Re: CCIE#35347

Jay, I think you sub-netted those numbers before you did the math! :)

On Tue, May 8, 2012 at 7:17 PM, <jazzsunn_at_gmail.com> wrote:

> Congrats, Terry!
>
> And Jay, did we hear your story?
>
>
> Sent via BlackBerry
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jay McMickle <jay.mcmickle_at_yahoo.com>
> Sender: nobody_at_groupstudy.com
> Date: Tue, 8 May 2012 17:21:02
> To: Joe Astorino<joeastorino1982_at_gmail.com>
> Reply-To: Jay McMickle <jay.mcmickle_at_yahoo.com>
> Cc: Terry Vinson<wantmydigits_at_gmail.com>; ccielab_at_groupstudy.com<
> ccielab_at_groupstudy.com>
> Subject: CCIE#35347
>
> Great story! Awesome, in fact!
>
> Also, I passed the same day, but our numbers are 108 digits apart. Are
> there that many a day passing?
>
> Terry- 35347 May 1- RTP (R&S)
> Jay- 35355 May 1- SJC (R&S)
>
> Regards,
> Jay McMickle- CCIE #35355 (R&S)
> Sent from iJay
>
> On May 8, 2012, at 10:12 AM, Joe Astorino <joeastorino1982_at_gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Congratulations on your wonderful achievement, and good luck in your new
> role!
> >
> > On Tue, May 8, 2012 at 11:02 AM, Terry Vinson <wantmydigits_at_gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >> *Hello Everyone,*
> >>
> >> *I passed the CCIE R&S lab on May 1, 2012 at RTP, NC.*
> >>
> >> *I ve tried to write my success story about a hundred times since I got
> my
> >> pass notification for the Routing and Switching track. Each attempt,
> >> however, has sounded more angry than happy, which is odd because I am
> >> ecstatic to have passed. Not having to study anymore and having decided
> to
> >> take a week off from everything but family has given me a lot of time to
> >> reflect on why I get so upset when I think about the last five years. I
> >> made the realization last night that my anger stems from feeling like I
> >> wasted a lot of time, and went up a lot of blind alleys during my
> >> preparation. I need to put things in perspective before I explain that
> any
> >> further. I am 45 years old. I have four sons ranging in ages from 5 to
> 22,
> >> I am a self-employed consultant, and in the current economy we have been
> >> struggling just to get by. So in a nutshell my preparation came out of
> my
> >> own pocket and I spent way more than I should have to get where I am. I
> >> bought materials, in the last three years, from virtually every major
> >> vendor I can think of, to include Cisco 360.*
> >>
> >> *I found out about Narbik Kocharians on GroupStudy.com and contacted him
> >> and let him know that I was very dissatisfied with the first CCIE
> vendor I
> >> chose to use due a customers helping customers approach for guidance
> and
> >> support with the package. Narbik was very understanding and explained
> to me
> >> that he thought I had large gaps in my foundational theory. He told me
> that
> >> we could fix that together. I bought his workbook and set out to fix the
> >> problem. I was livid at how much I didn t know after a year and a half
> of
> >> using the first vendor. I flooded Narbik with my frustration and again
> he
> >> just let me vent and then said we can fix that too. He told me that he
> was
> >> going to have a bootcamp in Columbia, Maryland starting on Monday; this
> was
> >> Sunday and he said I could come if I wanted to. I did want to, but we
> >> didn t have the money to pay for a hotel. So I slept in my truck for a
> week
> >> in an arctic sleeping bag because it was winter. That sucked, but
> honestly
> >> I had slept in way worse conditions when I was a soldier. It was worth
> >> every second of it. I learned more in 5 days than I had in the previous
> >> year. The sad part was that my lab was scheduled for 15 days after the
> >> bootcamp and Narbik told me straight up I wasn t ready for it. That was
> a
> >> tough pill to swallow, but he was right. I didn t even come close to
> >> passing, but like Narbik said, you know what to expect now! *
> >>
> >> *So the next year was all about filling gaps in my knowledge, reading
> books
> >> and labs using Narbik s workbooks. In the next two years, I took Narbik
> s
> >> bootcamp again twice (at no cost and received updates for all the
> workbooks
> >> again at no cost). At the end of the last bootcamp, Narbik told me that
> >> he thought I was borderline ready, but I needed more lab work (I was too
> >> slow). I didn t know how to answer that because I had done every lab he
> had
> >> to offer half a dozen times. So ignoring his advice I again scheduled a
> >> lab. I failed again but I was so much closer. But I found another
> weakness
> >> that I hadn t really considered. My test taking strategy was virtually
> >> nonexistent; I was working and thinking too linear. That was when I met
> >> Anthony Sequiera.*
> >>
> >> *Anthony was not what I was expecting from a CCIE instructor, he was
> >> frequently talking about other things than just technology. He was
> bringing
> >> up things that affected my performance on the lab that I had honestly
> never
> >> even considered. We exchanged emails and he made me a promise. I ll
> help
> >> you get your CCIE no matter what the circumstances are or who I m
> working
> >> for. Anthony was able to open a lot of opportunities for me to learn and
> >> practice and was constantly offering support and advice. But at this
> point
> >> I was gun shy of the exam. I was so afraid of failing again I wasn t
> >> willing to test. It took a long time for Anthony to help me break down
> >> those barriers. But eventually we did and I scheduled the exam, this
> time
> >> it was the Version 4 exam. Anthony and I where both focused on the TS
> >> section, because frankly it seemed to be what most people were failing,
> and
> >> the fact that there were no real tools available to students to help
> them
> >> deal with this new lab requirement was adding to my apprehension. So
> rather
> >> than just take a wild swing we got together with the great minds over at
> >> IPexpert, who I should point out Narbik had recommended I use for my
> mock
> >> lab practice. Anthony and I created a tool that made sense and held up
> to
> >> the troubleshooting labs I had from all vendors the Quick Fire
> >> Troubleshooting Strategy. We spent countless hours discussing it,
> tearing
> >> it apart, and testing it against whatever mock troubleshooting
> materials we
> >> could find.*
> >>
> >> *Quick Fire centers around a common issues methodology combined with
> >> intense time management. In our opinion, the biggest problem in the
> >> training space at that time was that everyone talked about
> troubleshooting
> >> and even discussed how to approach troubleshooting, but nothing dealt
> with
> >> the biggest issue, which is the two-hour time limit. After getting
> >> comfortable using the Quick Fire Troubleshooting Strategy, we decided
> that
> >> I should schedule a lab. The good news was that the troubleshooting plan
> >> worked AWESOME! I knew I had 8 out of 10 tickets and was unsure about
> one,
> >> the other I did not have a clue if I solved it correctly or not. The
> >> outcome was not what I was hoping for, because I did not pass the
> >> configuration section, but Quick Fire held up perfectly. What would have
> >> been another blow to my ego, was actually an opportunity to retest the
> >> troubleshooting strategy Anthony and I developed. So I scheduled another
> >> lab; what would be my second attempt at the Version 4 with
> troubleshooting.*
> >>
> >> *During the next 30 days I didn t even really focus on the lab, but
> every
> >> so often I would do an IPexpert Volume 3 lab just to keep my speed from
> >> deteriorating. Come test time I was way more relaxed, had more even more
> >> faith in Quick Fire. I even adapted some of the methodology from the
> >> troubleshooting process to the configuration section of the test. In the
> >> end it all culminated in passing the lab and getting my digits. That s
> the
> >> long and short of it.*
> >>
> >> *In my opinion it all boils down to the fact that the CCIE exam has
> >> changed, it s no longer, answer all the core questions and pick up a
> few
> >> of the services and management tasks and you are golden . In my opinion,
> >> that test doesn t exist anymore. The new test is a broad range of topics
> >> that all have relatively the same weight, the concept of the core and
> >> fundamental reachability is there but it s no longer 70 to 75 percent of
> >> passing. Cisco has upped the ante in terms of the significance of these
> >> miscellaneous topics, and to tell students that they are not going to
> >> expect you to be an expert on them is an out-and-out travesty.*
> >>
> >> *It was a long expensive journey to get to the point where I had all the
> >> tools I needed to pass and honestly, we had to invent a few along the
> way
> >> as a result of the exam changing and maturing. Technological proficiency
> >> was pivotal, but having a well-considered and practiced strategy was
> just
> >> as important. That concept of strategy extends not just to the actual
> lab
> >> but also to the act of preparing for the lab. I came late in my
> preparation
> >> to IPexpert on the advice of both Narbik and Anthony, and I found just
> what
> >> I needed there. They had an honest, structured approach that addressed
> all
> >> phases of the CCIE learning process to include tools like Marko s
> wonderful
> >> audio bootcamp that was one of best knowledge sustainment tools I ve had
> >> the pleasure to use. But for me, the workbooks were the most impressive
> >> offering because by the time I found IPexpert, that was what I was
> looking
> >> for. I wanted, no I needed, multiprotocol labs that where reflective of
> >> what I d had come to expect to see on the exam after my failed attempts.
> >> Their workbooks were concise, well planned and the closest I ve seen to
> the
> >> actual exam with regard to the wording and structure of the individual
> >> tasks. The integration between workbooks was seamless. It wasn t a
> series
> >> of workbooks created, in a handful of weeks, by different developers
> with
> >> no clear transition. As I worked through these books I could feel my
> >> confidence and general understanding growing, and that process continued
> >> until the CCIE was just a fundamental part of that transition.*
> >>
> >> *It is important to understand that everyone learns differently and at
> >> different rates. But the one constant is that learning needs to be
> >> deliberate, and that is so much easier when the actual course
> instruction
> >> is deliberate by design. Furthermore, you need to find vendors like
> >> IPexpert and Micronics Training that are willing to devote themselves to
> >> your success.*
> >>
> >> *I am very proud to say that I am now employed writing elegant, yet
> >> practical and accessible texts and classes for IPexpert in the area of
> CCIE
> >> R&S. I hope I have the opportunity to provide assistance to some of you
> >> reading this, just as I received the assistance that I so desperately
> >> needed.*
> >>
> >> *For those thinking about giving up. Don't do it! The elation of success
> >> will completely erase the grief you felt when you didn't pass. It felt
> bad
> >> to fail but absolutely incredible to pass!*
> >>
> >>
> >> Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________________________________
> >> Subscription information may be found at:
> >> http://www.groupstudy.com/list/CCIELab.html
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Regards,
> >
> > Joe Astorino
> > CCIE #24347
> > http://astorinonetworks.com
> >
> > "He not busy being born is busy dying" - Dylan
> >
> >
> > 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
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
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>
>
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