From: Mark Lewis (markl11@xxxxxxxxxxx)
Date: Wed Sep 20 2000 - 10:14:04 GMT-3
Yep, just to add to the chorus, 'Congratulations !'
You now have permission to become normal again, leaving the rest of us
zombies still here in Never-Ending-Toil-Land !!
Mark
>From: "Lei Chen" <leichen@cisco.com>
>Reply-To: "Lei Chen" <leichen@cisco.com>
>To: "David H. Brown" <DHBrown@Pipeline.com>, <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
>Subject: Re: CCIE #6231
>Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 21:59:58 -0700
>
>Congratulations!
>My lab test is scheduled a week later from now, at SEp 27th. Helps from new
>CCIEs are definitely needed. Could you tell me what kinds of questions on
>ipx routing and ip multicast routing you were asked during the test?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Lei
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "David H. Brown" <DHBrown@PipeLine.com>
>To: <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
>Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2000 9:29 PM
>Subject: CCIE #6231
>
>
> > Today I was awarded CCIE # 6231 in RTP, NC!!!!
> >
> > Since I don't have a web site to refer everyone to, I will post my story
> > here. Feel free to delete it... I have been looking forward to writing
> > this note, and I must have created 25 mental post-it's of things I
>wanted
>to
> > be sure to include. All of that memory was reclaimed and filled with
>IOS
> > commands, so now I'm going to have to wing it after all.
> >
> > I started this adventure last October when I passed the written exam. I
> > then bought and read Caslow, Doyle and Hutnik, and I found this list and
> > joined in January -- clearly a good move. I found out how little I
>knew,
> > and how much more I have to (even still) learn. I bought a rack and
>filled
> > it with routers, an ISDN simulator and a phone line simulator. This was
> > beginning to be fun! I configured the rack with any scenario I could
>find.
> > I strongly recommend ccbootcamp.com, Marc's labs are an excellent
> > preparation tool for the real lab. I also used labs from fatkid.com,
>and
> > then any scenarios that popped on the list. Being with a Cisco partner,
>I
> > was able to have access to the ASET program, which was also a huge help.
> > After all of that preparation, I failed badly on my first attempt in
>March.
> >
> > Feeling whooped by the ten-to-floor-ya lab, I avoided touching my rack
>for
>a
> > few weeks. My next attempt was set for June, so I figured I would start
>up
> > again a few weeks before then. Bad choice -- avoid waiting until the
>last
> > 'few weeks' to study. Take a look at some of the posts of people
>looking
>to
> > trade dates to get more time -- I would venture to say some of them
>should
> > have not waited for the date to come so close to prepare for it. I went
>in
> > to the second attempt thinking I would see something close to what I saw
>the
> > first time, and I could just skate through no problem. Time to
>interject
> > that I have been certifying for quite some time. I passed the CNE in
>1990,
> > I had been working with NetWare since 2.0a was the cat's meow. MCSE was
>not
> > a terrible challenge, nor was Citrix, Checkpoint was not hard -- I even
> > passed the CCNP and CCDP. The CCIE lab is nothing like any of those
> > certifications, and may it never be. With the other certs, there are
>study
> > mechanisms and a limited number of potential questions. Well, I suppose
> > there are a limited number of questions that can be asked on the lab,
>but
> > that number is much much higher than the pool of 150 questions that are
>on
> > the other tests. Needless to say, I was quite surprised to see a
>completely
> > different exam. I did well, making it to day 2 but not to
>troubleshooting.
> >
> > I had scheduled to go again in September, and I apparently didn't learn
>from
> > previous experience NOT to wait around. See, I learned even more than
>how
> > to properly route and switch packets. I bought a bunch of Cisco Press
> > books, and read through most of them. I also read the Cisco Voice book
>by
> > Robert Caputo, it seems to have all the basics -- though nothing
>replaces
> > hands on. There was a problem with my new lab date, and I was able to
>move
> > up quite a bit and get in in August (thanks Christine!). That was only
>2
> > weeks away!! I figured I could slam the routers full time nights and
> > weekends, like I did before, and I would be fine. Nope. Another
>completely
> > different test, with a twist I could not figure out (until I got back
>home).
> > I was again able to make day 2, but a few careless mistakes and I went
>home
> > again before troubleshooting. This was getting old. I realized I must
>be
> > worse than average, since the average pass was on the third attempt. In
> > reality, I was just not an expert yet -- since experts don't make
>careless
> > mistakes like I did.
> >
> > This entire time, I was trying to balance having a life along with
>working
> > full time and studying for the exam. There were vacations to take and
> > church functions to prepare for and attend that would take much of my
> > non-working time. After reading other's posts about not having a life
>and
> > reading the "what will I do now that I passed" posts, I realized that
>there
> > is something more important than passing this exam. It's about
>priorities:
> > God, Family, THEN occupation. When you mess these up, life gets messed
>up.
> > Although I tried to get my priorities straight before my third attempt,
>I
> > was unable to because I felt the short time I had to prepare should be
>spent
> > completely on the routers. Ehhhnnnt, wrong. After the third failure, I
> > changed the priorities back to where they should have been right along.
>I
> > was blinded for months by the allure of gaining the medallion,
>forgetting
> > that all this will be gone someday, and that day could be any day for
>any
> > one of us. Oh, I did keep studying in every moment I could, but my
>attitude
> > was changing. It was not an overnight change, but a process that I am
>still
> > dealing with daily. When the children asked me to play a game with
>them,
>my
> > February answer was "don't bother me now." I did mellow that response
>after
> > a while to "I can't right now, but after June 17." For the last few
>weeks,
> > the answer became, "sure, let's play -- but you need to be in bed on
>time
>so
> > Daddy can get his studying done." Oh, that was much sweeter to them as
>well
> > as to me -- since I love to play games with my children. I came home
> > tonight to a small congratulatory reception, and we proceeded to play a
> > game. To me, that is the right way to be. This experience has been a
> > tremendous period of growth for me -- not just technically, since even
>the
> > exam is not just about knowing the IOS. It's about the pressure you are
> > under at any time, can you do it in this very limited amount of time?
>And
> > can you get it right the first time, because when you go over it with
>the
> > proctor, it's too late to fix it. Speaking of the proctors, I have seen
> > messages that have said bad things about the RTP proctor Alan Lanier.
>Could
> > it possibly be enjoyable to have a job where every day you have to tell
>80%
> > (or more) of the candidates that enter the room that they have failed??
>I
> > think not, after seeing his joyful demeanor while presenting me with the
> > coveted yellow sticky note. I think THAT is the fun part for him. After
>all
> > of my tests, I say that he was always fair -- although I really would
>have
> > enjoyed passing on my first attempt, it was not Alan's fault. I have
>only
> > my poor preparation to blame for my (yes MY) failures. Now I will be
>able
> > to reap the rewards of my successful completion of the lab exam. Lesson
> > learned: keep your priorities straight.
> >
> > For this fourth and final attempt, I again had a completely different
>test
> > (they seem to have lots of different tests.) I was able to manage my
>time
> > well and complete the lab very early, leaving myself time to go over it
>to
> > find and fix anything I may have misinterpreted. I was ecstatic to
>reach
> > troubleshooting, quite sure that at least one of the other two that
>started
> > day two with me would make it before I would. Sadly, it was just me.
>The
> > last section is very stressful, but I was able to gather enough points
>to
> > reach the mark.
> >
> > In the final part of my note (one of my mental post-it's came back to
>me),
>I
> > wanted to say thank you to the ones who helped me in some way to reach
>this
> > goal of mine. Some helped me technically, others were my non technical
> > support:
> > God
> > My wife and five children
> > Jay Thompson
> > Meredith Davison
> > Mark Martin
> > Christine Jeffrey
> > Lori C.
> > Ron P.
> > Angelo M.
> > Jomi S.
> > The DNE Team
> > Paul S. & family
> > Pat & Jeff
> > CCIElab@GroupStudy.com
> >
> > David
> >
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