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

Amazing. Congrats sir!

On May 21, 2009, at 3:57 , 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 - 18:45:51 ART