Re: My journey

Awesome job and very well deserved.

Congratulations.

Rob Laidlaw
#25959

On 4/10/10, CCIEDAVITO CCIEDAVITO <cciedavito_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> 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 Narbik s 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 don t
> 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 can t tell you enough about his boot camps, I
> don t 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 can t 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 don ts,
> 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 Narbik s 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:
> Narbik s advanced ccie R&S 2.0
> Narbik s 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)
> Narbik s Troubleshooting mock labs
>
> My recommendation:
> Narbik s 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 didn t 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
>
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