Re: Passed SP lab, 21yr old double CCIE!

Oh man.. You've broken the PIPE again!

Congratulation

frog

On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 10:57 PM, Alexei Monastyrnyi <alexeim73_at_gmail.com>wrote:

> Congrats on your achievement!
> A.
>
>
> Rick Mur wrote:
>
>> After about 2 months preparation for the Written and 4 months of
>> preparation for the Lab I passed the CCIE Service Provider lab yesterday!!
>> I took my lab in Brussels on the 19th. I was really scared and stressed
>> the 2 days before. Slept very badly.
>>
>> During the exam I had a few things that didn't work right away, which
>> caused my adrenaline level to get to a pretty high level :-P. I finished all
>> tasks by lunch with just one skipped. After lunch I got that one fixed in 15
>> mins, which shows that taking a break really works.
>>
>> The exam was very tough but fair. Much of the topics in the blueprint was
>> in there and I really saw a difference with R&S. On my R&S lab most
>> questions were really straightforward, looking for a specific feature. On my
>> SP lab I got lot's of freedom in choosing things or the way I wanted it to
>> work. I also had a few questions which requested thinking out-of-the-box.
>> Something that is so obvious to configure, wasn't allowed or even possible
>> in the IOS version, so I had to get around it.
>>
>> Wow it's amazing to be a double CCIE now at age 21 :-)
>>
>> Funny fact was that I had access to both the new documentation and the
>> good-old UniverCD. Had a little advantage of that as well :-P
>>
>> Brussels was a fine location, much better than San Jose. Great 20" LCD
>> widescreens, nice temperature, racks behind a glass wall.
>>
>> My preparation consisted of a couple of resources. I used all materials
>> from both Internetwork Expert and IPexpert. They both have a few pros and
>> cons.
>>
>> The INE Class-on-demand is not even a pearl, but a diamond! This was my
>> greatest eye-opener in the working of a lot of the SP topics. It's also
>> really focused on SP, so knowledge of IGP and BGP is required. I really had
>> a good understanding of how and why the stuff works.
>>
>> INE workbook 1 is great for SP topics. IPexpert workbook 1 is good for all
>> topics, but focus is a little less on SP topics and since I already have R&S
>> I only needed the SP topics.
>>
>> IPexpert workbook 3 is something you don't want if you are a little
>> further. The labs are good for an introduction, but they are really short
>> and the video breakdowns give little extra information, besides entering the
>> solutions guide answers. But I contacted IPexpert about that and their
>> customer service is the best!! They took my arguments, acknowledged them and
>> promised to improve the labs soon. A thank you to Mike for that!
>>
>> INE workbook 2 is reaaally good for both complex and less-complex labs.
>> They are great for preparation and I really learned from them. The solutions
>> guide is without any explanations, just the answers, but besides that it's
>> great! The level of the labs is a little light. I would say a level 8 to 9
>> is the real lab.
>>
>> IPexpert workbook 2 is such a fantastic workbook as well. If I can advice
>> you to buy 1 workbook from them, it's this one! Those 5 full labs are so
>> intense. Cover so much stuff in each lab. First time I got totally
>> overwhelmed by it, some are definitely harder than the real lab. Don't do
>> these labs if have some weak areas, since they'll beat the crap out of you
>> :-P They are fantastic for lab preparation in the last month.
>>
>> End of April I was able to join the INE SP online bootcamp. This was
>> great. I guess they should rename it to a mock-lab week. It was exactly what
>> I needed to built confidence. I scored well on all 3 graded mocklabs and
>> they cover great topics and really can be compared to the real lab. Brian
>> McGahan has such a great way of explaining everything and his labs were
>> fantastic. Again it proved the importance of doing a bootcamp, without it I
>> wouldn't have been that confident about my level, but after those 5 days I
>> really was ready to go for it!
>>
>> Wow I wanted to do a shorter story, but turned out not to be possible with
>> so much to tell :-P
>>
>> Again I'm soo happy passing in first attempt for my SP lab and I think I'm
>> the youngest double CCIE now on the planet.
>>
>> Next up are first some Cisco DataCenter exams, then JNCIS-ER/M and in a
>> few months I'll start my CCIE Security track!
>>
>> Thanks to everyone here and special thanks to Mike from IPexert, Kady from
>> INE and a huge thanks to Brian McGahan for his great CoD and bootcamp. Also
>> Scott Morris for his great Wb2 labs from his previous employer ;-)
>>
>> Rick Mur
>> CCIE2 #21946 (R&S / SP)
>> JNCIA-ER, MCSE
>> rick_at_rickmur.com
>>
>>
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Received on Thu May 21 2009 - 23:01:24 ART