RE: REVIEW: Narbik's 2.0 CIERS-1 Bootcamp class

Nate,

One other thing. I am very adamant that students don't talk to me about
specific questions, so I don't know anything about questions from the test.
But I can say that a few people have commented that some people, meaning
cisco, may have a different definition of what "basic" means when the
blueprint says know the basics of a subject ;). The students comments were
that they were surprised by how much the test went into topics that they
thought were supposed to be basic.

If the new 4.0 test is anything like the changes to the Security changes,
Cisco has definitely raised the bar on what they want an "Expert" to be.
Covering basic SP topics and Security topics makes the test much more like
the old days when you had to know Banyan Vines, AppleTalk, DLSW, ATM, ISDN,
Token Ring, and the interaction of these technologies etc. It was a broad
array of technologies that had been condensed a lot in the last few years to
a more streamlined approach until the recent changes (At least this is my
opinion). I am impressed by the changes in the new exams. I think it has
followed that methodology in every version of the test. I was just never
involved as a training vendor during any of those major changes so it has
been interesting for me to see. And quite challenging.

Regards,

Tyson Scott - CCIE #13513 R&S, Security, and SP

Technical Instructor - IPexpert, Inc.

Mailto: tscott_at_ipexpert.com

Telephone: +1.810.326.1444, ext. 208

From: Nate Lee [mailto:natetlee_at_gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 7:58 PM
To: Tyson Scott
Cc: mamiller2_at_comcast.net; Cisco certification
Subject: Re: REVIEW: Narbik's 2.0 CIERS-1 Bootcamp class

That is a good point Tyson; although the routing and addressing portions are
very similar, like every other topic, there are always other pieces that
need to be studied and understood. I plan on doing IPv6 labs until I get
all the little details completely dialed in and it becomes second nature.
Only then will I check it off of the blueprint as something I have mastered.

OER however, is a different beast. As you mentioned, it can get very
complex depending on how deep you want to go. With only a finite amount of
time to study for the lab, deciding how much time to spend on it is
something I am still trying to work out. Is there a general consensus on
how deep into OER the lab will likely go?

I also agree with your point regarding taking the time to study on your own.
To rely on one weeks worth of training anywhere to pass the lab exam is an
easy way to pick up an expensive yet still mediocre lunch on your lab date.
Narbik made a point of telling everyone that it is up to each individual to
put the hard work in to pass, if we do it is because of the hard work we put
in over the course of our studies, not because of a week we spent studying
in his class. The classes you take will certainly help, but in the end it
is up to each individual to buckle down, say goodbye to family and friends
for a few months and study like their lives depend on it. For me at least,
the boot camp is just one more stop on the long journey to acquire the
numbers.

Nate

On Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 6:14 PM, Tyson Scott <tscott_at_ipexpert.com> wrote:

Nate,

I am sure that Narbiks bootcamp was fantastic.

But... do not skim over IPv6 and OER because it wasn't covered, as well as
any other topics.

IPv6 Multicast for example is quite different than IPv4 Multicast. No more
IGMP instead it uses MLD (Multicast Lister Discovery), it relies on GRE
tunnels between members when doing BSR RP configuration. And so on and so
on.

OER can be an amazingly complex subject. The flexibility and it's
integration with the different routing protocols can be a day's lecture by
itself. But a bootcamp just doesn't allow for that even if it is covered.

A week is never enough time to cover everything. I find it to be that way
myself. So take what you learned from the bootcamp and compare it to the
blueprint. Make sure you take your own time to deep dive into the subjects
not covered in the bootcamp.

Regards,
 
Tyson Scott - CCIE #13513 R&S, Security, and SP
Technical Instructor - IPexpert, Inc.
Mailto: tscott_at_ipexpert.com
Telephone: +1.810.326.1444, ext. 208

-----Original Message-----
From: nobody_at_groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of Nate
Lee

Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 6:06 PM
To: mamiller2_at_comcast.net; Cisco certification
Subject: Re: REVIEW: Narbik's 2.0 CIERS-1 Bootcamp class

Hi Michael, His MPLS coverage was really great, starting with LDP and moving
into the VPN creation, VRFs and finally moving on to redistribution. It
really cleared up some questions I had regarding labels and especially with
the MP-BGP address families.

We did not really go over IPv6, but I didn't see that as an issue since it
is nearly identical after you get used to the addressing. In addition, the
workbooks he provides have some really solid IPv6 labs that cover all the
topics under that heading. We also did not go over OER, although I'm not
sure how big of a role this topic will have on the lab.

Nate

On Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 11:26 AM, Michael <mamiller2_at_comcast.net> wrote:

> Hi Nate,
>
> Nice write up! But I have one question and that is when compared to the
> Cisco v4 blueprint what topics were not covered in class?
>
> Thanks - Michael
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nobody_at_groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
> Nate
> Lee
> Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 11:00 PM
> To: Cisco certification
> Subject: REVIEW: Narbik's 2.0 CIERS-1 Bootcamp class
>
> Just finished up the last day of Narbik s CIERS-1 boot camp and wanted to
> do
> a write up on it while the experience was still fresh in my mind. Sorry
if
> I get a bit long winded, I hope some of you who may be looking into his
> class find this to be helpful.
>
> I had been looking for a Routing and Switching boot camp to attend in
order
> to polish my skills and help prepare me for my lab date coming up in
March.
> With no dearth of choices, I looked online for reviews and asked questions
> in forums to other candidates who have attended various vendor s
> classes. After
> narrowing it down to Internetwork Expert and Narbik s boot camp, I
> eventually settled on Narbik s because he was going to be having one in
> Minneapolis and I could forego the travel costs. This didn t work out as
> there was not enough demand in MN so the class was cancelled. Although
> they
> offered me a refund, I was impressed with the personal attention I had
> received from Narbik on the mock labs I was working on so I decided to
> stick
> with his class. The fact that his class was costs around 50% less when
you
> figure in the workbooks certainly didn t hurt either. When you are paying
> out of your own pocket, every little bit helps J They sent out the new
> workbooks he has been producing which I found to be extremely well
> designed
> and thought out. I also purchased the IE Volume I workbook but prefer the
> formatting and explanations of Narbik s so I have been focusing on them up
> to now. Each lab is setup perfectly to illustrate a particular
technology
> from many different angles. The workbooks contain very thorough
> explanations and verifications each step along the way and focus on
> individual technologies one lab at a time.
>
> Enough with the prologue, onto the class ..
>
> I arrived in Glendale via the Burbank airport the day before class and
> after
> waiting an hour for the hotel shuttle to appear, made it to the Hilton
> where
> he holds the classes. The hotel is in a very nice part of town and the
> rate
> was decent enough for a nice hotel ($129/night). I grabbed a bite to eat
> and went to bed early to get a jump start on the next day. Word to the
> wise
> skip the $10 optional add on breakfast buffet - the food there is
> terrible. I can t believe people normally pay $20 for that when there are
> some decent alternatives within a block of the hotel.
>
> Narbik showed up promptly at 9 and introduced himself to us. He seemed
> like
> a nice guy, very outgoing and friendly. He got unpacked and readied his
> infamous whiteboards and markers. By now I m sure that everyone has heard
> the following: He doesn t use slides and uses only a whiteboard, he
teaches
> and doesn t lecture, he has a different philosophy than other instructors
> towards teaching and he knows all the commands by heart. I d read it
> before
> in other people s write ups of his class but didn t really care if he used
> a
> whiteboard or not, I was here to learn IOS, and couldn t have really cared
> less as to whether or not he drew on a board, in fact, it almost sounded
> gimmicky to me.
>
> After the introductions, he gave us an overview of what we were going to
be
> studying and then went right at it. It took about 15 minutes for my
> preconception of what makes for a good learning experience to be
completely
> blown away. The guy is born to teach. He is concise and articulates
> complex ideas in such a way that ensures everyone understands the problems
> and all the possible solutions within each blueprint topic. Not only do
> you
> hear what tactics to use, but where and why you would or would not use
each
> option. He really draws you into the class and makes you excited to
learn;
> never once during the week did I feel bored in class, he really kept the
> wheels in your head turning the whole time.
>
> When it comes to the whiteboard, like I previously stated, it certainly
> wasn t a selling point for me, but after seeing him in action with it, I m
> not looking forward to the next slide driven training I m sure I will
> eventually have to attend. Got a what if question about the current
> topology being discussed? BAM! Within 3 seconds, he has redrawn it to
> illustrate and answer to your question as well as explain the all
important
> why? behind the answer. This is something you simply don t get with
> PowerPoint decks and really enhanced his ability to go into detail and
> clarify questions from the class. The whiteboard may not sound like much,
> but in his hands it was an invaluable tool to convey ideas in a far more
> interactive and dynamic fashion than I was used to. The class was about
> 60/40 lecture to lab time which I found to be a good balance that allowed
> me
> to take in a bunch of information and then work on some labs to let it all
> soak in before jumping into the next topic.
>
> I m sure most CCIE boot camp instructors can rattle off tons of commands
> like they were singing the alphabet. They wouldn t be very qualified if
> they couldn t. Narbik has that down pat, but on top of that, he really
> raised the bar for what I perceive a great teacher to be. Narbik takes
> each
> topic, breaks it down into well thought out, logically arranged parcels
and
> explains it in an understandable manner without having to resort to
dumbing
> the material down. On top of that, the entire week the guy never once
> looked at a slide or opened his laptop to pull up a router or switch. He
> did it all on the white board. From his head. Every single topic. It
> didn t hit me what a difficult task this would be to pull off in an
> effective manner until the second day when I realized that runs the entire
> class without any sort of written syllabus in front of him. Somehow he
> manages to do this freeform thing while still keeping the class very
> structured. You never thought he was rambling or meandering when he
spoke,
> it was always very to the point. It just seemed like second nature for
him
> to be teaching the material. He really knows every command, every option,
> and every flag in every header inside and out. More than once during the
> week he started writing out the potential values of a header field or the
> results of an obscure show command and everyone in the class just stared
> with a look of disbelief that he was doing it all from memory. You would
> check it on your laptop and sure as shit he had it nailed spot on every
> time. He isn t rattling them off just to show off his knowledge either;
it
> is always integrated into the class in a way that the theory and the
> configuration flow together as a single idea. You never felt like you
were
> being overwhelmed by a vast array of archaic commands because he always
> showed the practical use for them.
>
> The final thing that stood out to me as we were leaving on the last day
was
> that he made sure that we all knew that he considered the class to be the
> beginning of an ongoing relationship until we get our numbers and
reassured
> everyone that he was just an email away if we had problems with the labs
in
> the workbooks. The guy even gave *everyone* in the class his cell phone
> number on the first day in case there were issues while we were doing labs
> outside the classroom time during the week. I can certainly say that I
> have
> never had an instructor do that before.
>
> Overall, I walked away feeling like a much stronger candidate that got
much
> more than my money s worth out of the class. I feel focused, re-energized
> and even excited to hit the books and labs regardless of whatever new
> foreboding news passes through groupstudy regarding V4. I plan to study
> hard until March and then re-sit the class he is doing outside of San Jose
> (no charge of course) the week of my lab to re-blast my brain with all the
> knowledge I can before I hit the real deal.
>
> The worst part of the class is that it is in sunny southern California. I
> now have to head back to a well below freezing Minneapolis. Good study
> weather though, right?
>
>
>
> Nate
>
>
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Received on Sat Dec 05 2009 - 20:31:44 ART