Re: What a long strange trips its been

Simple awesome and inspiring work Marc!

On May 19, 2012, at 1:17 PM, marc abel wrote:

> As you know I passed my lab in RTP yesterday. Thank you all for the
> congratulations and well wishes. There are a few people I wish to thank
> personally for their support in this process.
>
> After I obtained my CCNP in 2009 I decided I wanted to pursue my CCIE. I
> figured it would take me about a year and a half. 6 months for the written
> and year to prep for the lab. I managed to hit pretty close on the written
> I read the following books pretty much cover to cover in about 6 months:
>
> BCMSN study guide
> Routing TCP/IP VOL 1 + 2
> Fundamentals of MPLS
>
> So in January 2010 I started preparing for lab. I purchased the IPExperts
> blended learning solution which at the time featured the videos of a
> scruffy Scott Morris. I worked my way through all the Vol 1 and somewhere
> about then IPX came out with new videos featuring Joe Astorino. I watched
> all these videos numerous times as well. I finally felt prepared to go sit
> a boot camp and went to the 5 day R+S taught by Joe. I learned a ton during
> these 5 days but could still see I had a ways to go. I kept labbing from
> the IPX vol 2 + 3 books.
>
> Next I attended the OWLE or one week lab experience, this time taught by
> Marko Millojovec. I found the class very hard, I jokingly started calling
> it the One Week Layer Two Experience because it would seemingly take me all
> day to get out of the layer 2 section of each lab. This showed me that I
> still had a ways to go and I became discouraged for a while.
>
> Finally I snapped to and decided I had come too far to give up. I had about
> 6 months to go before my written was to expire so I decided I would hit it
> hard and make an attempt before that date. It was about this time I met
> Steve Di Bias through this list and we began exchanging emails on topics we
> were unsure. 3 weeks before my lab I took advantage of IPX's generous
> retake policy and sat both the R+S and OWLE experience. Going in I was
> beginning to feel confident, but a couple weeks with Marko let me know that
> I still had big gaps. Marko is an awesome instructor, and I was amazed at
> how much his english and accent had improved in such a short time. I highly
> recommend anyone take a course with him if you can. You won't get a slide
> show, you will get good explanations reinforced with the proof from the
> command line. During this class I also made friends with Thomas Raabo and
> Christophe Lemaire who I have continued to correspond and appreciate their
> support.
>
> So I went into my first attempt knowing it was likely going to be
> for practice, but determined to give it my best shot. I sat in San Jose in
> July 2011. I was only able to solve 6 of the troubleshooting tickets in 2
> hours so I knew by 10:00am that this was not my time. I still gave the
> config section my all but only managed about 50%. I had now seen the beast
> and extended the clock on my written exam. I finally knew at just a high
> level you really have to be operating to pass this test. Before this I
> think I underestimated what I was up against.
>
> The common thought I read on here is that you must have a one track mind,
> you must say good bye to your friends and family, eat drink and breathe
> CCIE. I really bought into this and spent the next few months with a one
> track mind. It was during this time that we started the study groups with
> Steve Di Bias, Jay McMickle, and Chris Moore. These group sessions were
> pretty cool, we would take turns driving the keyboard while the others gave
> input on strategies to try. It was really helpful to have insight into how
> others approached the tasks and requirments.
>
> I would like to say a word of warning here though. This one track mind
> everyone recommends is a dangerous thing. Even when I wasn't labbing I
> couldn't unplug. I was becoming more distant from my wife, and even when we
> had a few times out with friends I had a hard time. I felt like I had
> nothing to talk about, none of them wanted to know about MPLS :). I felt
> like the CCIE was eating my personality. Finally my wife had enough, and
> nearly left me. I had to beg her to stay. I had to relearn balance in my
> life. I had a second lab date fast approaching but my family had to come
> first. So be careful out there, without your family the certification is
> pointless.
>
> So in December 2011 the four of us; Steve, Jay, Chris, and myself headed to
> San Jose. I could tell Steve was really dialed in and I had high hopes for
> him. Well I went 6 for 10 on the troubleshooting again, and once again knew
> by 10:00am that I was have a $1500 lunch. Again I decided to do my best on
> the config section. This time at least I was able to make it through the
> whole thing. There were a couple really big things I wasn't able to solve
> though. I think I ended up about 67 percent on the config this time. My man
> Steve knocked it out of the park that day though and became the first of
> our group to slay the dragon. On his first time!
>
> At this time something awesome happened, and for this I can't thank him
> enough. Jay McMickle offered to let me use a rack of equipment that Steve
> had been using. This was a game changer for me. Previous to this I was
> using IPX rack rentals, which are awesome but have one gigantic flaw. As
> with any rack rental you have to know when you can study, and you need a
> large block of time to do it. For a guy who is trying to find balance and
> juggle a full time job, a family, consulting work, and the CCIE this can be
> pretty tough. Now because of Jay's generosity I was able to lab any time I
> had a spare hour. During lunch breaks, while my son was napping, and into
> the wee hours. This allowed me to finally have family time, but to still
> get in all the hours you need to prepare. To be prepared it is not enough
> to know the commands, you need to have muscle memory of the commands. Your
> fingers need to know the solutions even before your brain.
>
> So Jay recently passed and I was so happy for him. I could tell by
> our preparation that I was going to be close behind. Labs that previously
> took me 10 hours I was now doing in 3. One thing I did different this time
> was not scheduling far in advance. If you look you see that you only need
> to book a week or two in advance these days. So instead of picking a date
> and trying to be ready, I waited until I was ready and then picked a date.
>
> So again, thank you to everyone that supported me along the way, and I hope
> I don't forget anyone but a heartfelt thank you to: God, my wife, Jay
> McMickle, Steve Di Bias, Chris Moore, Marko Millojovec, Joe Astorino,
> Thomas Raabo, Christophe Lemaire, IP Experts and my employer.
>
> --
> Marc Abel
> CCIE #35470
> (Routing and Switching)
>
>
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>
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Received on Sat May 19 2012 - 18:13:23 ART