From: Joseph D. Phillips (josephdphillips@fastmail.us)
Date: Fri Jul 16 2004 - 14:58:53 GMT-3
Congratulations, Mohit!
----- Original message -----
From: "Sharma, Mohit" <mohit.sharma@hp.com>
To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 19:23:45 +0200
Subject: A New Life.
HI All,
At last I get to write this mail. I still cant believe it that I am
doing it. I made it yesterday at Brussels. This was the third attempt
for me. And I still cant get the feeling that I HAVE that number, the
number for which I worked so hard, for the last two years.
It was as hard as it could be, spending the nights and the beautiful
summer evenings in the office, going away from my wife and my so lovely
3 year old daughter and not seeing her for days. The frustration of
failing and the agony. Somehow I believe only you people can understand
that, the pain and the suffering and the JOY of passing can this exam
can only be really felt and understood by the people who are a part of
CUIE.
Guys I have to share this with you, I may be rambling a lot here, for so
long I thought about what I will write once I pass, and now when I am
really doing it I don't know what. I know that a mail, a success story
was always a source of motivation for me.
Thanx to my family without whose help and support I would never have
achieved this. Thanx for standing by me, when I failed and to my wife
for being there with me, for having taking the ups and downs of my moods
with that knowing smile of yours. Thanx to my baby, who was always
wishes me GOOD Luck, whenever I leave the house. That was the hardest
part, to away from her playful smiles, especially on the weekends.
A special Thanx to my mentor and my friend Holger Hasenaug, a long term
CCIE with infinite knowledge and more importantly kindness, who set me
on this path, who more or less introduced to me the Cisco networking
world, and put me on the path to CCIE.
A great and heartfelt Thanx goes to Martin Shortland of Kinetic Edu, who
put me on the right track with his bootcamp, whose training helped me to
see what ALL I had been missing in my studies, and who helped me to
understand the intricacies of the networking protocols. I have never
seen or met a trainer like you, believe me guys, even after a long time
from my training he was always there to help and to answer any queries I
had. You are the best Martin and I would highly recommend you to anybody
studying for this exam. Martin can be reached at martin@kineticedu.com.
Ohh Yes and before I forget, in his bootcamp make sure that you are
prepared to test your humor skills in addition to your networking skills
;-)
I also used the IE workbook for the preparation, and believe me guys
it's in a class of its own. The solution guide is awesome and could have
very easily been sold separately as the best reference. Thanx Brian's
amazing work.
Also I would like to mention a special Thanx to Scott Morris, for his so
great posts, specially his ability to include humor in any kind of post,
whatever it may. Your posts really help to bring up the sullen mood.
And a Thanx to all of you, for making this forum the BEST there ever can
be. Believe me guys, this is and will be the single most extensive
source of information you could ever find. Even till the last day of my
exam, I made sure to check all the messages on this forum.
And Yes, I would also like to mention here, that after my second
attempt, I really felt so disappointed and frustrated, as I was so sure
that I would PASS. And the biggest mistake was that I almost gave it up,
and when I came back again to my right sense, I had already lost a lot
of precious time, and the consequences were that I had to start from
beginning with the technologies that I had mastered before.
So guys the only advice I have, is that DON'T ever give up, you may feel
depressed and feel that its not fair, but think about the TIME you have
already invested and the SACRIFICES that you and more importantly your
family has already made. Don't let it go waste. YOU can do it, and you
will. SO don't waste to much time. Don't commit the mistake I did. After
an unsuccessful attempt, give yourself a day or two, then consider what
went wrong and what you need to improve on, then make a strict schedule
and book the LAB. YOU WILL MAKE IT, don't let it go.
I used the usual books, but the best I thought were Kevin Solie,
specially volume two. For BGP the best book I believe is from Randy
Zhang, the explanation and the scenarios in this book will really help
you to understand all of the BGP attributes.
I hope I have not missed anything or anybody. If I did, please excuse me
for sending a sequel to this mail :)
And I also do not expect anybody to read this far:)
I will go back home now, and give my family the much DUE time.
And YES, since this has still not sunk in, I am not sure what I will be
doing in my "FREE" time now.
AS I said Security ( I never meant it though), MY wife just smiled.
(whatever that implies)
All the best to ALL of you working for this exam. BELIEVE me guys, it
would be worth every effort you put in.
Smiles,
Mohit
CCIE # 13642
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