From: Joseph Brunner (joe@affirmedsystems.com)
Date: Thu Dec 20 2007 - 17:30:41 ART
1. Too legit to quit; that's my answer. Its not just a mc hammer album/song
of the same title. It's a way of life. I'm too legit
(serious/good/smart/focused/gifted) to quit.
If I quit, it would be a waste of all that stuff I just mentioned.
2. Why are you working long hours? I only worked a few days a week during my
summit chase, I saw the light at the FAR end of the tunnel, and took a huge
pay cut to get it done in the interim. If you have to work (you're a
full-timer) you can just do what I did on the days I worked. I came in by
5am and got a good few hours of hard studying in before anyone showed up to
the office. I also stayed late. So I did "the work" during the day, if there
was any. But most of the time "at work" I was studying (a full ccie rack is
under my desk in my cube, lol)
3. no more than 45 days. You have to stay razor sharp and devoted. Any
longer and you'll get soft. Its worth it to just get back up and try again.
4. I figured why I was missing the mark. Strategy was my answer, not
knowledge of rfc's and the technology. You need a foolproof strategy that
works no matter what the lab throws at you. This like I said here yesterday,
includes a time plan for when to do what (like give yourself enough time to
check your stuff).
5. more of the above, but I kept on my rack to have no weak areas from the
blueprint. So I was perpetually learning as I was failing the lab each time,
you could say. ;) ;(
6. all the labs were hard. Each was hard in different ways (no sleep,
surprising issues). The day I passed the one I did, I could have just as
easily passed any of the ones I failed. The lab didn't get easier/harder, I
got better at it. When you pass you will feed like a "ccie" not just like
someone who passed the test. That's why it's the perfect test, it really
does make you an expert to learn what's required to pass.
7. we all make mistakes (that is why the world is full of divorce lawyers,
and zales diamond shops, LOL). As a ccie candidate you need to know how to
find your mistakes in the time allotted for the test, and correct them. Do
you think I finished the lab perfect on the first go thru, and then spent 2
hours shooting the Sh*t about the Baseball steroids scandal with the
proctor? I stopped and said, "Now go back thru and check EVERYTHING"
"Pretend you are the grading proctor". Look for anything not perfect, and
take off points. I graded my own test, so I knew that when it was really
graded by solutions would hold up. "Verifying the config" is not an option.
You must be smart enough to come up with ways to test your solutions and
remember not to break anything.
Tony, very few people pass on the first attempt. I hate using Starwars but I
keep using it to describe this test. Remember countless times when the young
jedi lost or would have been killed, but the older, wiser Jedi saved him.
That is a CCIE, an expert who is also experienced. Yoda embodies this, young
Anakin running at count dooku unaware of his lightning bolts does not. On
any other day Anakin's sword play would be enough to defeat an apponent, but
today he's not facing a Jawa or a battle droid, he's facing the CCIE lab.
You must be tempered, patient, analytic, smart, careful and experienced all
at once to beat this thing.
Consider the first attempt you recon mission, and the next one the attack.
-Joe
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of Tony
Blanco
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 12:06 PM
To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: Now what?
Team,
Last week I took a shoot to the big one for the first time and as you
already know the answer, close but not cigar :) Now I am trying to overcome
the depression of not passing after many months of preparation and I have
some questions for those that already have passed through this difficult
cycle.
1 - How do you deal with the depression of not passing the test (please not
drugs, vodka, beers....)
2 - How do you get back to the rush of still working/studying long hours in
order to get ready again
3 - How much time do you give yourself for the next one again
4 - Do you still follow your original pattern and plans for your preparation
5 - What do you do in order to get more ready than the first time...
6 - Is the next one supposed to be harder than the first one....
7 - Btw my biggest problem on the lab was time and silly mistakes that I did
(but I was able to do everything without having to take a peak at the
documentation)
Regards,
J.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Tue Jan 01 2008 - 12:04:31 ARST