Re: I passed

Congrats m8,

welcome to the club :)

On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 7:54 AM, GAURAV MADAN <gauravmadan1177_at_gmail.com>wrote:

> Congrats Richard ! Enjoy your success !
>
> On Sun, Jun 21, 2009 at 12:12 AM, Richard Dodson <streetb_at_gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > It's been several days but I don't think it's quite set in. I had
> > determined back in September that I wanted to be a CCIE by the summer
> > time. I had just finished a bicycle ride from Canada to Mexico along
> > the pacific coast, and needed to decide on my next challenge. I had
> > my CCNP, but I felt that seemed to be more about trivia than actual
> > networking skills. Not trying to knock that test or anything, it was
> > still a challenge. I just wanted more. I mainly wanted the lab
> > experience. So I started studying by reading the usual books that
> > people recommend. I took the written test in January and passed at
> > the bare minimum points required. Wasn't really sure that I was going
> > to be ready for the lab exam. Still, I had my goal so I pushed on. I
> > scheduled the lab exam for June 16th and stuck with that date.
> >
> > I studied as much as I could, but I was having a hard time coming up
> > with scenarios to play with. I had printed out an extended blue print
> > I found, and was methodically learning each technology one by one.
> > Sometimes it went well, sometimes I was clueless. My 90 day limit
> > came up and I went ahead and paid for the lab exam, despite feeling
> > like I was extremely unprepared. I am an instructor, but classes
> > aren't necessarily full time so I would have time in between classes
> > to spend a lot of time studying. I had full use of the classroom and
> > equipment, as well. I am extremely grateful for that. I had more
> > than enough routers, switches, serial cables, etc to set up pretty
> > much any situation.
> >
> > I bought IEN's lab workbook Volume I, and started going through those
> > labs. I went through the whole workbook, but I didn't like it. I
> > thought I had wasted my money but then I checked out the Version 5
> > PDFs and I went through all of those, and thought those were
> > wonderful. There were still some mistakes here and there, but for the
> > most part some extremely thorough explanations. On the merit of the
> > V5, I bought the 2nd workbook. By this time I had just over a month
> > left until my lab date. Still felt horribly unprepared. The month
> > before, I spent 8-10 hours a day, 6 days a week in front of the
> > equipment. I set a goal of one mock lab a day. I'd do the lab, the
> > next day I would grade myself, and then run over whatever subject I
> > messed up until I got it. Then I'd repeat. It was fun going through
> > the labs. I thought they were mostly well put together. Every so
> > often I'd get really annoyed trying to figure out a solution that
> > conformed to the rules given, or did not break other tasks, just to
> > find that on their solution it either broke a rule or broke another
> > task. Luckily that didn't seem to be too frequent.
> >
> > A week before my lab and after finishing all of workbook vol II, I
> > felt that I was close but that I was missing some huge gaps with
> > multicast & qos. I lost use of the classroom because they needed it
> > to teach a class. I came home and set up dynamips. I had just
> > discovered the "ghostios" and "sparsemem" options and found that made
> > a huge difference in performance, which was good because I really
> > needed it. I ran through as much multicast, QoS, BGP, IP Services &
> > System management as I could in those last few days. Made sure I
> > could set up a bgp inject-map anywhich way... things of that nature.
> >
> > I flew up to San Jose two days before my test. I was unfamiliar with
> > the area and wanted to check it out, make sure I could get there okay,
> > etc. I drove to Building C monday around 10 in the morning to make
> > sure I had it. It was a very anti-climactic experience. I asked the
> > lady at the desk if I was at the right place. Her answer was pretty
> > much "yeah, right place". At least I knew it was incredibly easy to
> > find, and that parking wouldn't be a hassle (for some reason I always
> > stress about parking). I had brought Routing TCP/IP Volume II and was
> > planning on reading bits about complex multicast scenarios, but
> > everytime I tried to read my eyes would just roll off the page.
> >
> > I ended up only getting 2 hours or so of sleep monday night. Stupid
> > insomnia but I kinda expected it. I woke up feeling extremely tired
> > and determined to pass this test. I slammed a redbull in the parking
> > lot and walked in the lobby 45 minutes early. I was the first to
> > arrive. 8 other candidates eventually showed up. There was some
> > idle small talk about which test each of us were taking, but for the
> > most part everyone kinda stuck to themselves. I felt a little out of
> > place, I hadn't shaved in months and I'm wearing my ratty (but
> > horribly comfortable) baggy jeans & sweatshirt. Everyone else seemed
> > kinda well dressed & clean cut. Oh well, the only person I was there
> > to impress was whoever would be grading my lab, and as far as I know
> > my looks were not factored in.
> >
> >
> > The proctor came out and took us back. He was talking about how it
> > was "Bloomsday", but none of us knew what that meant. I just wanted
> > to start the test. We were separated into two groups and another
> > proctor told us rules, or whatever. Then said to sit down at a desk
> > and start going. I didn't know if we were assigned a rack or just
> > found one. Then I saw my name on a piece of scratch paper and figured
> > that was my assigned rack. I thought it was weird they didn't mention
> > that. Or maybe I was too nervous to understand what he was saying. I
> > manage to be completely clueless sometimes when I'm nervous.
> >
> > I started. My panic was high. I started on the OEQs. Two seemed too
> > easy. A third was slightly challenging. The last question I had
> > typed out the right answer at first, but then had this stinging doubt
> > sensation and changed my answer. I realized after it was too late
> > that I had gotten that one incredibly wrong. So I knew that my other
> > three had to be right or, well... you guys know. That was slightly
> > stressful.
> >
> > I started the lab portion. I immediately separated all the sheets and
> > spread everything around. I started scribbling notes on my paper. I
> > had all my windows open and maximized, with many notepads for some
> > copy & pasting, of which I did lots. I was used to the right click
> > button being paste in the putty & teraterm I had been using. This was
> > my first time with securecrt. The middle button was paste. I got
> > used to it quickly, though. I started going through each task
> > methodically. I tried to see the big picture I was putting together.
> > Three hours later, at lunch, I was more than halfway done.
> >
> > During lunch I only picked at my food. Which is weird because I never
> > just pick at my food. Finally i got to go back and start. An hour or
> > so after lunch I had finished going through all the tasks. I spent
> > the next hour going over everything, and testing, making slight tweaks
> > along the way. Five hours into the test I felt that I was done, but
> > felt there must have been something I missed. So i spent another hour
> > going through everything again. Then I went through the documentation
> > to see if I could figure out some of the small little details I wasn't
> > sure about. Didn't have much luck with that, so I left an hour early.
> > I knew I had passed the lab portion.
> >
> > I knew it would all come down to the OEQs, I even knew which one. I
> > went back to the hotel room and looked it up, and I was 99% certain I
> > was right, but not 100% certain. So that meant I had to play the
> > waiting game. I went out to go buy a movie and a six pack of beer.
> > In my drained mental capabilities I somehow bought a six pack of non
> > alcoholic beer. So I went back to the store and got real beer (i left
> > a gift of non alcoholic beer for housekeeping). I was a few stress
> > relieving beers in when I finally got my result: pass. Spent the
> > next few hours on the phone with various friends & family. Most of
> > whom have no clue what it is that I do but are very supportive of me
> > anyway. I spent the next few days hanging out in San Francisco, which
> > ended up being mostly tiring. I'm finally back home and still not
> > sure what to make of the whole thing. Still hard to believe that
> > after all this time of such a narrow focus, it's done.
> >
> > I didn't even know about this mailing list until the day I took this
> > test and another candidate had mentioned it. Probably a resource I
> > could have used, but I'm still glad I did. I hope to eventually (not
> > anytime soon) take the SP exam. I also just love learning in general,
> > and I love helping out when I can, so it will be fun to participate.
> >
> > So there's my story! I would say that I'd be going to look for a
> > really cool job right now, but instead I'm taking my little brother on
> > a bicycle ride from Seattle to San Francisco. It will be a good form
> > of stress relief.
> >
> > (I did my best to leave out *any* details of the test, but if I broke
> > any rules then please let me know!)
> >
> > -Richard
> > #24589
> >
> >
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> >
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-- 
Salah
CCIE #24207
Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net