Re: Introducing CCIE #24347!!!

Congrats

Regards,

Peter

On 5/14/09, Josh Covarrubias <shmokin_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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>> > -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
>> >
>> >
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Pavel Bykov
>> ----------------
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>> of
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Received on Thu May 14 2009 - 08:32:42 ART