Re: Passed CCIE R/S

Congrats jose

Br// KP

-----Original Message-----
From: "Sidney D'Souza" <mail.sidney_at_gmail.com>
Sender: nobody_at_groupstudy.com
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2012 08:34:21
To: 'Jose Jara'<jjarafiz_at_gmail.com>; 'Cisco certification'<ccielab_at_groupstudy.com>
Reply-To: "Sidney D'Souza" <mail.sidney_at_gmail.com>
Subject: RE: Passed CCIE R/S

Congrats Jose. Appreciate you taking the time to describe your journey so
that it can help others achieve the certification.

Regards,
Sid
Nobody's really listening, until you make a mistake...

-----Original Message-----
From: nobody_at_groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of Jose
Jara
Sent: 30 October 2012 04:40
To: Cisco certification
Subject: Passed CCIE R/S

Hi mates,

I passed the CCIE R/S lab the past week and I would like to share with you a
bit of my journey, and hopefully it will help or motivate others to pass.

My journey started at the end of 2010 when I was working in another country
doing network support ( Czech Republic and I'm spanish) for AT&T. My
approach was to start with more theory but not 100%, so more like 80 or 90%
and some mini-labs to understand the technologies. After 2 months I was a
bit tired and the reason was that I was not very motivated in that job, so I
decided to move again to Spain and concentrate on CCIE. Back to Spain in
january 2011 without a job but highly motivated with the idea of the big
thing (CCIE), I decided to go to a bootcamp and I chose Narbik's Bootcamp.
During 3 months I studied full time and I improved a lot, with a bit of luck
I got a job at Telefonica for Network Design. My first day at job was the
first time I met a CCIE (my boss). Now, I laugh but at that time was a bit
scared to talk to a personality like a CCIE :)

- Bootcamp: Regarding the bootcamp I was going to attend, unfortunately was
cancelled. However, Narbik offered me a discount to attend it in Herndon
(april 2011) and I went there. The bootcamp was superb and I met there Paul
Borguese (really nice guy) and other members of GS like Darby Weaver and
Andrew Lissitz, cool guys. We did two Mock Labs of CCIE360 and I scored 75%
in the first one, surprise for me as it was easier than I thought and around
50% in the second one. The most important thing I learned in this bootcamp
was not from the protocols/technology standpoint, was more about how to
learn/attack a technology. I learned with Narbik to "divide and conquer", be
very specific, and that what separates a CCIE from a beginner/intermmediate
engineer is that a CCIE knows how the protocols work and can give/manipulate
the protocols to achieve a desired behaviour. Also, I broke mental barriers
talking to another guys and seeing that the expert level is doable with hard
work.

I changed my plan, and my program now was more relaxed putting more effort
on understanding and to master the core topics (one by one). The summer of
2011 was intense as I did some migrations windows for a big customer during
weekends but I continued my plan. I was working with another CCIE and it
helped me as I was comparing myself with her, I saw how I was reaching the
level. I covered the core topics by october-november 2011 and I thought that
a good idea would be to do the bootcamp again.

- 2nd Bootcamp: I attended the second bootcamp in november 2011, in Milton
Keynes. BTW, the retake is for free. I enjoyed a lot this bootcamp as I was
much better prepared. I remember the OSPF Filtering part as one of the most
interesting. OSPF is a protocol that I love and I became an addict of OSPF
filtering from that day. However, I saw that still I have to cover the
security/IP Services part and, after that, go for troubleshooting before my
first Lab

Initially in my plan, the idea was to go for my first attempt at the end of
2011, even though I had to pass the written first. Finally it was delayed
as, fortunately, I got a new contract directly with Telefonica. So, I got a
bit relaxed for 1-2 months but I was back on track on january 2012. Now, the
idea was to study the parts of the blueprint that I have not covered yet and
attack the written, then, do tshoot labs and go for the lab. I passed the
written on feb 2012 and schedule my lab on July 2012. Until july
2012 the plan was to focus on weaknesses, and the last weeks to do the
tshoot workbook of Narbik.

Also, one month before I subscribed to INE ALL-Access-Pass for One month.
Brian Dennis videos are my favourites from INE. Some posts of Lapukhov in
the blog are also superb. It is one thing that I recommend, to include more
than 1 vendor, but be careful as you can get confuse.

- 1st attempt: I did my first attempt on july 2012. I remember that I was
damn nervous, just too much. The exam was a big disaster and I could not
think properly. I could resolve just 8 tickets out of 10 and before the
config part I was sure that I have failed. The config part was very tricky.
However, the result was not than bad: PASSED TSHOOT, FAILED CONFIG.

After the first fail, I focused on weaknesses and the plan was to give
another try in september, as during the summer I had to work less hours.

- 2nd attempt: went to the lab again in september. I started very well and I
have resolved 8 tickets in 1 hour 20 min. They looked very easy. I got a bit
relaxed and it took me some time to resolve another one and I did not have
time to resolve the last one ( my fault...). The config part was not so bad
and finally I had doubts in 2-3 questions and overall I thought I passed.
However the result was FAILED :( I just missed 2 tickets and failed with 73
% in tshoot and passed the config. As I thought that I resolved 9 tickets I
went for a reread but unsuccessful :( I thought that I would never pass the
exam. I said to myself that I was going to give another try in 1 month and
if I fail again, I will take a big rest of at least 6 months.

- 3rd attempt: 22th october. I was a bit more tense than in my second but
ok. It was a bit better to have some pressure as in the previous attempt I
was confident in the tshoot part that I was going to pass and finally
failed. This time I resolved all the tickets and I had 10 minutes for
verification. The config part was ok too and I verified everything lot of
times. I thought that I was going to pass but, after the experience in my
2nd, who knows!! but finally PASSED!!

I think that one thing that it has helped me a lot is to divide the
technologies one by one and to focus in one aspect. Then, increase the
complexity and think "What If I change this...." In that way, you may end up
creating your own labs which I think it is definitely better to follow a
rigid structure of XYZ labs. I would like to do an analogy with something
that I know much better than this : weightlifting. I have 18 years of
experience and have competed in powerlifting/other sports.

When you train for a powerlifting contest, your goal is to increase the
total weight lifted in one competition. The lifts are the squat, bench press
and deadlift. You make a plan of 12/16 weeks, trying to peak at the contest
with max lifts. In your plan, you train the lifts by separate in different
days and you add special exercises to focus on your weaknesses to improve
your lifts. Also, as the date of the contest is near you increase the
intensity but the volume goes down.

In my opinion, the preparation for a CCIE should be similar. Focus on your
weaknesses, dividing the technologies, as the exam is near work more on
accuracy and have some rest. I think that sometimes we overcomplicate things
and rely more rigid on plans/structures etc... than thinking and
understanding. That was one of my faults during the initial part of my
preparation.

Hope this helps, Good luck to everyone :)

Jose Jara.
CCIE #37132

Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
Received on Tue Oct 30 2012 - 05:22:24 ART