From: Darby Weaver (darbyweaver@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Feb 24 2007 - 23:07:09 ART
You know I really like to make sure people are paying
attention before I get to the point.
:)
--- Narbik Kocharians <narbikk@gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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