From: Jaspreet Bhatia (jasbhati@cisco.com)
Date: Fri Sep 27 2002 - 13:01:45 GMT-3
Folks,
I passed yesterday in San Jose . CCIE # 10347 .Also my
study partner , Akhilesh Verma , made it to become CCIE # 10348 . It is
tough to describe what I am feeling right now as it has not properly sunk
in yet . I finished the exam by lunch time and checked it 3 times by 1 PM .
So I left the lab by 1 PM . Later , while waiting for the results , I was
beginning to think that I should have stayed on and checked it a couple of
more times . Lesson to be learned , check your configs in the lab every
which way at least 5 times and beat it to death .Anyway , I got the mail
Congratulations on becoming a CCIE by 5.45 PM the same day .So, all's well
that ends well.
Now , the usual round of study
techniques and a little background. I have been in Networking since 1996 .
( been a Systems Admin mostly , starting out with Novell,then Microsoft and
then Solaris) . I did my CNE, MCNE and MCSE in 1997-98. They are what they
call them , paper certs. In 1998 , I met a CCIE in India. It was pretty
rare to meet or see one those days ;-) . I was so impressed by the person
and his knowledge that I decided that one day I was going to be a CCIE
myself and everyone laughed and said sure , you go right ahead . I did my
CCNA in January 2000 .CCNP in May 2001 .CCIE written in August 2001 . Well,
so far so good and I told myself this thing ain't difficult ( telling
myself that I had passed all these paper certs with ease , this would be a
piece of cake ) . Well, it wasn't exactly a piece of cake.I started my
preparation in August 2001 . Being in Cisco and knowing the right people
helped me setup a whole rack of goodies , like Voice,ATM , ISDN , Catalyst
Switches, 3600 , 4000,2500 series routers. I gave my first attempt at the
lab on July 16th and failed scoring about 65 % . That was a big shock and
a wake-up call . I revamped my efforts and finally they paid off .The
following are the list of lab resources that I have used during my 13
months of Preparation .
1) Lots of Cisco internal labs for CSE's
2) Labs created by an SE name Tyler Pomerhn within Cisco
3) All-in one study ( good place to start and get your feet wet )
4) CCbootcamp labs ( the best !!)
5) Routopia Labs ( Will challenge you really well )
6) IPexpert labs
7) FATKID labs
8) Lots of Samples and tips from CCO
In addition to the above it is really important to build a solid base with
as much reading as you can do . I have averaged about 4 hours every day for
the past one year . In the initial 2-3 months all I did was read and then
started with the labs . it is important to really understand the technology
by trying out many ways of doing the same thing and asking yourself those
"what if " questions all the time . the CCIE is a difficult endeavor not
because of the scope of the studies that you have to do but because you
have to put everything else in your life at hold while you are working at
it . And that is the most difficult thing
Acknowledgements
1) I must thank my new wife ( we got married in November 2001 ) of
understanding and supporting me in every which way possible .
2) I must thank my Father who told me everything worthwhile in life is
worth working for and will take work and only then you will appreciate it
3) I must thank my colleagues at Cisco . Ballie, could not have done it w/o
the equipment. You are a lifesaver . Jiwan Grewal and David Anderson ,I
learned valuable lessons from you . Vivek Baveja , you gave me the much
needed courage to go for it .
4) Last but not the least , Akhilesh , my partner in crime ,
Congratulations on your CCIE and some good news for you . You won't be
woken up at 7 AM on the weekends by an annoying phone call anymore . ( only
if you plan to go for security ) . I cannot tell you what the
importance of having a study partner is .you have saved my sanity many
times . Jaganadh , if you are reading this , my best wishes are with you
when you go for the exam next week.You have been the most knowledgeable of
us three
and are ready to share it . go for it , friend , you can do it .And Don ,
yes I will finally return your ISDN switch . ;-)
I would highly recommend the pursuit of the this Cert for people who want
to do it for the fun of doing it and really enjoy working with this stuff (
If you are in it for the money , you will find it a bit hard to go
through right now ')
Regards,
Jaspreet Bhatia
CCIE # 10347
MCNE , MCSE , CCNA , CCNP et all
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