From: D.H. Williams (draythw@gmail.com)
Date: Thu Oct 09 2008 - 16:32:15 ART
So, sticking with analogies, a CCIE whose skills have faded is similar to
KISS when they took off their makeup, right?
Good sign though, in that if you study you can freshen them back up (ie put
the makeup BACK ON!)
On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 2:26 PM, Scott M Vermillion <
scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com> wrote:
> Well, not if your BGP tricks have sank to the low of Jimmie Page's guitar
> licks back in those days!
>
> LOL
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott Morris [mailto:swm@emanon.com]
> Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 1:18 PM
> To: 'Scott M Vermillion'; 'Nate Cielieska'; ccielab@groupstudy.com
> Subject: RE: Remember: Maintain
>
> Are you saying we can't have a Reunion Tour? :)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
> Scott M Vermillion
> Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 2:53 PM
> To: 'Nate Cielieska'; ccielab@groupstudy.com
> Subject: RE: Remember: Maintain
>
> Hey Nate,
>
> This discussion is timely from my perspective, so I thought I'd add a
> perspective or two...
>
> Certainly CCIEs who have let their technical prowess completely dissipate
> reflect poorly on this most prestigious credential. It's kind of like
> seeing a tribute to an old band or artist and they themselves come out on
> stage towards the end, only to find they can't string all the lyrics
> together anymore. You get angry at them because *you* can remember them
> all
> by heart! And let us not forget that very regrettable Led Zeppelin reunion
> thing back in the late eighties. But I digress...
>
> If we are truly honest with ourselves, we will likely reach the conclusion
> that the lab tests us on some rather tricky little things that require an
> investment of our time to master but that are not something we are entirely
> likely to encounter in the real world; they are a test of our reasoning
> ability, our knowledge of the documentation as it exists at that moment,
> our
> time and stress management abilities, our sheer determination, etc. As an
> example, this time last year I could sit down and bang out a menu that
> would
> allow hypothetical CCNAs to display a route table with the press of a key
> or
> two, ping a particular IP, and successfully exit the menu so that another
> login could later be accomplished. Ditto for silly little lock-and-key
> type
> of tasks. Today I have a pretty good idea of where that's all laid out in
> the documentation, but I'm quite certain it's not knowledge I'll ever put
> to
> any good use. I certainly haven't bothered to maintain it.
>
> What's more, some technologies being tested in the lab might be retained
> past their half-life simply because of their sheer torture value. We all
> know that some tricky little tasks can be cobbled together when FR is
> thrown
> in the mix - especially where OSPF and multicast are concerned. Now we've
> had this discussion around here before and I know that some people still
> encounter FR on a regular basis and expect to into the foreseeable future,
> but I sure as hell do not. I earned my CCNA back in 2001 and the months
> leading up to that were my introduction to this oft-tested technology that
> none of my clients ever gave a damn about.
>
> The other big issue is that many of us do not work in a NOC of any sort -
> never have, never will. I do mostly architecture and systems integration.
> Yet my clients were demanding the CCIE for some of the more interesting
> projects and so I responded in the affirmative. There was no CCDE at the
> time and that cert is likely to take time to gain any traction anyway (not
> that I'd be likely to pass it anyway), so this is the barometer by which
> most of us are and for the foreseeable future will be judged - do we have a
> number or not? The good news here being that knowing a preponderance of
> the
> configuration options for the various core technologies makes you a better
> architecture/integration guy; you get your butt kicked much less often
> during your own pilot testing of a design or a concept. So it still has
> great value and thank goodness NOC jobs aren't the only opportunities out
> there for CCIEs!
>
> Having said all of that, we have the two-year recertification requirement,
> which certainly helps to keep non-NOC guys honest over the long-haul. And
> most of us will stop to brush back up on our own when we realize it's time.
> I personally am making a second pass through R&S material before moving on
> to trying to get really serious about SP again (sigh)...
>
> Scott V
> (2002 numbers behind you)
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
> Nate
> Cielieska
> Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 7:19 AM
> To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
> Subject: Remember: Maintain
>
> All,
>
> I just wanted to send a quick email to give some perspective a month or two
> after i passed the exam. I will be honest, after your CCIE the last thing
> you want to do is study.. i took about a month off but i take once a week
> to
> do a IE core lab or once every two weeks go through one of Narbik's
> workbooks (I will be doing SP or Security after Jan.1) . In my travels i
> have been able to interview some pretty strong IE's and regretably.. some
> weak ones. The real differentiator that i have been able to find is
> maintenance. I think this is one of the reasons why guys with 1xCCIE (ie
> Bruce Caslow) have such great reputations in the network community and some
> people with multiple IE's are not trusted because the IE became a focus on
> what i'm doing now, and everything else slip (including a non solidified
> understanding of content in an earlier IE). The CCIE is not a destination,
> it is an affirmation of your skills @ a snapshot in time. Since i have
> passed the CCIE i feel that i have a responsibility to the network
> community
> (and my employer) to maintain the skills that are to do with Routing and
> Switching, if i feel strong enough that i am @ a CCIE level verbatim with
> those technologies, i will consider another one. I think that mindset after
> the exam maintains the integrity of the certification to which we have all
> worked so hard.
>
> Just wanted to throw some perspective from someone a little bit after they
> passed.
>
> Regards,
> Nate
> CCIE #21955
>
>
> Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> Subscription information may be found at:
> http://www.groupstudy.com/list/CCIELab.html
>
>
> Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> Subscription information may be found at:
> http://www.groupstudy.com/list/CCIELab.html
>
>
> Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> Subscription information may be found at:
> http://www.groupstudy.com/list/CCIELab.html
Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Nov 01 2008 - 15:35:20 ARST