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

Thanks Scott! And yes my route-map eehhm sorry, road-map is still
getting bigger ;-)
I appreciate your concerns ;-) I'll be flying to Budapest next week
for a weekend of relaxing so I think I'll gain some energy there :-)
Flowers certainly don't smell like routers, much worse, "I love the
smell of routers in the morning" :-P

Rick Mur
CCIE2 #21946 (R&S / SP)
CCNP, CCIP, JNCIA-ER, MCSE
rick_at_rickmur.com

On 21 mei 2009, at 18:14, Scott Morris wrote:

> Congratulations Rick! Great job on that! And here I thought you were
> planning to relax for a little while! But two CCIE's already, and
> quite
> the road-map you've laid out there!
>
> Don't forget to stop and smell the flowers occasionally! They do not
> smell like routers! :)
>
>
>
>
> *Scott Morris*, CCIE/x4/ (R&S/ISP-Dial/Security/Service Provider)
> #4713,
>
> JNCIE-M #153, JNCIS-ER, CISSP, et al.
>
> JNCI-M, JNCI-ER
>
> smorris_at_internetworkexpert.com
>
>
> Internetwork Expert, Inc.
>
> http://www.InternetworkExpert.com
>
> Toll Free: 877-224-8987
>
> Outside US: 775-826-4344
>
>
> Knowledge is power.
>
> Power corrupts.
>
> Study hard and be Eeeeviiiil......
>
>
>
>
>
> 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 - 22:10:20 ART