From: abderrahim sadki (a_sadki1@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon Jun 30 2008 - 10:36:08 ART
wow...finishing that early is very very impressive to me!
congratulation!
Abderrahim
> Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:52:53 -0400> From: dalek77@gmail.com> To:
ccielab@groupstudy.com> Subject: Damn, I finished the lab in 4 hours and had 4
hours to verify and I still didn't...........> > get served that coffee Brian
Dennis was talking about. At least I got my> number on my first attempt
though, 21330 baby!> BTW, never ever ever take your lab on Friday, the wait
was worse then the> night before christmas as a kid! I didn't get my results
until I woke up> this morning and have been on edge with people all weekend.>
> Some people already know me from class and know my story. I began studying>
because of all the paper CCNPs out there, especially my work. Now I have>
nothing against CCNPs or any paper certs if you did it the right way, but>
what pissed me off is that our employer thought this other guy was as>
qualified as me because he got his CCNP and this guy announced himself as a>
Senior Engineer. Well this schmuck took two days to get an SVI on a Cat 3750>
up and just started networking about a year ago. While I worked hard for> mine
and have recertified it twice over the past 7 years now, he got his in> weeks
with you know what...... Pretty blatant about it as well as they> passed them
around work talking about how they can get CCNP in just a few> weeks. These
guys blow and I wish Cisco would do something about their> testing system.> >
In any case, I got mad, I mean really mad that nobody could see through the>
charade of these fake qualified network engineers. February of this year I>
had enough and I knew there was only one thing to do. Get something that> they
couldn't get or at least they would have to work real hard to get and> based
on their work ethic, I doubt they would ever get it, the CCIE. I> worked my
@$$ off since I got the materials end of February, and by the> grace of GOD
and my lovely wife I was able to get my number in RTP on June> 27th. I pretty
much shut my family off for the last 4 months, while my wife> took care of
everything, the kids, the house, the dogs...... To give> everyone an idea of
the hours I put in.... I worked 40 hours a week, I> studied everyday after
work, from 6 pm to 2 am labbing and 12-15 hours each> day on the weekends. I
took one day off and that was Mothers day and then I> attended
InternetworkExperts 12 day bootcamp. I actually finished their> bootcamp
material by the 3rd day of the bootcamp and Brian Dennis and> company was nice
enough to let me mock lab the rest of the days I was> there. The
InternetworkExpert bootcamp was nice to get away for 12 days> and lab for
about 12-15 hours a day. I went outside once the entire time I> was there and
that was for a 5 min walk to look at the pool and I didn't> turn on my tv
once. I probably squeezed in about 3 weeks of lab time in 2> weeks of time. In
essence, I was driven to get the CCIE from start to> finish in about 4 months.
Granted I have about 8 years Cisco experience,> but it hasn't been hands on
everyday the past 3-4 years because I work in a> lab environment now and no
longer do operational support, thank god for that> too.> > It was a hard road,
and there was many times I kept telling myself this is> too hard and will I
never get there. However, I kept telling myself as long> as I keep studying
and as long as I keep labbing I will always learn> something and will get
closer. You might think I'm crazy, but I had a goal> and my wife said go for
it. As I've said in previous posts, my motivattion> was not money, but to gain
the knowledge these other guys didn't have and to> achieve CCIE status,
something most of these paper certifiers won't ever> get. I have to say that I
must thank these guys at work for the> motivation, and I will today when I go
in to work in 2 hours after I get my> Cisco polos embroidered with the CCIE
logo and install an LED behind it. :P> Seriously though, they gave me that
spark that I was missing for years and> passing this lab attempt has ignited
it even more. Now if you've managed to> endure the past few paragraphs of
blah, all you first time CCIE candidates> enjoy my recommendations, which
you've all heard time and time again I'm> sure.> > Study the Core, lab the
Core until your fingers bleed. Get your Core down> to at least 3 hours or
less. InternetwokExpert WB3 labs are awesome for> this, I got those down to 2
hours or less, some of the hard ones took 2 1/2> hours. Speed and time
management was huge for me. I probably put in about> 500 hours of harcore lab
time the last 4 months. I initially started> InternetworkExperts WB2 doing
labs in like 10 hours, learning and> understanding the theory behind things.
They were tough at first, but I> constantly would go back and reread the DOCCD
and reference all my books, I> have ton of books. I watched their technologies
COD 2 1/2 times in it's> entirety. It took a lot of coffee and doing it hands
on with them to stay> awake. Brian Dennis's jokes couldn't even keep me up
anymore after the> first go around. ;) After a few months I started completing
their labs in> entirety in about 4 hours. Once this happened, I would do them
and then> look up everything in the DOCCD, no matter if I knew it or not. This
was my> DOCCD familiarization stage. I actually picked that up from Scott
Morris> from somewhere I believe. Here it comes, you've heard it before, and
you're> going to hear it again....> > KNOW YOUR DOCCD.. I guarantee you will
get something in the lab that you> haven't seen before. This is where speed on
the CORE was essential for me.> By lunch I had completed the lab once over ,
ran my TCL script, and was> feeling a little uneasy still, but I had the meat
done. I'm a paranoid guy,> you can ask others. The only thing left was
verification and digging in the> DOCCD for those few things I didn't know. I
verified twice and each time I> found one small mistake that would have cost
me 2 or 3 points each. Oh and> by the way, I still don't know the answer to
one of them weird questions,> even now that I'm home and I have google, so
here it comes, here it comes> again, KNOW YOUR DOCCD. My last suggestion is
make sure you know theory> very well in the CORE IGP, well everything you
learn really, but especially> your CORE. you've heard time and time again
Switching, FR, and IGP probably> will be half your points. If you understand
the mechanics and how things> work, no matter what scenario you get you can
work through it. If you> memorize the vendor WBs, it won't help in the real
lab.> > So I guess I should recognize people and materials that have helped
me.> First off, my wife and GOD. If I don't mention her first, she might kill
me> and probably the same about GOD... O_o Next, InternetworkExperts ver 4
WBs> and their Technology COD. I have the Brians' voices engrained into my>
head. Brian Dennis, Josh Finke and crew from InternetworkExpert were nice>
enough to hook me up in the last hours. Also, IPExperts audio CD with Scott>
Morris. I bought their WB package, but I only used the audio portion. I>
thought it was very good and I probably listened to it about 5 times in it's>
entirety driving to and from work everyday. It was just an extra tool to> feed
my brain the knowledge it needed.> > I already have the materials from
InternetworkExpert for the SP track and> will hit that at work starting this
morning since this is what I do at work> everyday and my boss will let me
study while I lab it up on our 7604s. :)> MMM Knowledge, I think these guys at
work turned me into an animal. Watch> your back Petr, I'm coming for your
CCIEs and I'll probably pass up Brian> Mcgahan in 6 months because he's a
slacker. j/k man. ;)> > Good luck to all other CCIE candidates and I hope this
email helps.> > regards,> > Dale> > P.S. Don't unicast me for any NDA crap
either, I'll turn your ass into> Cisco.> > >
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