From: Narbik Kocharians (narbikk@gmail.com)
Date: Sat Feb 24 2007 - 15:23:09 ART
Darby,
HAve you ever written anything less than half a mile?
On 2/23/07, Darby Weaver <darbyweaver@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Maybe it is just me, but as I am watching the IE CODs
> there are a lot of things that I am catching this time
> around (about my third time around with them more or
> less) that I just somehow missed or overlooked before.
>
> Some things, I am simply more keen to and perhaps know
> what to look for since I was originally introduced the
> "issues" by IE or NMC since about this time last year.
>
> But overall, I feel like I am now a lot clearer than I
> was the first time around and even by the time I went
> to my first and second lab attempts.
>
> Or maybe I am just taking a little more time to smell
> the roses this year.
>
> One things for sure, whatever I did last year, for
> better or worse, helped me qualify for better (more
> Cisco-centric) career opportunities this year.
>
> Anyone else felt like this at some point in their own
> journey?
>
> I mean I recall Bruce Caslow saying things about how
> things just pop up in our heads and we just start to
> "get it".
>
> Kewl feeling when the plans start to come together.
>
> There are still things I am working on but I can see
> where I am visisbly stronger this year than I was this
> time last year.
>
> I went through my self-eval from NMC last night, where
> one evaluates the skills one has - a self-evaluation.
>
> Last year, I did the survey and I came up with about
> 55% - Strange enough almost all of my graded labs
> averaged out to 54-61% - with the 57 bing the number.
>
> I did it last night, and now it appears my
> self-evaluation is now 81% or so.
>
> Now this is number is just gathered from how one
> gauges their own ability on each topic area and
> somehow NMC has devised a mathematical formula to
> compute a percentage based on one's answers.
>
> But, I think I find this little trick refreshing.
>
> Also it is a nice little checklist that helps one
> figure out where he/she may still have areas for
> improvement.
>
> It goes something like NONE (No experience) to EXPERT.
>
> There are 4 values per topic and seem to be a fair
> estimation of one's skill familiarity of one is honest
> to one's own self while marking them.
>
> I thought it odd how this little self-eval seemed to
> be right on the money with where I actually was and
> where I actually tended to be scoring in real life on
> graded labs.
>
> Now as I am gearing up to meet Mr. Heinz Ulm and try
> my luck at his graded Mock Labs, I am hoping to gain
> some ground on my weakest areas.
>
> If I were say a 55 last May or June or so...
>
> I'm hoping to be closer to an actual 80 or so by now.
>
> Hopefully, I am not too disappointed with my studies
> and my level of actual achievement gained thus far.
>
> But also recall, I am specifically trying to close the
> gaps on a few things I simply did not understand, or
> rushed through, or failed to complete before.
>
> Being able to complete my Golden Moment confidently
> meant a lot to me and now cornering QoS and Multicast
> mean quite a bit to me as well.
>
> There have been other topics that were sore for me,
> and I've been nailing them as well. Literally one by
> one.
>
> I must commend the Brians for their work on
> Spanning-Tree on the current set of IE CODs -
> amazingly clear examples that one can try at home.
> Love the "reverse Z". The work they did with HSRP and
> Port Security is very nice as well. It was probably
> as good before, but maybe I did not quite appreciate
> the intricacy of it all at the time.
>
> I actually implemented HSRP and Port Security and so I
> could definately appreciate the thorough lecture with
> CLI examples. And the same for Spanning Tree and the
> Order of Operations for Path/Port selection. My
> coworker and I recently had to contend with RST issues
> with Foundry and so this topic was fresh and the
> lecture and CLI examples burned away any remaining
> cobwebs.
>
> Good job guys...
>
> Overall - don't be afraid to revisit topics if you do
> not totally understand something - or better yet when
> you actually think you do understand a given topic.
>
> Later...
>
> Darby
>
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-- Narbik Kocharians CCIE# 12410 (R&S, SP, Security) CCSI# 30832 Network Learning, Inc. (CCIE class Instructor) www.ccbootcamp.com (CCIE Training)
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