RE: Pass November 18

Congrats!!

Matt Just - IPexpert, Inc.
CTO - Chief Technical Officer
Email: mjust_at_ipexpert.com
Office: (810) 326-1444 Ext: 331
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-----Original Message-----
From: nobody_at_groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
Steven Blasiol
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2011 5:18 PM
To: Cisco certification
Subject: OT: Pass November 18

2 weeks ago on November 18 I passed my CCIE RS at RTP. I wanted to write
something about my journey and thank the people who have helped me along the
way. I began studying in January of 2010. During that time I read the CCIE
Study Guide (Odom et al), TCP/IP Vol 1 and 2 as well as the Cisco
Documentation Guides and Internet Routing Architectures (Halabi). All the
while I was labbing to see these technologies at work.

In August of 2010 I passed my written and I was feeling really good. I
thought the lab would be a walk in the park and all I needed to do was get
some more time in labbing. How naove? That same month I attended the
CCBOOTCAMP CIERS 1 course. I learned a great deal from the course and
really hammered home many of the concepts that I had been struggling with.
I returned home and began doing the CCBOOTCAMP material.

After finishing with CCBOOTCAMPs material I purchased Micronics Advanced
Routing and Switching workbooks. I loved these books I must have gone
through each volume 4 times front to back and doing other sections over and
over. This material really lends itself well to GNS3 and allows you to
really hone in on a very specific topic.

In January of 2011 I made my first attempt. I did not expect to pass and I
didnt. I came home and continued through the CCBOOTCAMP, Micronics and
IPExpert material (IPExpert is another excellent resource). I also signed
up for the INE All-Access-Pass and went through the Videos-on-Demand. I
think that the monthly INE pass is a must for CCIE Candidates. The INE Blog
was also a huge go-to when I was having problems with a particular
technology.

In June I sat the lab againfailbut getting better. In August I attended
the Netmasters CIERS 2 course taught by Bruce Caslow. This was an
excellent course; a very challenging but excellent course. I also began
attending the Live Online Group Mentoring provided by Netmasters. If you
cant make it to a Netmasters course you should at least get into the LOGM
sessions.
I spent between August and the end of September doing all of the Cisco 360
graded labs. I did several of them multiple times. I would study during
the week, take an exam on the weekend and study the exam the next weekrinse
and repeat. At the end of September I sat the lab againfailed, but I knew
I was in striking distance. The next month and a half are a blur. I
averaged more hours those months than any time since I had begun. I spent a
lot of time on Advanced Services and Troubleshooting (this is where I was
hurting). I was also traveling for work which made things even more
difficult.
The final count on study hours is: 1479 (with additional time spent reading)

Then November 18th came and I got my number 31895.

Thanks to all of the people who have assisted me over the last 2 years
(nearly). Especially all of the vendors, the developers of GNS3 (I can't
imagine what it was like before GNS3), the administrators of Group Study, my
friend Ernest McCaleb who motivated me and was ALWAYS available to answer
questions (even stupid ones), my co-worker Christian Hunter who is going
through this right now and helped me fill in many gaps, and everyone else
along the way. Also a special thank you to my wife who has endured a less
than ideal life for too long. It is funny to think about, but when I got my
CCNA I thought I was brilliant, when I got my CCNP I thought I was
untouchable and now that I have my CCIE I feel very humbled.

--
Steven M. Blasiol
--Confidence is stain they can't wipe off...-Lil Wayne
Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net