From: Robert Hosford (cisco@certifiednets.com)
Date: Sat Oct 08 2005 - 22:41:52 GMT-3
I wanted to let everybody know that my CCIE has been a long time coming. It
has been a lesson in patience, perseverance, and dedication. No single test
has been more difficult than the CCIE.
The problem with the CCIE is not that it is not one test that you take when
you step into the lab. But rather it is a series of tests that can span
years. It'll test your bank account (20k+), test friendships, your
marriage, your endurance, and your belief in yourself to achieve this goal.
You basically are going to give up your life of fun for a long time. And
more than likely you will fail the first time you do. You will have to ask
yourself why do it again? I know why I asked myself that several times.
You need to ask yourself if you can devote a year of your time, over 300
hours of lab time, 20k dollars. But then again if I had known how much it
was going to cost or how long it would take I might not have tried. So
maybe ignorance is bliss. :)
So now I am CCIE 14711. And I have a lot of people to thank:
God, the Wife, my family, General Dynamics, Bruce, Val, Bob, Jeff, and Gary.
I cannot say enough about the Net Master crew, except that if you want to
earn your number, you need to go to them. I know that I would not be a
CCIE without their help. I would sit in class and go, "Hey I didn't know
that." They made me think out of the box, they helped me hone my skills. I
know that when I go to one of Bruce's classes, I am getting my money's
worth.
I want to give a special thank you to Bob Sinclair for giving me a tip with
simple scripts that made my life so much easier. He must've added twenty
points just because of that tip. I know that went a long way in boosting my
confidence. In the past I had lost points due to unreachable networks. I
could ping my entire lab, every interface from every router in ten seconds.
It found problems in a timely manner so that I could correct them and get
the points I needed to pass the lab. I do not take the lab without
following his advice. I could not live without the script. I passed the
CCIE because of it.
I want to thank Rack Time Rentals for their great customer service and gear.
Rack Time Rentals worked great with the NetMaster DoIts. One time I worked
through a tornado on a doit lab using the Rack Time Rental Gear. (Email me
for more details on that crazy day) Just plan in advance when you can use
their gear.
I want to thank Bruce Caslow for always encouraging me, working with me, and
for one Outstanding Website. The Checkit, the Showits, The Doits, the
website has everything. Oh, if you don't buy the Doit labs and work through
them, then your not serious about getting a CCIE. I took the Doits and used
the horizontal approach to pass my CCIE. If you don't know what that means
then get to NMC2.
When I walk away from a NetMaster class, I still have the ability to learn
because of his website. It was my homepage during my CCIE preparation. I
will never forget the day that he pulled up my statistics and Bruce was
blown away by them. I was putting the hurt on his website. Based upon his
statistics of my usage, we were able to look at how my preparation was
going. I love the CCIE roadmap. I love the self assessment and the checkit
assessment. I love the quiz it's. And when I found a mistake on the
website or lab, Val fixed it very fast. They take comments and suggestions
that will help them improve. But they're not afraid to tell you that you're
not ready. That's what love about them, they are honest. The person
answering the emails is the same person in class. These guys are bunch of
workaholics and they work just as hard as you do. And in some classes I saw
them working harder than some of the students. The classes which you make
of it, you get out of that what you put into it. So you better come
prepared to work. Bruce, once again, I want to thank you for the study
group. Because of the study group, I found a new way to work in the lab and
that probably added ten points.
I love the NMC2, because the students there are top notch. I learned from
every single one of them. I sat in one class next to a guy I was sure that
was going to pass the CCIE lab. He was outstanding in class. When Bruce
gives us a lab to complete, this guy nailed it. It was his first time in
class. By some chance we both ended up going to the lab together. We both
didn't pass that day. But we learned, we came back, and we both passed.
So why am I saying this? Because the Net Master Class is not a brain dump.
You'll learn a ton of material. But how you approach the test is just as
important. Bruce gave me a game plan. He told me where I was weak. He told
me where I was strong. But the way to look at and work the lab was the most
important thing I talked to him about. In my first lab attempt, I let the
lab intimidate me. I felt that I knew as much as my friends who had passed
the CCIE. But the pressure got to me and I failed. On my last lab attempt
I was confident and I was not intimidated by the lab.
If you're looking to pass the R/S CCIE there's no need to look anywhere
else. If you have the time, the money, if you have the ambition, the heart,
the drive, then Bruce Caslow and the Net Master team has everything else
you'll need a period.
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