Re: My journey

Hi there, Very inspirative story! Congrats on your well earned number.

The problem i am facing in studies is the impatience and it is hard to
believe that it took 7 years of time to achieve your ccie. I appreciate you
on your self motivation and commitence!

Regards
Thameem

On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 6:58 AM, GAURAV MADAN <gauravmadan1177_at_gmail.com>wrote:

> Congrats mate ! Time to take some break and enjoy
>
> Regards
> Gaurav Madan
> CCIE # 23863
>
> On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 1:37 AM, 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
> >
> > _______________________________________________________________________
> > 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

Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
Received on Sun Apr 11 2010 - 07:32:58 ART