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

Congrats M8!
Thanking You

Yours Sincerely

Divin Mathew John
divinjohn_at_gmail.com
divin_at_dide3d.com
http://www.dide3d.com
+91 9945430983
+91 9846697191
+974 5008916
PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK @ http://www.dide3d.com/divin_Public_PGP_key.txt

On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 11:25 PM, Bryan Bartik <bbartik_at_ipexpert.com> wrote:

> 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
> >
> >
> > Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
> >
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> >
> >
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> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> --
>
>
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Received on Fri May 22 2009 - 00:08:35 ART