my ccie journey (passed!)

Hey everyone!

For those of you that don't know already, I passed the CCIE lab last
Wednesday ( 1/11/2012 ) on my first attempt! I've been asked by a few
people now if I would post my journey, so here it is! (I was going to post
this earlier, but I've been so tired the last couple days). I tried to
organize this so you're not just reading a huge wall-o-text. I apologize
for the long email, but hopefully someone finds it insightful. (
Personally, I love reading these things).

*CCNA, CCNP, & PRE-CCIE*

I started the CCNA in 2008. At the time, I thought passing the CCIE was
literally impossible, and didn't really even consider it. I was more of a
Linux Sysadmin anyways and networking wasn't my specialty, I just wanted to
broaden my knowledge. But I became addicted to the technology, and after
passing the CCNA I immediately started studying for the CCNP. I built a
rack of 2600s & 3550s, and then created labs for every technology on the
CCNP. In 2010 I finished the CCNP and also changed jobs. At this point I
was feeling really burnt out and took a few months off from studying. After
some time (late 2010), I decided to start studying again. I sold off all of
my routers and switches (except for two 3550s), and purchased some reading
material for my 'Pre-CCIE Written' studying. These books are:
Interconnections by Perlman, TCP/IP Illustrated by Stevens, and
Internetworking with TCP/IP by Comer. These books took me quite a while to
read. Interconnections is especially difficult to read, but very much worth
the time. (These 3 books are not only on the CCIE reading list, but
recommended to me by the best engineers I know).

*The Written*

In May 2011 I started officially studying for the CCIE Written. My study
materials for the written consisted of the Official CCIE Routing and
Switching Guide, Routing TCP/IP VOL1 & 2, various RFCs, and lots of Cisco
Documentation. I also had SafariBooksOnline, and read chapters from lots of
other Cisco Press books. The only time I would touch the command line, was
to verify my understanding of something that didn't make sense in words. I
passed the written June 27, 2011.

After passing the written, I felt like I had a strong foundation of
knowledge. I wanted to build upon this foundation as much as I could. I did
not want to hesitate between the Written and the Lab. So I immediately
scheduled a lab date and started building my rack ( or hybrid rack). I had
always used dynamips, but now it was time to get serious, and this meant
forking out the cash for some 3560s & a new server. The lab I built is a
Hybrid Dynamaips lab. This consists of a rackmount server running Debian
Linux, 2x Catalyst 3550s, 2x Catalyst 3560s, and a 16U Skeletek rack. My
server has 3x Quad-Core NICs which allow me to bridge any NIC to any
virtual router in dynamips. Pictures & more details here:
https://yuri.easytospell.net/?p=721

*Lab Study*

I started with INE Volume I, it was a great workbook to start with. I spent
A LOT of time on each task, even the easy ones. I wanted to understand
EVERYTHING perfectly! After INE Volume I, I started working on INE Volume
II. While doing the Volume II labs I also worked on Narbiks Foundations
workbook. On weekends I would do volume II labs in 8 hour sessions, and on
weekdays I would do Narbiks WB after work (from 6:30pm to 12:00am). In
November I went to Narbiks Bootcamp! That was a lot of fun, it was like
summer camp for networking nerds. Narbik is simply a great teacher, and
studying with other people was a great experience. Forums & mailing lists
are awesome, but there isn't anything that beats in-person.

*Study Discipline *

During my studies I tried to ban myself from using google. If I was doing a
practice lab I would limit myself to the DocCD only. If I was doing INE Vol
I or Narbiks Adv WB I would limit myself to the DocCD, Books, and RFCs.
Forcing yourself to understand something from the GROUND up is important.
It might be easy to find someone else asking the same question on google,
and sometimes it is appropriate to find information this way, but don't get
lazy. Reading should always be a part of your study routine anyways. Even
if its just 45 minutes on the train to work. Never stop studying the theory.

*Final Review:* 6 weeks before the lab.

This was a little plan I created, and I am actually really proud of this. I
printed out the extended R&S Blueprint, and marked each section with a
certain amount of days. I divided each section into time ranges ( over 30
days), giving bigger topics more days than others. Day 1 for a topic would
consist of researching and studying the topic on the DocCD. Day 2+ for a
topic would consist of labbing various scenarios from Narbiks WB & INE Vol
1. I did this for every single topic on the Extended Blueprint. After 30
days I had covered the entire Blueprint. With two weeks left berore my lab,
I spent 1 week finishing INE volume II, and the final week resting with
some light review. 3 days before the lab I did one final Volume II lab. It
was an easier lab that I had already done, but I wanted to keep my spirits
high.

*Lab Day:*

Since I live in San Francisco I considered just driving to San Jose early
in the morning for the lab, but I used to do that commute every day, and it
just sucks. Instead, I rented a hotel room at some place called Avatar
(Right next to iHOP- very classy!). After checking into the Hotel I did a
practice drive to building C to familiarize myself with the target area.
The rest of the day I spent doing LIGHT review of random topics & watched
some program on the History channel about Navy Seals! I tried to go to bed
early that night, but I couldn't sleep AT ALL, I was too excited! I just
laid awake looking at my alarm clock, and listening to the drunk people in
the next room.

*Troubleshooting:*

This is the section that I really feared the most. The general strategy
with troubleshooting is to do the easy tickets first, and that is exactly
what I did. If you understand the technology, the troubleshooting is not
very difficult. But I did get stuck on one ticket. The one I saved for
last!! I had 30 minutes for it too!! Grrrr!!!

*Configuration:*

The configuration section was fair. Now of course I had a doubts about
certain things. And this really lowered my expectations about passing. But
you just have to be confident. I finished the configuration section with
about one and half hours to spare. This gave me time to go over everything,
and it is probably why I passed this section. By the way, I am not fast at
typing. I just knew all of the technology. If you know the technology, time
management will not be an issue.

*Post Lab*

I went into the lab thinking I could, and SHOULD pass the first time. I
left the lab with my expectations low. In fact I was comfortable with the
fact that I will probably not pass the first time. After driving through
the most hellish San Jose traffic, I finally got back to SF and began
explaining to my family that we shouldn't get our hopes up. I said there
was about a 30% chance that I would pass. Once I sat down at my desk, I
began to furiously reproduce the issue I had on the troubleshooting. But I
couldn't reproduce the damn problem in my lab! This really annoyed me! So I
basically crashed into a depressed heap on the couch, and started chain
eating granola bars. Eventually I thought to check my score report. Maybe
that would give me a clue as to what the issue was? I know they don't give
any kind of detailed report, but I wasn't thinking rationally. I opened up
my mailbox, clicked the link for my ccie report, and to my ultimate shock,
read "PASS". I almost fell out of my seat. I clicked refresh so many times,
and I had my girl friend make sure that I wasn't delusional. I've never
felt so tired and happy in my life. I had just been on one hell of an
emotional roller coaster.

*Advice*

*You must understand the CORE technologies. I think everyone says this- But
I will say it too! Things like OSPF, BGP, MPLS, IPV6, and Multicast should
be something you have intimate knowledge of. Not just memorization of the
commands to configure X. There is a big difference between understanding
how to configure a protocol, and UNDERSTANDING how a protocol works.

*I love the Narbik and INE workbooks. But the vendors cannot spoon feed you
everything. There is a very large aspect of your studies that must be done
on your own. This means using debugs, packet captures, and RFCs to better
understand each protocol.

*There are a lot of IP services, but you should think of these as free
points, a gift from Cisco. I was really scared of them at first, all I
cared about were the core technologies. Spend some time to study them, and
you will realize that they're so easy.

*I think I had the right attitude going into the lab. I went into the lab
with a confidence of 100, and by the end of the day had a confidence of 30!
If you go into the lab with a confidence of 50, what is going to happen by
the end of the day!!?? So go into the lab with a confidence of 110! I
promise you something in there will knock it down, so start strong!

*No matter what happens during the lab, never give up. This kind of goes
with the above. Even if you're confidence is low, you're probably doing
better than you think! So just keep going. Finish the lab as best you can.
I bet you will surprise yourself!

This has been the greatest Achievements for me! Good luck to everyone out
there who is studying! I look forward to further participation on this
Mailing List, and other forums that I frequent!

-Yuri Bank

CCIE #33680

Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
Received on Sun Jan 15 2012 - 16:09:43 ART