From: Gregory Gombas (ggombas@gmail.com)
Date: Sun Jun 03 2007 - 00:26:15 ART
Thanks for sharing - I like hearing people's journey I'm sure others do too.
On 6/2/07, CharlesB <cbalik@adelphia.net> wrote:
> This is the second part of my original email I posted a couple days ago.
>
>
>
> The following was my recipe to get my CCIE #.
>
>
>
> Reading materials I used:
>
>
>
> Routing TCP/IP vol I, and vol II, Jeff Doyle
>
> Cisco LAN Switching, Kennedy Clark
>
> BGP Design and Implementation, Randy Zhang
>
> Cisco QoS Exam Certification Guide, Wendell Odom
>
> Developing IP Multicast Networks, Beau Williamson
>
> Cisco Univercd. I spent a lot of hours on this one, in addition to the
> above.
>
> And lot of online reading.
>
>
>
> Workbook:
>
>
>
> Internetwork Expert Ver 3, Vol I and Vol II. I used IE mostly. I have done
> all the labs, 2 or 3 times. Some labs even more.
>
> Internetwork Expert technology specific labs, very, very valuable last mile
> push I got there.
>
> Netmaster Class. A couple of labs, multiple times.
>
>
>
> Training:
>
>
>
> No bootcamp, I did take Advance QoS class. (CCIE specific, I am excluding
> other courses I took, MPLS, Cisco GWGK etc.).
>
>
>
> Racktime:
>
>
>
> Racktimerentals.com: more than 30-35 sessions I made, until I built my own
> and made additional 40-50 extra sessions on my rack.
>
>
>
> Time table:
>
>
>
> I committed myself to passing the lab since June 1st, 2006. I passed the lab
> May 31st, 2007. I made 3 attempts between Dec. 2006 and May 2007.
>
> Last year I thought I would finish it in 6 months, but between jobs and
> projects and studying it took a full year.
>
>
>
> Hours:
>
>
>
> I cannot tell you how many hours exactly, but with a quick calculation, all
> the lab hours/sessions and reading I have done, I would say I spent 2000
> hours minimum.
>
>
>
> GroupStudy Emails:
>
>
>
> I have read probably more than 5000 emails.
>
>
>
>
>
> Experience:
>
>
>
> I worked on many different projects from nationwide DSLs, ATM PNNIs, Frame
> relay, Wireless, Sonet backbones to dial up network deployments with
> extensive Radius and PPP technologies, and many more projects including
> firewall and vpn technologies. I worked mostly for ISPs and work on large
> enterprise contracts.
>
>
>
> CCIE lab experiences:
>
>
>
> 1st attempt: Dec 2006:
>
>
>
> I got in huge trouble with the 4-switch setup. I was about to go through a
> nervous breakdown. At lunchtime, I was still in the first sections, doing
> the switching part. I just could not believe it. I went to lunch, could not
> eat anything, I am sure I looked like a dead man walking.
>
> I started to think of not coming back in the lab, but I knew I had lot of
> knowledge for the other sections. So, I just swallowed a couple bites of a
> pizza slice and went back to the lab.
>
> I keep saying to myself, this is the time to test myself, no matter what
> happens I wanted to use the time and test my knowledge.
>
> When the proctor said time up, I had only one section to do. I knew I failed
> terribly.
>
> But from this horrible experience, I took it to be the worst it could be and
> still did not lose my head.
>
> During the lab, I went to the proctor at least 10 times and checked the
> doccd more than 10 times.
>
>
>
> 2nd attempt: Jan 2007:
>
>
>
> This time I finished the lab 3:30PM, checked mostly everything (no debugs,
> no extensive testing). When I left the lab, I was thinking I really did it
> this time.
>
> But when I was driving to the airport, I started to have doubts, I started
> to ask myself: Did they mean this? Did I put that there? May be I should
> have done it the other way, Did I check that? So, when I came home I had
> huge doubts.
>
> Of course, the next morning the result was a fail again.
>
> Actually, after second time, I felt much worse than the first knock out
> session I got with Cisco. Before the second attempt, I was thinking that I
> felt like I was on top of my game. This was more discouraging than the first
> try.
>
> I could not take the lab the following 4 months; I had a big set back,
> emotional ups and downs.
>
> During the lab, I went back to proctor 3 times, and checked the doccd 5
> times.
>
>
>
> 3rd attempt: May 31st:
>
>
>
> In April, the company (ISP - telco PSTN ) I was working got in financial
> trouble. We knew there was going to be a huge lay off, and it was coming. I
> took it as positive sign, and I said, if I get laid off, I will stay home
> and do another round with Cisco.
>
> I had unfinished business. As I was suspecting, the company went bankrupt
> and I got laid off May 1st without any benefits. But, I kept studying for
> the lab.
>
> I was finishing the IE labs in 5 hours, doing lots of testing and debugs
> and corrections in 8 hours tops. So, I started to feel that I was even
> better prepared than the second attempt.
>
> So, I finished the actual lab at 4PM, kind of little later than I was
> expecting, but I was going slowly and double checking everything. The last
> one hour I went through all my notes and 50% of the lab and I found 2
> mistakes probably worth around 5 points, and time was up. I could have felt
> better if I could have checked on the remaining.
>
> During the lab, I used localized small diagrams for each task rather than
> trying to make a whole new diagram.
>
> Basically, I used big circles on the paper I had. I put 2 to 3
> routers/switches in there, showing all the tasks that needed to be
> accomplished to meet the requirements. I took notes around the circle, doing
> the calculations, and planning, arrows showing directions, tricks needs to
> be watched etc.
>
> I also used a lot of notepad to put the detailed configs after the planning,
> then all that was left was to copy and paste and check everything.
>
> During the lab I used a fair amount of debugs, and other tools as was showed
> in the IE lab solutions.
>
> This time, I went to see the proctor only once to ask for additional paper,
> and checked the doccd 3-4 times for the commands and features I could not
> remember how to apply.
>
> Actually I had questions about 3 to 4 areas in the lab, but I kept saying
> the answers have to be here in the folders, in the cofigs somewhere. Instead
> of asking, I concentrated on understanding the task, and kept reading the
> question over and over again.
>
>
>
> Well long story short, the third time was the charm.
>
>
>
>
>
> Please feel free to take out of the write up what works for you, and leave
> the rest as my faults, mistakes, short coming, my nature and my own unique
> life experiences.
>
>
>
> What am I planning to do next?
>
>
>
> I am already trying to figure out what it takes to get ready for the Service
> Provider lab very soon:::::::)))))))))
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: CharlesB [mailto:cbalik@adelphia.net]
> Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 2:21 AM
> To: 'ccielab@groupstudy.com'
> Subject: May 31st, I passed # 18076 at San Jose
>
>
> Guys, I just cannot tell you how happy I am right now. In short all I can
> say, no pain no gain, at least that is how I felt during the last eleven
> months of prep work.
> This was my third attempt in last 6 months.
> I will tell you more once I pulled myself together later.
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
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