From: Lloyd Ardoin (Lloyd@TheWizKid.biz)
Date: Fri Nov 07 2008 - 21:04:53 ARST
Let me first apologize for the lengthy post. Although I have been involved in
GS for over a year I have not been very vocal. I have submitted a question or
two and have attempted to answer a couple of questions when I felt confident
that I could provide good information. I needed to talk about my last attempt
at the lab and wanted to share it with people who understand the plight.
Well I am back from my fourth attempt at RTP for my R&S lab and am starring at
another failed email from Cisco. I am writing this in hopes to try and not
internalize all that I am feeling and maybe in some small way help some one
else. My journey has been a 2 = year one; after leaving a company that I
worked for over 28 years and having my networking position basically out
sourced to a local communication company as a 'managed service'. I decided at
that time to pursue the CCIE certification so that I could work as long as I
choose to, make a comfortable living and do interesting work. I spared no
expense and purchased the equipment to build my own home lab (several
iterations), attended the first of two boot camps with NMC in October of 2006
after passing the written earlier in the year. I spent the rest of 2006 and
most of 2007 doing labs at home and made my first attempt in October of 2007
and of course failed miserably. I signed up for my second boot camp with IE in
March of this year and after attending felt like I had the tools I needed to
get the job done. The boot camp pointed out some issues I had with accuracy
and time management so I focused on those. My second attempt was in June which
was another struggle to get the lab completed and another fail. Did another
lab in September and saw that my core technologies were still the cause of my
lack of success so I came home committed to focusing on those specifically
which is what I did for the last 30 - 45 days doing core technology labs and
attempting to strengthen that area up. Somewhat surprisingly and quite a
disappointment yesterday was to see that I still have not been able to bring
those scores up with any significance and obviously this tells me that I need
to take a step back and figure out where my process is broken. I have a
passion for technology and an insatiable desire to understand how things work
and immensely enjoy the learning process. I take a lot of pride in how I go
about what I am pursuing and always try to be the best I can be. I don't have
a PHD or Master's degree and my IQ is definitely not in the 120's but through
my life I have been able to achieve though my desire, persistence and
determination. I am definitely not throwing up the white flag but I do have to
admit after my two nights of very little sleep and my long flight back home
this one has definitely knocked the wind out of my sails. I have spent the
last 2 years or so dedicating my personal time to one mission because it means
that much to me. Through my journey I have been privileged to meet some
interesting and admirable people who share a lot of the same feelings I have
about this world of technology and all it has to offer. I have provided myself
the equipment to study with, acquired study materials from outstanding
vendors, purchased and read most of the recommended reading materials, spent
most weekends locked up sitting next to my racks doing the work, printed off
hundreds of pages from the Cisco web site for reference and yet to no avail.
I knew this was going to be a difficult journey but willing and able to take
it on but right now I feel like I have been climbing the side of a mountain
and have slid all the way back down to the bottom and I am looking back up at
the top that seems so far, far away. Again I say I am definitely not a
quitter and will go home and get some sleep and wake up tomorrow with a more
determined outlook and sit down and do some serious soul searching to try and
figure out what is so broken about my study process and pick myself back up to
start the climb once more.
That is my story without an ending..
To all those who pursue.good luck!
Lloyd
Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
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