Re: Introducing CCIE #24347!!!

Congrats Joe, well done... excellent read too!

-- 
Regards,
Josh
CCIE# 22963
On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 9:46 PM, Pavel Bykov <slidersv_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> Congrats Joe!
>
> On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 7:42 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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> >
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> --
> Pavel Bykov
> ----------------
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> _______________________________________________________________________
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