RE: The story of CCIE#34420

Imran,

I mean he was so happy the small animals were frightened by his cheers of
joy! I met Mike here in Wilmington where we both live when he was at
Narbik's boot camp sponsored by the CCIE Flyer. He is a very deserving guy
and exemplifies the best of the industry!

As for his studying habits I am certain he was much quieter with a little
bambino in the house.

Congrats Mike!

From: Imran Ali [mailto:immrccie_at_gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2012 3:55 PM
To: CCIEAgent
Cc: Michael Kiefer; Cisco certification
Subject: Re: The story of CCIE#34420

are you referring to " celebration noice " or he use to study that much loud
?

On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 8:52 PM, CCIEAgent <ccieagent_at_verizon.net> wrote:

Mike,
As your neighbor here in Wilmington I can now understand all that noise I
heard echoing through the trees was. CONGRATULATIONS! For your information
Narbik has had 10 students pass in 12 days now and I expect to hear more
from those folks as well.

Simply AWESOME dude!

-----Original Message-----
From: nobody_at_groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
Michael Kiefer
Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2012 12:25 PM
To: Cisco certification
Subject: The story of CCIE#34420

I passed at RTP on Monday 1/30, after Cisco won 7 previous battles. I
started studying for the CCIE in July of 2008 (V3 was the test until 10/09).
I didn't really take studying seriously until enrolled in Narbik's first
bootcamp in Wilmington, DE (my current town). It simply wasn't possible for
me to take a bootcamp elsewhere because my wife worked (and was pregnant)
and my daughter was 3 at the time. Her hands were very full!
I am eternally grateful for my wife's patience. She is a rockstar!! I would
have divorced myself long ago!

I started with INE's product line first using dynamips and then moving up to
the real hardware. I was and still am a hard core Linux user. I had about 6
years of experience as sysadmin on production boxes. INE's products are
great, but I was growing more and more frustrated with dynamips.

I started with a clean slate the summer of 2010 with a new INE topology
based lab on real hardware

Narbik taught me to look at things in their absolute simplest form. My
friend and mentor Dave Roehsler (CCIE#20502) did the same thing. Grab some
markers, a white board and work it out. Narbik's topology and workbooks can
almost be done entirely on Dynamips without any trouble, FB!!!

I began sharpening the saw over and over again with Narbik's workbooks on
Dynamips. Any chance I got, I used them.

I found myself knowing the material, but failing the tests. The last failure
was 9/9/11 by one or two troubleshooting tickets. Revenge for that failure
would be cold and merciless! No comfort to the enemy, just pain, death, and
destruction!

The time between the two tests was nothing but speed building and reviewing.
Brian McGahan's new ATC v4.5 was out and it was great for keeping the
cobwebs out of my mind. I could burn through an INE Vol II TS section in 40
minutes or less by the week before the lab. The Vol II config labs were
toast in 4 hours.

I managed to complete and pass the TS section with 30 minutes left in the
real lab. The config part was done with more than 2 hours left.

All of my studies were self funded. In fact, I even left a full time
position with a local Gold partner who wanted my CCIE#, but didn't want to
fund my studies. I landed a very lucrative long term contract that provided
the resources to make it all happen.

I put some video clips out on my Youtube channel: mjk2374. I don't have much
content, but there are some good clips from RTP and a rack tour from my
basement. The proctor, David Blair, gave me permission to shoot the video
inside the lab.

It was an honor and privilege to sign the wall of pain next to David
Roehsler's. Narbik's entry is there as well as a few other interesting
things like a husband and wife duo. It looks like Howard's son put Sponge
Bob on the bottom, too. I saw Brian McGahan's, but unfortunately didn't
capture it on video.

My best advice to CCIE candidates is pretty much what Narbik says,"You are
ready when you can do the workbooks cover to cover with absolutely no
questions." Don't overestimate your own ability(like I did). Make sure you
are an expert when you walk through that door at Cisco. If you take the
psychological aspects of the test out, they don't have a leg to stand on.
Invest in yourself and absolutely never give up!

Thanks!

Michael Kiefer
CCIE# 34420 (R&S)

Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
Received on Wed Feb 01 2012 - 16:08:07 ART