From: fadel lubbos (fadellubbos@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed May 14 2008 - 18:57:43 ART
Congratulation
> From: ysoyibo@hotmail.com> To: ccielab@groupstudy.com> Subject: THE JOUNEY
TO CCIE #20739> Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 20:06:09 +0000> > THE JOUNEY TO CCIE
#20739> Finally I became CCIE #20739 on the 8th of May 2008 in Dubai.> I thank
God Almighty for this achievement and I give him all the glory. If you> dont
yet know who JESUS CHRIST is..man, you need to ASAP. Read John 3:16> I thank
my wife, Funke and my 3 boyz. They put up with so many late nights,> lonely
weekends, holidays. Thanks for understanding.> I thank Paul Jaikaran and
Francis Odo. When things in the office were getting> crazy, they still gave me
some space to lab scenarios and to study. Mr.> Jaikaran, you are a true CTO in
the real sense of the word. You are the real> deal..from another planet.> At
times, I felt like I was chasing a mirage, looking for the lost city of El>
Dorado but I kept pushing. Ive mostly been a silent member of GS and I must>
thank Paul Borghese for making this to happen.> To Paul Borghese, This list is
an awesome list. You cant fathom how many> lives you have changed with this
list. When you are 70 yrs and above, you will> just begin to realize it. You
are truly unique.> I Thank all the five star generals in the fieldNarbik
Kocharians, Brian> Dennis, Scott Morris, Kawar Butt, Brian Mcgahan.., anyday
Ill be under your> command. I would also thank all the others that always
contributed on the> forum. Joseph brunner, Victor Cappuccio, Yemi Salau, Scott
Vermillion , Sadiq> Yakasai Thanks a mill guys. If I didnt mention your name,
pls forgive me.> Please permit me..this will be long. I want to use this to
encourage somebody> out there. Hold on to your dream. Circumstances, situation
of life, setbacks> will hit you hard. You must persevere as if your life
depended on it and at> the end of the day your dreams will be actualized.
Circumstances will want to> take away your dream, hold on to it tight.> I
noticed something about CCIEs. There is this thing inside of them that>
says I shall not quit in the midst of any adversary, when things seem to go>
contrary to plan, they say they shall weather the storm and make it. Call it>
faith or whatever you want, its there, believe me. Sometimes I call it the>
eye of the tiger..Rocky anyone> Every morning when I got to the office, the
first websites I went top were> Internetwork expert, IP Expert, netmasterclass
etc to see who and who passed> and what the digits were now.> Many posts gave
me belief and encouraged me. One particular mail made up my> mind for me. It
was about a guy that posted here on GS and said he had done it> 2-3 tmes ,
failed and he was giving up and he didnt want to do it anymore.> Someone
called him a loser. At times I wanted to give up but I didnt want to> be a
loser. I wanted history to record that I was one of the CCIEs that> walked on
the planet earth.> Nothing is impossible for man to achieve because we were
made in Gods image.> The tower of Babel would have been built even if it
would have taken a billon> years .So please remove failure from your mindset.
In anything I do now, I> label failure as a setback. The word failure has
finality to it. Every setback> that comes, comes to make you tougher. It comes
to test you, to see what you> are made of whether you are powepuff or made of
stern stuff. Theres a saying> that say when the going gets tough, the tough
get going. If you continue> knocking, the door of success will eventually
open. Remember Abraham Lincoln,> Ted Turner and other man (Men of Honour,
Mohammed Ali) that wouldnt give up.> You know what history has to say about
them.> I did the lab 5 times before I passed. My advice is that dont waste
your> money as I did. I quote Narbik..dont go until you are ready. The 1st
attempt> I went for, I wasnt ready. But right now reflecting on the mistake,
I still> used it as part of the experience along the journey. After it, I knew
and> experienced firsthand the pressure cooker that was the lab.> My question
to future CCIEs is DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?.in terms of time,> studying,
practicing lab scenarios, navigating the Cisco Doc CD etc. If the> answer is
yes, then the CCIE No is just by the corner.> The CCIE Lab will test your
knowledge. It will weed out the weak areas that> you have and magnify it. You
would be amazed when and how you will be found> out. Nothing should surprise
you in the lab. You need to have simulated it> before or know about it.> I
started with the IE CODs. This was an invaluable tool. I didnt have much>
hands on. It was later after 3 attempts I started using Dynamips. I bought>
rack time on line but it wasnt the same. It constrained me to use it at
their> own time. I made notes from the CODs. A 4 hrs class might take me 3
days to> go through because I was jotting down notes and even printed the
capture> screen of the configs and show outputs. Its as if I know the 2
Brians, I can> still hear their voices now. Thumbs up to you. Their blogs are
also cool.> 1st Attempt, 5th Feb. 2007> Went just for lunch. It was a humbling
experience. After 4 hrs, I knew I> wasnt going to make it. I stared at the
monitor for about 15 mins and didnt> know what to do. I asked myself, that do
normal people actually pass this> test? Anyway, I went through the rest of the
lab and answered the questions> just to get some experience.> 2nd Attempt,
15th May 2007> Everything that could go wrong went wrong. Taxi cab missed the
turning and got> there 30 min late. Before lunch I was doing ok, but after
lunch the s..t hit> the fan. I came out angry with myself, everything and
everybody.> 3rd Attempt, 29th Aug. 2007> This was the real attempt that I
felt I has a chance of passing. I got the> result and wasnt angry. I sat back
and it dawned on me that I was a better> Engineer now. I could type quite
fast, I did tasks in the office faster and> more efficiently. I was
concentrating so much on getting the CCIE that I just> realized this after the
3rd attempt. Have you ever watched a Chinese film> where the master tells the
student to do repetitions of a particular task over> and over again. The
student does this for donkey weeks and so has his muscles> built up so much
that when he incorporates it into his fighting style, it> becomes his
specialty. Thats how felt.> 4th Attempt, 12th Jan. 2008> Not much to say
here. It was close.> I met a double CCIE after the lab and he advised that I
go for a bootcamp. He> said frankly that after 3 attempts you might not know
what you are doing; you> need a bit of direction. Most times when we are doing
things and not getting> results, we need to listen to words of wisdom. I took
the advice and went> looking for bootcamp.> Choosing one was a function of
cost, venue and availability. I believe all the> vendors know their onions and
are in business because they are good. If all> the indices and criteria to
choose one were the same, I would have flipped a> coin and chosen one.> I
chose Narbiks bootcamp in Dubai because his was the most value for money at>
that time. The venue was easy to get to from Nigeria (no visa issues), cost>
was $2500 (a steal), and his workbook was da bomb. I really enjoyed the>
classes. It was 60% practice labs, 40% whiteboard lecture and the rest 10%>
were jokes. Man, we laughed. Narbik is very funny. I remember the joke about>
the lady he said would come 2nd in a beauty pageant.> This bootcamp built my
confidence levels, allowed me days of serious labbing> and tweaking scenarios.
It really filled my gaps. Before I went for the> bootcamp, I had fixed my date
but couldnt tell anyone. My company paid for> the first 2 attempts and they
paid for the bootcamp. You can imagine how much> debt I was in. I was being
chased from left to right and center and imagine> sending 3 kids to school.>
5th Attempt, May 8th 2008> Finished in 6 and half hrs, didnt take anything
for granted. I double checked> everything. For the first time had the time to
do the tcl script. It helped> cos I had a route I couldnt ping. Would not
have seen it without th script. I> left the lab and said to myself that I had
passed. Six hrs later, I saw> passed, CCIE 20739> In summary> > Finance
willing, go for a COD and Bootcamp. Dont waste money on an attempt> without
having at least one of these two.> Lab up every scenario you dont understand.
Practice..practice...need I say> it more?> Cisco DOC CD. This should be your
CCIE Bible> Have a belief in yourself. Every CCIE out there has only one
brain, you have> one also. They have just used it more.> > Next 1 2 yrs of
my lifeCCIE SP or Security, MBA, Business Venture? Will> decide soon.> Nice
to be among the expert field..even though still a baby> > YEMI SOYIBO> >
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