Re: Introducing CCIE #24347!!!

Nice post and congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On 5/12/09, 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
>
> -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
> Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32) - WinPT 1.2.0
>
> mQGiBEY2qu8RBAD0E7Ydspmpn9/rRfd614pvDaqj4GKAUeWpc8NNJ3xNU9C5TAKg
> Ta/52f2DvxgPlw6m7W66AJP0HZODw2ameQ9tNMrz3upKRA+ISFaqkJa99UOTdLGC
> W/HtHWZNUJDopBHm3j/TBAAhI0EWvcNIudbHx5zYY4osfDNMaIXYaySwIwCg61Db
> RuST/K0PlSUFK9o6AqTmrcsD/ReQLYK/OEzZBQsPBqMD68ADtdYyIA3VZ7nhWCzc
> YODiBl36XIskcwyVAnU9YXs/Hf96MfI1R2fvYGW8jJ4WHb3wT1JxgiUG4rUbA2L3
> doxNseggGrKC31njFynVuOpdd/TRfsqzV3Yv5MGFPkNG3w/AoiRtwoMZFUtAox3j
> EWbBA/4mYkTKS/Rfgpv7QQHj4ajCHsTL/JNSN8LARwbBomUFdJ+0xdNdr7Ax1zC4
> FEUfP0plRMLMypKPSNYzlIF8dKGwW2I8hUMfQpmIBA4BXBE0/mbv21lU2AzTkvb1
> FssbIzhCkx3mMzESgYIwnnNkJBatTfFqKOxGm//G7s2y1eFPsrQnSm9lIEFzdG9y
> aW5vIDxqb2VfYXN0b3Jpbm9AY29tY2FzdC5uZXQ+iGAEExECACAFAkY2qu8CGwMG
> CwkIBwMCBBUCCAMEFgIDAQIeAQIXgAAKCRAb4dzwEzSi9chbAKCTz89zl4etDIdD
> Hewo7LNEmfT8uQCgmbneQqTT5VyIEx75nG5KzJh2K2m5Ag0ERjaq7xAIALgM2fwR
> tuhRNrwvkYFXTA5grAnnhGqFXPfLt5YlU86QLdu3Z9WJcAAHck1HMCUxdm0gZyNu
> q5XQnmr76dbWjftQ+mxYAdhZGjjGV1OQyjfyUoLbxyR0jvaLUTFvMmtxFsHpJvEc
> VLscWZUvjPbpcg/BH8EWbDUSCJc70EZMW6TpjyL+1Eq6+n4KB+IWDnn603U3vYFj
> ExVfg2CqTIzC/mxAGQ/lg1ujKBnL/VemGpjZzL8jyYVLhAtASTWnwuaL1Sf2kCYh
> fApP+06YxkQ39BrJmi7Dg6s5zeRu4le57kPLVAGK0ZYRbaq5asAi9Ni5j/ZLdh/b
> F3oUgAOTPQtqbi8AAwUH/1n9jpOXRX7LsfsI5K4gVhHYPUYuy5WuRRxJZ6Y1JbOq
> UfePLg+cutaxE8RAvEY1VZvNTvEt7UYPoA3qR3lb4IzLqJimbbKGhhVdHIOYLGnz
> nxiwfo4S+my9GEYKLb3iHIR1DCfihhDryVlFYGAMCPNh0w2sNSSenP4cZBuD6V1J
> QLitW9aZoURMvtFYU8aO/BlZ7hVlRVNU5juwwAM5t2n2gBeRhMthaAR7OApDypvB
> 1TM+BeSDchieEAFNkX4leSMbFgP3CJmAXMJXKj8MQmsR8gdccUHGplGFI6IzNklm
> L/eWLdhAZsM+LsAo4MpoJzPoQyFIH7wmIPm4b/z7YZmISQQYEQIACQUCRjaq7wIb
> DAAKCRAb4dzwEzSi9XiWAKCdDtdnTW9X/6rHxQL/obNiZsEtEwCgrlmYisNacJyf
> 74k/eLaYWYqu7YI=
> =8HMA
> -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
>
>
> 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
Received on Tue May 12 2009 - 22:52:34 ART