Re: Passed SP lab, 21yr old double CCIE!

Congratulations Rick! Great job on that! And here I thought you were
planning to relax for a little while! But two CCIE's already, and quite
the road-map you've laid out there!

Don't forget to stop and smell the flowers occasionally! They do not
smell like routers! :)

*Scott Morris*, CCIE/x4/ (R&S/ISP-Dial/Security/Service Provider) #4713,

JNCIE-M #153, JNCIS-ER, CISSP, et al.

JNCI-M, JNCI-ER

smorris_at_internetworkexpert.com

Internetwork Expert, Inc.

http://www.InternetworkExpert.com

Toll Free: 877-224-8987

Outside US: 775-826-4344

Knowledge is power.

Power corrupts.

Study hard and be Eeeeviiiil......

Rick Mur wrote:
> After about 2 months preparation for the Written and 4 months of
> preparation for the Lab I passed the CCIE Service Provider lab
> yesterday!!
> I took my lab in Brussels on the 19th. I was really scared and
> stressed the 2 days before. Slept very badly.
>
> During the exam I had a few things that didn't work right away, which
> caused my adrenaline level to get to a pretty high level :-P. I
> finished all tasks by lunch with just one skipped. After lunch I got
> that one fixed in 15 mins, which shows that taking a break really works.
>
> The exam was very tough but fair. Much of the topics in the blueprint
> was in there and I really saw a difference with R&S. On my R&S lab
> most questions were really straightforward, looking for a specific
> feature. On my SP lab I got lot's of freedom in choosing things or the
> way I wanted it to work. I also had a few questions which requested
> thinking out-of-the-box. Something that is so obvious to configure,
> wasn't allowed or even possible in the IOS version, so I had to get
> around it.
>
> Wow it's amazing to be a double CCIE now at age 21 :-)
>
> Funny fact was that I had access to both the new documentation and the
> good-old UniverCD. Had a little advantage of that as well :-P
>
> Brussels was a fine location, much better than San Jose. Great 20" LCD
> widescreens, nice temperature, racks behind a glass wall.
>
> My preparation consisted of a couple of resources. I used all
> materials from both Internetwork Expert and IPexpert. They both have a
> few pros and cons.
>
> The INE Class-on-demand is not even a pearl, but a diamond! This was
> my greatest eye-opener in the working of a lot of the SP topics. It's
> also really focused on SP, so knowledge of IGP and BGP is required. I
> really had a good understanding of how and why the stuff works.
>
> INE workbook 1 is great for SP topics. IPexpert workbook 1 is good for
> all topics, but focus is a little less on SP topics and since I
> already have R&S I only needed the SP topics.
>
> IPexpert workbook 3 is something you don't want if you are a little
> further. The labs are good for an introduction, but they are really
> short and the video breakdowns give little extra information, besides
> entering the solutions guide answers. But I contacted IPexpert about
> that and their customer service is the best!! They took my arguments,
> acknowledged them and promised to improve the labs soon. A thank you
> to Mike for that!
>
> INE workbook 2 is reaaally good for both complex and less-complex
> labs. They are great for preparation and I really learned from them.
> The solutions guide is without any explanations, just the answers, but
> besides that it's great! The level of the labs is a little light. I
> would say a level 8 to 9 is the real lab.
>
> IPexpert workbook 2 is such a fantastic workbook as well. If I can
> advice you to buy 1 workbook from them, it's this one! Those 5 full
> labs are so intense. Cover so much stuff in each lab. First time I got
> totally overwhelmed by it, some are definitely harder than the real
> lab. Don't do these labs if have some weak areas, since they'll beat
> the crap out of you :-P They are fantastic for lab preparation in the
> last month.
>
> End of April I was able to join the INE SP online bootcamp. This was
> great. I guess they should rename it to a mock-lab week. It was
> exactly what I needed to built confidence. I scored well on all 3
> graded mocklabs and they cover great topics and really can be compared
> to the real lab. Brian McGahan has such a great way of explaining
> everything and his labs were fantastic. Again it proved the importance
> of doing a bootcamp, without it I wouldn't have been that confident
> about my level, but after those 5 days I really was ready to go for it!
>
> Wow I wanted to do a shorter story, but turned out not to be possible
> with so much to tell :-P
>
> Again I'm soo happy passing in first attempt for my SP lab and I think
> I'm the youngest double CCIE now on the planet.
>
> Next up are first some Cisco DataCenter exams, then JNCIS-ER/M and in
> a few months I'll start my CCIE Security track!
>
> Thanks to everyone here and special thanks to Mike from IPexert, Kady
> from INE and a huge thanks to Brian McGahan for his great CoD and
> bootcamp. Also Scott Morris for his great Wb2 labs from his previous
> employer ;-)
>
> Rick Mur
> CCIE2 #21946 (R&S / SP)
> JNCIA-ER, MCSE
> rick_at_rickmur.com
>
>
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Received on Thu May 21 2009 - 12:14:41 ART