Journey to a 21 Year Old CCIE

Hey All !

Just Received my Report, I cannot tell you how happy I am. I have been
dreaming of becoming a CCIE since I was 15. Now at 21 I have finally passed
the CCIE R&S Lab Exam.

My
Journey Started when I got my old 386 computer. I was quite young at
that time but I as really fascinated by the little machine. In few
years it was upgraded to Windows 95. I used to corrupt and fix
everything on my own. In Grade Seven during school holidays I joined
a local institute nearby my home for Web and Graphics Designing. My
Teacher was preparing for MCSE and I used to ask him about what it was
all about and then I finally decided to join the Networking field.

So
at the age of 15 I passed the CCNA Exam, it was really difficult one
for me at that time. Just after clearing I went ahead and joined CCNP
Training. I passed BSCI and BCMSN and had to stop because my high
school studies were being affected. After completing school I got job
at a Cisco Premier Partner. I still work here as Network Engineer
working on R&S and Security Projects. Back in December 2007, I
completed CCNP along with few other certifications from Cisco and
Juniper.

Immediately I Started my preparations for CCIE. I
passed the Written Exam but it took a lot of time around 8 months
during which I was working on a major project. So I finally decided
that it was now time to get my hands dirty. I scheduled the Lab but
after every week I had to extend it because of Job load and other
responsibilities.

A turning point in my preparations was when
I received the Scholarship from Internetwork Expert. I really jumped
out of my seat when I received the email saying I have been selected as
the Sole International Recipient. Since then there was no stopping and
I booked the seat at Aug 18 2009.

During the last month I had
enormous distractions but I focused on my strategy. The Exam day has
finally arrived and I was very afraid of the 4 Stupid questions that
can cost you $1400.

So we started of with the Core Knowledge.
The first one was really easy but the rest were confusing and I spent
the whole 30 mins. I sticked to the first thoughts as many CCIEs told
me that overthinking can cause you to fail.

Lab Portion was not as difficult as I was expecting, my time management was
not good I spent too much time on 2 Tasks
one
of them was very easy but my mind was not the working at its best.
After 40 mins of thinking and trying different solutions I got one task
done but I moved forward and left the other. I had complete
reachability before proctor called for Lunch. After Lunch time I
completed other tasks verified reachability. On whole I left two tasks
and instead of working on them I re-checked every thing and found a
couple of mistakes which could have cost me. After the Exam I knew I
had great chance of passing the Lab, the only thing that was troubling
me was the Core Knowledge Questions.

Thanks to ALLAH in
helping me achieving this journey and many others who have helped me
including my employer, manger, colleagues and my family.

As far
as my Exam Strategy is concerned I used CCIE 2.0 Program by
Internetwork Expert. Advance Technologies Class, Open Lecture Series
and Volume I Workbook were the main products. I focused on individual
technologies and did very few Full Scale Labs and never completed even
a single of them because of various issues , power outages being the
main cause. I would highly recommend the CCIE 2.0 Program to candidates
and specially the Volume I Workbook and the Open Lecture Series. Both
of them are my favorites and I still plan to use the OLS, it a great
tool. For those who dont know about it its just an ongoing version of
Advance Technologies Class. Each week Brain Mcgahan conducts two 1 hour
each class and cover various technologies on the CCIE Blueprint. I
would love to see it released for CCIE Security as well.

Thank
you Internetworkexpert , you guys have been a crucial part of my
success specially Kady and Brain and I look forward to choose you for
the Next Track which I have yet to decide , per my job role CCIE
Security looks the best and I have heard that the new exam is very
difficult and only 1 guy has passed since the Blueprint changed so I
would love to tackle this beast. CCIE Service Provider also looks very
promising and for the next 2-3 years because of IPv6 and MPLS its worth
will increase.

By the way Cisco should introduce 21 Year CCIE Logo for Me , Brain , Rick and
few others ... what do you guys say ;)

Thank you all

Muhammad Zeeshan Sanaullah
CCIE # 25196
Received on Thu Aug 20 2009 - 11:10:21 ART