Re: CCIE R&S Discouraged

I'm glad this subject was brought up. I've been studying for R&S since
2007. Since then I've had three kids and have a hard time getting an hour
to myself to study (excuses, excuses). But over the years I've certainly
put in thousands of hours and dollars and have attempted and failed the lab
3 times.

It is a tough, tough certification. Everything works against you. The
test itself is expensive ($1,450 I think now). If you fail the lab, it's
financially difficult to jump right back into it and try a month later.
Even if you have a flush bank account, you still have to schedule it either
months out or try to grab a slot that opens up on the wire; usually for a
few days or a week out. You have to travel to the testing center. I live
in VA so I definitely have it better than most but I still have to get a
hotel room in NC the night before and then be there for the test at 7:00.
I'm not a morning person so it's hard for me to jump right into the
troubleshooting section first thing. If you don't finish the
troubleshooting section or know you failed it, the rest of the day is an
expensive mock lab as you know you have no possible chance of passing at
that point. I try to prepare as well as I can and have used materials from
Netmasters, Paul Borghese, Narbik, and Internetwork Expert. Regardless,
there always seems to be something that I've never, ever seen before when I
take the lab. Sorry for the whining there.

Sometimes it's psychologically insurmountable for me. I've invested so
much studying for this, that at this point I'll have to keep on taking it
until I pass or die. But man, going on test #4. I dread the thought of
going back to the drawing board again if I'm not able to pass #4. At the
very least, I'd like to start learning something new.

Cheating has ruined a lot of things. First of all, everyone is suspect.
When i see people on this mailing list and others that say they passed on
their first attempt and then further add that they studied hard for only 6
months or are only 16 yrs old or stuff along those lines, I immediately
think cheating. Could be that that person is just really sharp and I'm
sure that's the case sometimes and sometimes Im sure it's not. Some times
I think I may not be smart enough to pass the test but then everyone knows
a CCIE or two that they think theyre on par with so you know its not only
super humans that are successful. The passing percentage is something
like 2.1 tries. Unfortunately, you can't take out the cheaters from that
average so who knows what the true passing rate is. Guys like me on their 4
th attempt look like dolts against the average. I think Cisco has made the
test much harder to try to keep the passing numbers down in response to
cheating. My first attempt was on the old lab version, prior to
troubleshooting. I wasnt ready to take the lab when I did but I can say
that the prior lab appeared to be a lot easier. Now you have people on
those cheating boards that reference specific lab versions, saying stuff
like - I took lab X today, and got this question and that and they
follow that by saying they still failed! Damn, they have the test or at
least one that is 80% of what they can expect and they still fail!?!?!
Makes
it seem near impossible for someone that isnt doing the same to pass.

On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 10:13 AM, Joe Astorino
<joeastorino1982_at_gmail.com>wrote:

> Believe me -- There is a world of difference between somebody that has
> cheated their way to the top and somebody that has worked their way to the
> top. That goes for everything in life, not just the CCIE lab. Can it be
> cheated? Maybe. Does that effect you personally? Only if you let it.
> Everybody has their motivations and their own things that make them tick to
> willingly put themselves in the situation to suffer in order to obtain
> greatness. What is yours? You really need to think about that, because
> when the going gets tough like it is right now for you, you need to remind
> yourself why you are doing this.
>
> These cheaters are not going to prosper in the real world. Remember, the
> CCIE is a foot in the door. When you show up for an interview, likely with
> other CCIEs and you don't know what a type 3 LSA is or how to configure a
> basic BGP peering, or what the administrative distance of EIGRP external
> routes are, you will fail the technical interview and you will not get a
> job. If you manage to get a job, you will likely be fired in short time
> because you don't have the skillset to do your job and you have no
> integrity.
>
> Don't quit man we are all here supporting you to become an expert. I would
> encourage you to do some soul searching and really find the answer to your
> own question "why am I doing this" because you will need the answer
> somewhere along your journey. For me personally, it was mostly for
> learning and because I wanted to be the most elite and best in my chosen
> field. Also, knowing that you can get a better job and a higher salary do
> not hurt...but for me personally it was all about proving something to
> myself and continuing to grow as an engineer and as a person.
>
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Joe Astorino
> CCIE #24347
> Blog: http://astorinonetworks.com
>
> "He not busy being born is busy dying" - Dylan
>
>
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>
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Received on Mon Dec 05 2011 - 14:16:28 ART