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

Wow. Quite an accomplishment. Congratulations!

Bryan Bartik
CCIE #23707 (R&S), CCNP
Sr. Support Engineer - IPexpert, Inc.
URL: http://www.IPexpert.com

On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 3:57 AM, Rick Mur <rick_at_rickmur.com> 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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