From: Josh Covarrubias (shmokin@gmail.com)
Date: Thu Dec 11 2008 - 22:09:00 ARST
No no the subject is not true. :) But now that I got your attention, I'd
like to share that I passed the R&S in San Jose yesterday Dec 10,2008. CCIE
# 22963.
I'd like to Thank God through Jesus Christ for this incredible blessing.
Also...Narbik, Darby, Paul... I am greatful for all your support in this
journey. You attention to detail and ease of explanation with lots of the
subjects I studied really helped me out! I sincerely thank you for assisting
in the many questions I had...I'll give a little bit about my journey below.
It was my first attempt and the struggle was really intense for me. Let me
explain a bit. The Lord has blessed me with 6 children. My oldest just
turned 9 last month and my youngest are twin baby boys who turned 1 this
past August. You can fill in the ages of the remaining. If it wasn't for
my awesome wife who was on board with my studies, this would have been that
much harder. I owe her so much for her help, words cannot express. I began
studying full time 6-7 days a week in July of this year. Studies included
labs/reading/doccd etc. I did keep soccer practices & games for my 2 oldest
from September thru the end of November. I missed many family functions,
dinners, etc because of my studies for this exam. I had 2 birthday parties
that included the family visiting from Thurs-Sunday (ya I couldnt study
those days) On top of all this, the rack I rented for a period of 3 months,
had some joker who logged in and deleted my configs to practice his/hers on
several occasions. This added to the already high level of stress. The road
was not easy, but man its an awesome feeling to have those sweet 5 numbers
at last!
Here is what I used for my preparation:
1. Narbik CCIE boot camp (3x) - I took the first boot camp in April 2007,
but was not serious about my studies until 2008. I took the second boot
camp in Feb 2008 and the final one in July 2008... right before I got very
serious in the studies. I did make a few guest appearances after the fact
for specific topics that were still not too clear for me. Narbik was great
and kept his word; not charging for the multiple boot camps.
2. Narbik Tech Focused Workbooks (3x) - I went through these cover to
cover 3 times. The last time I found the links on the doccd and read all
related information as Narbik recommended. This was key to my passing.
Details, details, details... you gotta know the details. I remember reading
posts from previous folks who passed who mentioned the same thing. You need
to not only know how a certain technology operates, you need to know how to
bend it, pull it, push it, break it, put it on a crutch, etc. Got to learn
these details inside out!
3. IE 20 full labs (ver 4.1 I believe) - Since my buddy Narbik still had
not finished the 10 superlabs he promised me back in April 2007 (lol I'm
still waiting Narbik!) I decided to purchase the IE vol 1-3. I really did
not do volume 1, but Vol 2 labs 1-20 and Vol 3 labs 1-5 I was able to
complete. I wanted to get a feeling to how "fast" I should be completing
labs. These labs provided a love & hate relationship. There was questions
those labs brought about (which was good), many answers were found digging
in the IE forums, and some answers I had to find on my own. (which I did not
like too much, but ended up helping me understand several issues better) I
did post several questions on the forums that did not get answered before my
test. Like I said, love and hate type of relationship, but overall very
good labs to get a feel for the length of the exam and build speed as well
as see how everything should be operating together.
My family is happy to have me back. I'll take a break from studies to enjoy
the family who I owe BIG TIME. Then decide from there what to do next.
Security maybe?!?! Narbik I'll be in touch!
Wish everyone the very best in their studies.
Regards,
Josh
Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
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