has been super supportive. It's
> been a long (and expensive) haul for me and she was with me every step of
> the way. Too bad you guys don't know her.
>
> And certainly my thanks to all on this list. There are so many talented
> people on this list who are eager to share their knowledge - you can't
> believe how much I have learned from you all. I've tried to post some of
> my own knowledge and I'm going to stick around and try to pay some of that
> back as best I can. But thank you all - you're great!
>
> My path (briefly - so you know where I'm coming from in later comments):
> I've been a network guy for around 8 years now, but with more LAN
> expertise than WAN. Before that I was (among other things) an IBM
> mainframe systems guy. I was one of the founding partners of a company
> that does Internet access for trade shows - and I was the CTO (only techie
> :-) ) for several years. So I've built some killer LANs in short time
> frames. The routing side of things I'm a bit of a lab-rat. Much of what
> I know and can do I've not done on too many production networks, at least
> not yet.
>
> I took 5 tries to pass the lab. The first two I really wasn't ready, but
> they were good exposure to the process. Attempt #3 I was close. Attempt
> #4 was July, 2003 and I left the lab thinking I had it. I was sure. I
> was crushed when I got the fail. And I was mad. I went through the
> thought process that many do that Cisco was really being a bit unfair,
> that the questions were vague and designed to be tricky, etc.
>
> After some time I realized I was wrong. I started to think of things I
> probably didn't do right, and the more I thought the more I realized that
> the grading was right. I ended up taking several months off from this
> endeavor - fall is a busy time for me business wise so it was easy to do.
> The last six months I've been back at it with a vengeance, got the IE
> workbook, did more scenarios. And two weeks ago I took the class.
> Yesterday when I left I was pretty sure! But it sure was nice to see it
> in print.
>
> I stay out of the "debates" on this list most of the time, but I do want
> to comment on three of them now. First, there is often the complaint
> raised that Cisco doesn't give us enough feedback and it's hard to learn
> from your failures. The first part of this complaint is hard to prove one
> way or the other, but I believe the second point is dead wrong. A good
> friend of mine (who has his number as well) gave me good advice after my
> last attempt when he asked "did you draw your diagram?" What he meant was
> documenting what I remembered of the exam after I left the Cisco facility.
> I had not, but I kept doing that after each successive attempt. I leave
> the test, go back to the hotel, and write down as many notes/diagrams as I
> can. I've gotten to the point where I can list the sectional point
> totals, many of the individual question ares (and sometimes their point
> totals). I can diagram things like the network topology, the IGPs, the
> BGP peering, etc. And then when I get my score report from Cisco I can
> figure out my raw score and start making good guesses at what questions I
> missed. Doing all this really helped guide my study.
>
> The second debate is which workbook/class/etc is better. As I mentioned
> earlier I had a really good experience with the Internetwork Expert
> materials/classes and I'd highly recommend them (and no - I'm not
> associated with Internetwork Expert). My experience with the IPExpert
> material appeared to be less helpful at first glance - but I think much of
> the problem wasn't the material, it was me. I wasn't as ready when I went
> through the IPExpert book. That *HAS* to have colored my experience.
> Heck, if you can afford it - get them all! I think you just have to look
> at the quality of the postings of Brian Dennis, Brian McGahan, Scott
> Morris, etc. to know that the materials that they are involved in from the
> various companies have good quality know-how and experience behind them.
>
> Last debate - what equipment to have. I've got a home lab with 2500s.
> They're old, out-dated, won't run all the features, etc. BUT! They do
> run the fundamentals. I have been able to experiment with routing
> protocols, redistribution, multicasting - core features - on these
> routers. So get what you can afford. And definitely rent the rest. Over
> the years I used Bradshaw labs and the Internetwork Expert racks. All
> were very well supported and very helpful.
>
> Yesterday I stood looking at the RTP "wall of pain" and recognized some
> names from this list. Brian McGahan, Scott Morris, and Bob Sinclair in
> particular popped off the wall. All of you have been mentors to me
> whether you know it or not through your postings. After I check out of
> the hotel I'm headed back to the Lake building to sign the wall myself.
> :-)
>
> Sorry this got so long. But hopefully some of it is helpful to some of
> you. Keep up the hard work - this number we chase is hard to reach (and
> valuable as a result), but it is very attainable. And don't be
> embarrassed by taking so many attempts - you're not alone!
>
> Peace!!
>
> David Buechner
> CCIE #13539
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Jul 03 2004 - 19:40:53 GMT-3