From: Darby Weaver (ccie.weaver@gmail.com)
Date: Fri Jan 16 2009 - 19:41:54 ARST
Congratulations Peter!
Nice job!
On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 3:35 PM, Josh Covarrubias <shmokin@gmail.com> wrote:
> Great story Peter, many congrats. I know what you mean about waking up at
> 5am, I just didnt have the feeling I was going to pass as you did :) Enjoy
> the high those numbers bring and enjoy the family most of all.
>
> Regards,
> Josh
>
> On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 12:10 PM, Anthony Sequeira <
> asequeira@internetworkexpert.com> wrote:
>
> > 2-3-2-1-1 What an awesome "ring" to that number!
> >
> > Peter - congratulations and thanks for taking the time to share your
> story.
> > I am sorry I never got to me you face to face in a bootcamp, but it
> sounds
> > like Narbik took great care of you!
> >
> > Anthony J. Sequeira, CCIE #15626, CCSI #23251
> > Senior CCIE Instructor
> >
> > asequeira@internetworkexpert.com
> >
> > Internetwork Expert, Inc.
> > http://www.InternetworkExpert.com <http://www.internetworkexpert.com/>
> > Toll Free: 877-224-8987
> > Outside US: 775-826-4344
> >
> >
> > On Jan 16, 2009, at 6:02 AM, Peter Grewal wrote:
> >
> > I passed on my second attempt !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Its been a long journey, one that has taken a great deal of time away
> from
> >> my family. I started my journey in earnest in 2006, passed the CCIE
> >> written
> >> in December of that year. In January 2007, I assembled my own rack and
> >> started working on the lab on and off for the rest of the year. At the
> >> beginning of 2008, I felt that I needed to get more focused and decided
> to
> >> attend Narbiks bootcamp in Passadena. I can't say enough positive things
> >> about his bootcamp, his humor and the caliber of the material he has
> >> developed. My first attempt at the lab come in June 2008, after getting
> >> through the lab I had that feeling that I didn't pass, which was
> confirmed
> >> in the dreaded 3:00AM email. So why did I fail ? In part due to the fact
> >> that I just was not ready, the material that Narbik had given me was
> >> awesome, but I just didn't know the material as well as I thought, plus
> I
> >> was fumbling with the document CD.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I took a slight break to enjoy the summer with my family, my wife and
> son
> >> had already been greatly deprived of quality time with me, and I felt it
> >> unfair to start hitting the books straight away. After a two month
> break,
> >> I
> >> added Internetworking experts 5.0 Vol 1 work book to my study material
> and
> >> used it to hone in on the technologies and provide me with a slightly
> >> different perspective on the material. Completed Narbiks advanced
> >> technology
> >> work books twice, made sure that I went through the document CD from top
> >> to
> >> bottom as I was studying. By November, I felt like I was finally ready
> to
> >> take this thing head on, the first available date I could find for
> either
> >> RTP or San Jose which was Jan 15, 2009. So what does one do when they
> have
> >> a
> >> couple of weeks prior to their exam, I took a cruise with my family !!!!
> I
> >> don't know how big of a factor this was, but as an IT consultant I work
> a
> >> pretty hectic schedule and trying to study can be a tough balance, I
> >> didn't
> >> touch a computer/laptop for a good 8 days, relaxed and spent time with
> my
> >> family. When I got back, I felt as though my head and been cleared, and
> I
> >> had a renewed fire in me to knock the exam out of the park. I spent the
> >> final weeks, re-reviewing all of my study notes, reviewing the document
> >> CD,
> >> and labbing up areas that I considered to be my weak areas.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I flew into RTP on Tuesday, and stayed at the Holiday Inn express
> (really
> >> nice hotel, and they offer a complimentary shuttle to/from Cisco and the
> >> airport. I took it easy on Wednesday, reviewed my notes and read through
> >> the
> >> varies posts on the upcoming changes on the lab, more on the upcoming
> >> changes in a moment. On the day of the exam, I got up around 5:00AM, I
> >> just
> >> couldn't sleep, I wouldn't call it nerves, I felt like I was ready to
> pass
> >> this time. As Anthony Sequieria from IE has often stated, I just had
> that
> >> feeling of I was going to pass this today, at no point did I feel like I
> >> was
> >> not going to make it.
> >>
> >> I worked my way through the lab, verifying as I went, working a little
> bit
> >> slower and more relaxed that I should have been, however by lunch time,
> I
> >> had completed all the core requirements, as well as IPv6 and completed a
> >> reboot of all the devices. After lunch, I worked my way through the
> >> remaining sections and completed my verification, which took me until
> >> 3:00PM. So what did I decided to do at 3:00PM start tweaking my IGP, bad
> >> move as I had to undue all the tweaks, but I tested my network just to
> >> make
> >> sure everything was working. I walked out of the lab at 3:30PM, feeling
> >> that
> >> I had a really good chance of passing, then it hit me, did I save my
> >> configs
> >> on the routers that I decided to change last minute ? I was pretty sure
> I
> >> had, but this late in the day I just couldn't remember. I spent the next
> >> couple of hours wonder had I saved my configuration, prior to leaving
> the
> >> lab, I had done it consistently through earlier parts of the. My words
> of
> >> advice, don't try to make any changes to your network late in the day
> that
> >> could break your network for a few points and "wr mem" after any change
> on
> >> you make.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> At 11:00PM I received the confirmation email, since I was fast asleep,
> my
> >> wife checked when she woke up in the morning, and informed me of my pass
> >> status. I would like to thank my wife who has stood by me in my constant
> >> studying, and my son whom at 20 months old walks in to Dad's study and
> >> doesn't understand why dad can't play with him. For any parent, this is
> >> one
> >> of the hardest part of pursuing this exam, the time spent studying
> really
> >> is
> >> time that you could be spending with your family. I would also like to
> >> thank
> >> Narbik, the InternetworkingExpert team for their material and mock labs,
> >> as
> >> well as the wonderful folks on this forum. I'm going to take some time
> >> off,
> >> before reviewing my next mountain to tackle......
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> One last thing concerning the upcoming change to the lab, according to
> >> Howard and Robert yesterday at RTP, the questions will only take up to
> 15
> >> minutes to answer, and should be nothing to worry about if you are
> >> properly
> >> prepared. I feel the pain of people that are under pressure studying and
> >> have this thrown at them, but from what I've heard from the proctors, if
> >> you've prepared properly for lab, then there is nothing to worry about.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Thank you.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Peter Grewal
> >>
> >> CCIE RS 23211
> >>
> >>
> >> Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________________________________
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> >>
> >
> >
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> >
> > _______________________________________________________________________
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>
>
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>
> _______________________________________________________________________
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