Re:My journey

After a journey of seven years of trying to achieve my CCIE, I am happy and
humbled to finally have the opportunity to say that I passed R&S Lab Exam
and my number is 25977.

A few notes on my preparation:

I would first like to thank Paul Borghese for this forum.
Much of the time, I have been a silent participant of the Group study,
trying my best to just pickup what was important from all of the different
CCIE mentors and vendors.

My Journey Began back in 2004 when I attempted my first CCIE written exam.
I only had few books and a few 2500 series routers. I was able to practice a
bunch of labs, thinking that I passed the written I should be ready for the
CCIE Lab. What a joke.

 After multiple attempts between 2005  2007 with no success, I was faced
with financial hardship and family responsibilities. I therefore decided to
put my R&S pursuit on hold and spend more time on work.

I did few consulting work for few Cisco Channel Partner's and also taught
CCNA/CCNP classes. Since I was involved in number of voice projects, I
decided to pursue the voice certification. It is really interesting when you
have a thirst for knowledge, but soon I came to realize that this too will
require a lot of time to study and that it will be very expensive to set up
or even rent a rack.

I was facing pressure from many directions, and on top of it, stress of the
IE LAB.
After many months of prayer, I decided to go back to R&S.

In the middle of 2008, I contacted Narbik and had a lengthy conversation
about my background and goals.
He was very supportive and helpful with a common sense approach on how to
prepare, step by step for the IE LAB. I took his advice and promised myself
that I would just follow his recommendations until I achieve my number.

After getting his work books, I hammered all the labs 3 times from beginning
to end. Yes, it was time consuming, but I had to stick to my decision that I
was not going to jump around from one vendor's book to another like in the
past.
Please do not misunderstand me all vendors that I purchased lab materials
were good. I did learn a number of things from different vendors. But I
liked Narbiks much better, it actually teaches you the stuff.

After attending Narbik's boot camp few times, I realized that no matter how
many times I attend his boot camp, I still learn a thing or two, I dont
have to tell you about his boot camps, as many have posted here, but for me
they are the best, you learn, and he helps you as much as he can, he
responds to his e-mails, I cant tell you enough about his boot camps, I
dont know how he remembers all these commands. I honestly think that he is
running IOS 12.4 in his head. The "?" on his whiteboard works, and no slids.
Very powerful approach.
I cant wait to attend his end-to-end class in Burbank, I know I will be
learning bunch of stuff.

Finally two weeks ago, I decided to make an attempt at the Lab. Once again,
I was a bit nervous but once I got in and the proctor covered his 5 minute
of dos and donts,
I was ready to take on the Lab challenge.

OEQs: I would not worry about this section, if you have studied properly,
this section should not be an issue.
Troubleshooting section: I did Narbiks troubleshooting labs, it prepared me
more than enough for this section. I was amazed on the number of routers.
Configuration section: some tricky tasks but not bad at all. But lots of
tasks toI did bunch of last minute changes and i think that helped me, i was
there till the last second.
I do not want to go into details, because I do not want to break NDA.
I like the old format, I like to read a printed copy of the questions versus
going from one screen to another. but its changed and no use talking about
it.

To summarize:
The books I studied:
Narbiks advanced ccie R&S 2.0
Narbiks new boot camp 2.0 (the best, I think he is planning to complete
this book, because it was not complete, but I love this book)
Narbiks Troubleshooting mock labs

My recommendation:
Narbiks boot camps, I did not do the 360 because when I took his boot camp
there was no 360 and when I repeated his class, because I was one of his old
students, he offered it to me but I decided not to spend more money.
But you must retake his boot camp to understand the entire thing. I
recommend at least twice.

After I finished my lab I could not wait to get the results, I was extremely
nervous, I was praying and didnt know what to do, but about 11 PM, I got an
e-mail from Cisco and its amazing how you can even forget your password, I
almost called Narbik to ask him how do I login, because I was 2 nervous. But
when I logged in and saw my number #25977, I was so excited, that I read
that e-mail like 10 times.
It takes few days for it to click.

My final recommendation : Study hard and do the right thing and you will
pass for sure. I was studying before work and after work, and when I did not
have a consulting job to do, I would study 12 to 14 hours a day.

All the best to everyone
Hard work pays.

-warmest regards

Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
Received on Sat Apr 10 2010 - 13:07:12 ART