From: Hoyle, Anthony (AL) (ALHoyle@dow.com)
Date: Thu Oct 21 2004 - 10:29:34 GMT-3
Whew!!!! What a nightmare. I just passed the lab this past Monday in RTP. This was my fifth attempt. On my fourth attempt, I missed it by
1% I even asked for a re-score, and still missed it by .5%. I won't go into details about what happened, we have all seen the e-mails in the past, same
story...almost. It seemed impossible, very difficult, but I came out on top. I too, was expecting to get that e-mail, and see the fail, and start wondering
in bewilderment about what I barely missed, but not this time. Great does not explain the feeling. How I made to RTP..well that have to tell you about:
I am from Rochester Hills, MI (Near Detroit) , and was flying out of Lansing. The flight was from Lansing to Chicago, and from Chicago to Pittsburgh, then
from Pittsburgh to Raleigh, NC. Well, of course United overbooked most of the flights. When we landed in Chicago, the plane going to Pittsburgh
was boarding (what?) I couldn't believe it. SO we missed the flight, now were standby (worse than coming in 3rd place in a contest) We barely caught a flight
to Pittsburgh. Now...we are in Pittsburgh, and all of the flights going to Raleigh,NC are overbooked by at least 11 people (mind you it is almost 9pm at night)
I was almost at the point of breaking down (given the fact we are still 11 hours away from Raleigh, and it is not looking good) We (me and my wife) managed to get two seats
going to Charlotte, NC (as close as United could get us and because two other people missed their flight). We get to Charlotte...but oh -by the way Charlotte is 3 hours away from NC. Soooo..
we hitch hiked to Raleigh (since all my credit cards were maxed (from taking the lab a few times this year and who knows what else) and made it there at about 2am.
We arrived at the Wingate at 2am. I had to wake right back up at 6:30am, and go take the lab at 7:15am. There goes that whole "get a good night's rest before the lab"
plan out the window. I almost decided back in Pittsburgh to just go home and call it a day. But I kept going -very happy now :) After going through that experience, if Cisco even considers having a remote CCIE lab, I will rally and picket outside of CISCO /w
big signs -hee hee hee hee :)
I said to myself: If I didn't pass this time, I was going to change careers. I kept questioning myself, what's wrong with me? Maybe this isn't for me?
The CCIE is attainable (obviously from all of the talent on this list) but you have to have perseverance and dedication.
What's next?..well I haven't seen my wife and kids (like I should) for the past two plus years..I also just got this new X-Box game yesterday called
burnout 3 (wow that game is awesome). & I m' catching up on a few movies. I can't help it though....now I'm reading the Cisco call manager
Fundamentals and Troubleshooting Cisco IP telephony. I went through all of the AVVID classes at CISCO last year..but that didn't do me too much justice..
I am so use to staying up all night and studying, and on the rack, I don't know what to do now?
Oh yeah, I just want to chime in about that thread we were all reading a while back, about the guy forgetting his CCIE number. HA! I would probably
forget me SSN or, even my home phone number, before my CCIE number. That was an interesting thread though :)
Thank you group study for letting me participate in this list, and all of the great comments from everyone who answers questions all of the time
(Scott Morris and Brian that sticks out in my head), as well as all of the other great contributors on this list. I'm here now :) *
Cheers,
Anthony Hoyle, CCIE #13948
EDS
Infrastructure Specialist
anthony.hoyle@eds.com
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