Re: [OSL | CCIE_RS] Introducing CCIE #24347!!!

Grats Bro!!!

On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 5:59 AM, Larry Hadrava <lhadrava_at_ipexpert.com>wrote:

> Joe:
> Congratulations!!!
> You are right - the Wingate in RTP is a winner and always has good
> cookies!!!
> Great job!!!
>
> Larry Hadrava
> CCIE #12203 CCNP CCNA
> Sr. Support Engineer IPexpert, Inc.
> URL: http://www.IPexpert.com
>
>
> On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 1:42 AM, Joe Astorino
> <joe_astorino_at_comcast.net>wrote:
>
> > Yes, it's official!!!! After a grueling 9 hour wait, most of which was
> in
> > my hotel room here in Raleigh, I just got my score report, and I am
> > officially CCIE #24347!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! The greatest 5 #'s I have
> > ever heard! Keep in mind, that I am 5.5 beers in at this point as I
> decided
> > around 10:30 that no matter what I was having a 6 pack for my troubles
> > hehe. So what can I say? I guess I will give you my experience today
> and
> a
> > little bit about my preparation.
> >
> >
> > I flew into Raleigh Sunday afternoon, and stayed at the Wingate. The
> > Wingate came highly recommended by the many that have gone before me,
> and
> > they were right on. I can't recommend it enough. They picked me up at
> the
> > airport, and took me right to the hotel. When I inquired about where I
> > could walk to pick up some redbull for the lab the next day, they DROVE
> ME
> > to the nearest gas station like it was just normal. I guess that is the
> > southern love...being from Detroit, I'm not used to that sort of thing
> > hehe. When I was picked up at the airport I was told I was the 3rd CCIE
> > candidate being picked up that day...they knew exactly what I was there
> for,
> > and exactly what to do.
> >
> >
> > The lab started at 7:15, and I was told the shuttle from the hotel to
> Cisco
> > would leave about 6:30, giving us plenty of time. I woke up at 6:00 AM,
> > threw on my jeans and T-shirt (opted against the sweatpants!!!), grabbed
> my
> > 3 large size redbulls from the fridge and headed down to the hotel
> breakfast
> > area. I was too nervous to eat a thing. I chatted up the other 2
> > candidates staying there and passively sipped a cup of coffee. The other
> 2
> > guys were doing voice, so there wasn't really much to talk about. The
> > shuttle drove us over to Cisco and we were there by 6:45...in total there
> > were about 6 of us waiting outside...it was the most awkward thing
> > EVER....after some brief introductions by a few of us, it was DEAD
> SILENCE
> > for 30 minutes as we stood outside and waited for the proctor to show up.
> > Our proctor pulled in about 7:10, and took us into the lobby where we
> were
> > ID'd and given our temp stickers and rack numbers. The proctor gave us
> all
> > the regular instructions and told us basically where the bathrooms and
> > drinks were, and gave us the general rules of the lab (get rid of any
> macros
> > at the end of the day, save your configs often, etc...).
> >
> >
> > I sat down at my pod and started in on the OEQ ... the first one threw
> > me....it seemed very simple. All I can say without breaking NDA is that
> it
> > was some command output and a diagram, and I couldn't place the answer...
> I
> > gave it my best shot and moved on. The other 3 questions were no problem
> at
> > all, although later in the day I feared I might have messed up the
> wording
> > of one of them....all in all it took me about 5 minutes. Guys, after
> > reading all the posts and fear regarding this I have to say, IF you have
> > studied properly, there is nothing to fear!!!
> >
> >
> > I moved on to the lab just like I would any other mock lab I've been
> doing
> > for 10 months....followed the method Jared Scrivener gave us at IPexpert
> > bootcamp, which was AWESOME. Yes, I read the entire lab first, which was
> a
> > good thing, because there were things towards the end that definitely
> > effected how I did other tasks. I made a list of tasks, point values,
> and
> > notes for every task. I redrew the diagram...I made 1 diagram with all
> my
> > L3 and IGP information. The BGP diagram they provided was sufficient
> enough
> > for me, and I didn't feel the need for a seperate switching diagram.
> Having
> > initially read through the lab, I felt pretty good. There were only 2
> > things I had not done before...it was just a matter of implementing all
> the
> > things I had learned and practiced time and time again, and making sure
> to
> > pay special attention to detail.
> >
> >
> > I was not going for speed...I knew one of my weakest areas was not paying
> > attention to detail enough, so I took my sweet time. I knew I had good
> > speed coming in and I'd likely have plently of time.
> >
> >
> > Just as the proctor called lunch (11:15) I was starting in on multicast
> and
> > had full IP reachability, so was feeling pretty good. My personal
> > experience on the point system was that all my points added up to 80. At
> > lunch time I had 42 points and was feeling pretty damn good. Lunch was
> > basically silent....they had a pretty decent tasting chicken contraption
> > with soda, water, and salad. It was pretty good. I was actually so
> juiced
> > up on redbull and coffee that it didn't really matter, as long as it was
> > food : ) We had to wait through the whole lunch time that was allotted
> to
> > us. Actually, the proctor let us start working 5 minutes earlier, noting
> to
> > everyone that we would lose 5 minutes at the end, which I found fair. I
> > approached the proctor more than anybody else in the lab...probably about
> 4
> > times. Guys, you are paying $1400 for his time, do not be ashamed!!!
> Most
> > of my questions were just verification of things to be 110% sure of what
> > they were asking!
> >
> >
> > Later in the day I felt a bit less confident, as I hit my weaker areas
> > (QoS, Multicast)... I felt 75% sure on about 75% of these tasks....maybe
> 85%
> > sure...like you know you are right or very close to right, but the kind
> of
> > thing where you want to look at the solutions guide to double check
> > yourself. No solutions guide today gentlemen : ) I completed all the
> tasks
> > by about 2:00 and started verification, which was SOOOOO important to my
> > success I can't even explain! I went through task by task and did the
> > appropriate show commands to prove I had done it right. What I found was
> > suprising. It is a little unnerving to have already marked down points
> and
> > with 90 minutes to go find you have one section broken completely, and a
> > routing loop somewhere else , as well as about 3 other stupid minor
> > mistakes. Had it not been for verification I don't know if I would have
> > made it out OK. I wasn't in it for speed...I stayed until they called
> time
> > verifying and reverifying with my trusty TCL scripts. At 3:28 the
> proctor
> > told us we had 2 minutes left and to save our configs, remove any macros
> and
> > TCL scripts (which I don't get because TCL scripts are not saved), return
> > all the devices to priv exec mode and reboot our PCs. I found it a bit
> > alarming that they didn't say something like "OK you have 30 minutes
> left"
> > but just like that BAM , OK you are DONE in 2 minutes! Oh well...I got
> > about 75% through re-checking everything.
> >
> >
> > I counted up about 68/80 points I thought I had for sure....and I had
> about
> > 8 points "on the fence" that I just wasn't sure about...so I felt pretty
> > good walking out. I felt like I probably had a good shot at it.
> >
> >
> > The worst part of my entire day was the waiting game...I am staying the
> > night here in Raleigh, and have no car and nothing to do...I coudn't
> sleep,
> > I couldn't eat much...I pain stakingly sat here refreshing my email and
> > watching TV for about 4 hours....finally I decided to go take a walk. I
> > walked about a half mile to a gas station and bought a 6 pack of beer
> while
> > listening to the new Dylan album on my iPod. When I got back I killed
> some
> > time talking to a friend on the phone....right before he hung up the
> email
> > came in...I checked it live on the phone. I HAD PASSED!!! CCIE #24347!
> > Obviously, I couldn't even describe how I felt, but it was a great
> > experience to share with a friend!
> >
> >
> > Wow this is getting long, so let me tell you a bit about my preparation.
> I
> > am a straight forward kind of guy and I am not on here to promote any
> > company over another, just to tell you my experiences. As far as vendors
> > go, I uses STRICTLY the workbooks and blended learning solution from
> > IPEXPERT. Their blended learning solution came with all 3 of their
> > workbooks (1 technology focuses, and 2 workbooks of full scale labs), as
> > well as the full Scott Morris Video On Demand / Audio on Demand series
> (When
> > Scott was still with IPexpert.) This was my bread and butter guys. I
> > passed my written at the end of July, 2008 and immediately started on the
> > material. I read most of the usual recommended books cover to cover, and
> > really tried to grasp the concepts...I went through the entire video on
> > demand, and listened to the audio portion countless times. In fact, my
> wife
> > even does here Scott Morris impersonation now : ) Thats how you know you
> > have a keeper hehe....Anyways, I worked through these labs with all my
> heart
> > and soul for 10 months. I got involved in the various communities, and I
> > can't say enough about them. Groupstudy especially...there are so many
> guys
> > on here that you can learn from, it is just awesome!
> >
> >
> > Just when I thought I was ready, I booked an IPexpert 5 day instructor
> led
> > bootcamp just to touch up my weak areas and hope that it would be mostly
> > review and a confidence builder. I did this 2 weeks before my lab date,
> and
> > it was well worth it. You can read my review of that that I posted
> earlier
> > as well. Jared Scrivener was our instructor and he was at the top of his
> > game...just a really great experience for me.
> >
> > Going into the lab I felt confident...coming out of the lab I can
> honestly
> > say I was exteremely well prepared.
> >
> > And now the obligatory thank you section : )
> >
> >
> > Big thanks goes out to -- Scott Morris -- Dude, no matter what shirt you
> > were wearing you were ALWAYS willing to help me with my issues, and I
> can't
> > say enough about how much I appreciate that. Weather it was a question
> on
> > a lab you had authored at previous jobs, or an annoying IOS bug I was
> > struggling with, you helped me. Even when you had moved on
> professionally,
> > you gave me honest and productive support. Yes, your voice is forever
> > etched in my brain from the VoD and we know you don't pay for therapy!!!
> >
> >
> > Huge thanks to Jared Scrivener, Tyson Scott, Mike Down, Sean Orr, Wayne
> > Lawson and the ENTIRE IPexpert team, who have been with me from start to
> > finish. These guys have been just awesome...from Mike and Sean in sales,
> to
> > Tyson and Jared with the technical material. It's been a fun and good
> > experience! I got what I expected -- world class training, support, and
> > customer service, and THAT is hard to find these days! A special thanks
> > personally to Jared for his excellent teaching methods, and willingness
> to
> > go the extra mile time and time again, and for giving his students
> personal
> > 1-1 support!
> >
> >
> > Huge thanks to cciejourney, the guy that runs our blog at sunpenguin.net
> !
> > Carl, I couldn't have done it without you buddy, and you WILL get your
> > digits soon man! We will all still be here pulling for you, and don't
> > forget it! Carl was nice enough to give me a login here, and a place to
> > dump my thoughts.
> >
> >
> > Group Study and the OSL -- You guys have been my life for the past 10
> > months...I'd read the threads every day, and hopefully I helped a few
> people
> > along the way. It is so awesome to have a community of people just like
> me,
> > willing to help just because well, we love it and enjoy giving back to
> the
> > community. Special thanks to Scott, Narbik, Anthony, Petr, and so many
> > others that have chimed in. Bryan B, who achieved his CCIE # just a
> month
> > or so before me...we were study partners and bounced things off each
> other
> > all the time...good times! Thanks to everybody that helped me along
> > directly or indirectly weather I mention you by name or not.
> >
> >
> > Last but certainly not least, my family and friends for their unwavering
> > support over the past 10 months and ESPECIALLY my new beautiful wife
> Beth.
> > I know everybody says this and I know when I read these threads it was
> > usually the part I said "yeah right" and moved on but seriously...they
> have
> > given up SO much to support me and let me pursue my dream. There were
> many
> > times I had to come home from work, eat dinner, and by 6:00 PM tell my
> wife
> > goodnight, I won't see you until tomorrow after work because I have to
> study
> > 6:00 - 2:00 tonight, or do a mock lab, or read the docCD or whatever...to
> my
> > friends, congratulations I am back : ) I have not had time to do many of
> > the things I used to like to do lately, and now I am looking forward to
> > hanging out more.
> >
> >
> > I guess thats it guys...I know this was long, and thansk for anything
> that
> > got through the whole thing...this whole post is sort of stream of
> > consiousness at this point. The CCIE is doable, but like many before me
> > have said, you have to seriously want it, and put in the time, effort,
> and
> > sacrifice to achieve it.
> >
> >
> >
> > - Joe Astorino, CCIE #24347
> >
> >
> > "He not busy being born is busy dying" -- Dylan
> >
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Received on Tue May 12 2009 - 07:18:46 ART