Re: Journey to a 21 Year Old CCIE

Congratulations Muhammad with your CCIE # 25196.

It's nice to read your story how it all started and to see your
progressions you made trough out the years.
Finally it is paying off.

Keep up the good work!!!

I was a CCIE at the age of 22 ... so if you get a special CCIE logo I
want one to ;-)

Anyway good luck celebrating an enjoy the feeling!

-- 
Regards,
Iwan Hoogendoorn
CCIE #13084 (R&S / Security / SP)
Sr. Support Engineer  IPexpert, Inc.
URL: http://www.IPexpert.com
On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 2:54 PM, Durkin, Michael (H
USA)<michael.durkin_at_siemens.com> wrote:
> Like you Thameem, I struggle with so many commitments. What is amazing
> to me about the journey of a 21 year old CCIE (Muhammad Zeeshan
> Sanaullah) is that at that age he was able to focus on this. Even though
> I had few commitments at that age, I had even less focus and ability to
> execute. It is truly an amazing accomplishment and something to be proud
> of. I suspect that the future is very bright for Muhammad.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nobody_at_groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
> Thameem Maranveetil Parambath
> Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 11:31 PM
> To: Zeeshan Sanaullah
> Cc: Cisco certification
> Subject: Re: Journey to a 21 Year Old CCIE
>
> Dear,
>
> Masha allah...(As God wishes)!
> Lucky that you started the journey early! I am struggling with lots of
> commitments in my 29!
>
> Regards
> Thameem
>
> On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 9:10 AM, Zeeshan Sanaullah <
> zeeshansanaullah_at_hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _________________________________________________________________
>> Show them the way! Add maps and directions to your party invites.
>> http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowslive/products/events.aspx
>>
>>
>> Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________________________________
>> Subscription information may be found at:
>> http://www.groupstudy.com/list/CCIELab.html
>
>
> Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> Subscription information may be found at:
> http://www.groupstudy.com/list/CCIELab.html
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This message and any included attachments are from Siemens Medical Solutions
> and are intended only for the addressee(s).
> The information contained herein may include trade secrets or privileged or
> otherwise confidential information. Unauthorized review, forwarding, printing,
> copying, distributing, or using such information is strictly prohibited and may
> be unlawful. If you received this message in error, or have reason to believe
> you are not authorized to receive it, please promptly delete this message and
> notify the sender by e-mail with a copy to Central.SecurityOffice_at_siemens.com
>
> Thank you
>
>
> Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> Subscription information may be found at:
> http://www.groupstudy.com/list/CCIELab.html
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
-- 
Regards,
Iwan Hoogendoorn
CCIE #13084 (R&S / Security / SP)
Sr. Support Engineer  IPexpert, Inc.
URL: http://www.IPexpert.com
Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net