From: Josh (shmokin@gmail.com)
Date: Mon Feb 25 2008 - 22:43:26 ARST
Hello fellow CCIE candidates,
I want to put in a few words (both good & bad) about my recent experience in
a boot camp by Narbik. I've known Narbik now for about 10 years now. I
began CCNA with him as my instructor back in 1999. I did CCNP with him as
well, all but the last class (CIT) which was taught by his partner at the
time Mr. Khawar Butts. I got my CCNP in 2001. I was in his first CCIE boot
camp back in 2002 before he was even a CCIE. I took a break after 2002 and
started to get back on the CCIE pursuit last April when I attended his
bootcamp for the first time. This past week is the 2nd time I have done
his bootcamp. Here is why I have stuck with Narbik:
1. Narbiks lectures: No Ferris Bueller style lectures here. Having
did 5 years of college in the past, I have had my share of boring,
mono-tone, bad accents, etc. I would have requested my money back if the
lectures were not worth it. Narbik's brings an energy that keeps you awake,
attentive and interested. The jokes keep the material, which we all know is
rather dry for the most part, very interesting. NO powerpoint style
presentations here either. One thing that really irks me is a "training
class" where all they do is put up a powerpoint presentation and read it. I
know this seems to be the norm for most companies now, but how much do you
really learn? Anyway, I also like the fact that the lectures are to the
point. He doesn't fill them with stuff you really don't need to know. You
really need to follow along, else you will miss a good portion of the
lecture. The way Narbik explains everything makes it look easy too. So
easy his grandma can do it. All the commands are done off the top of head,
and every option is explained in detail as well as examples of when to
choose one versus another. He covers the topics end to end and leaves you
with a great understanding at the end.
2. Narbik's philosophy: Teach you way above and beyond the
requirements to just pass the test. This has been Narbik's belief since I
first met him. I totally agree with this thinking. It is better to learn
the whole enchilada, than just the bare minimum. He gives you the basics
(beginning at a CCNP level basics) and works up from there. He breaks down
the course & lectures by protocol. He takes one protocol at a time. He
begins at times with the history, why certain commands are hidden, what
every possible command does, and when and where to apply them. He does
this with every protocol. The lectures included: RIP, EIGRP, Switching,
BGP, Multicast, QoS, and OSPF. I was nice to see he asked at the beginning
of the class what our weaknesses were and focused a little extra for us on
those areas.
3. Narbik is oldschool: He takes care of you! For the money you pay,
you can re-take the class (of course seat permitting) anytime you wish.
Also,
any updates to the materials are available to you as well. All you have to
pay is the shipping. If you want to re-take the class, all you need to pay
is the rack rental and cost of printing the materials. This to me shows
that he's not out to take your money. He does have a whole-hearted concern
and desire for you to pass the test. The fact that he gives you his cel
phone number and is available for any questions as well via email makes
anyone in pursuit of this cert
4. Narbik's materials: The workbooks are very well written. Answers
are explained in detail as to why a solution was done a certain manner as
well the command to verify your config was done correctly. The workbook I
received the last class was 2000+ pages! BGP section alone was around 200
pages. They also came with revisions and added material on top of the 2000+
workbook.
There is one complaint I do have about Narbik. Yes believe it or not the
man is not perfect! Since back when I first met him, he had the problem of
promising material and not delivering. When I took the class back in April,
he advised he was working on 10 "super-labs" and would have those completed
very soon and email those out to everyone in the class at that time. Here
we are almost 1 year later and I only have 1!!! Honestly, this doesn't
bother me that much, but it is a flaw. He has advised us that this current
week he will complete those labs which will be included in the price of the
bootcamp!
I'd be happy to answer any other questions, here or unicast. A little bit
about myself: I started in the IT field in 1995. Started more focused on
LAN environment with Novell, WindowsNT, OS/2, etc. About 1999, I began my
Cisco studies, took a hiatus from 2002-2007, passed the written in June of
2007, and slowly but surely working towards the CCIE lab. I currently work
for a service provider called British Telecom (BT). We were known as
Infonet and were purchased by BT about 2 years ago . I was with another
service provider, Verizon, before then. Oh and maybe you guys are
wondering why I haven't taken the lab well I just had twin baby boys in
August, so I'm not able to study as much as I would like. Plus, you
wouldn't believe how many kids I have in addition to the twins. Family of
course comes before the CCIE, so its an interesting and great struggle I
have in front of me. But the more I study and practice labs, the more I can
see this as being doable. Not easy at all, but doable.
Wish everyone the very best in their studies. This is a great forum and
very very helpful to me and many others.
Regards,
Josh Covarrubias
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