CCIE R&S Journal: I Want To Be The Best

Hello!

I have found there are very few blogs and less journals out there about CCIE's. Until I found this site. I am looking for like minded people to help me keep my eye on the prize.

My Goal: ATTEMPT THE LAB IN 10 MONTHS

My Study Plan: I am following EXACTLY what INE is asking of me. Preparing for the lab and by proxy be prepared for the written. Study for 4 hours on weekdays and 6 hours on weekends. I plan to read the books semi-outlined by INE, in that I will read probably 2 hours a day, until I've run out of books and then I will use the rest of the time to lab. So once I run out of books I will do 4 full hours of labbing. I would like to extend this to 6 hours a weekday and 6 hours each weekend day. While I am concerned about burn out, I've been in this situation before during my full time work and full time college days, so its at least familiar to me.

My Life: I work from home currently working on all JUNIPER all day every day. I've been in the field of network security with Cisco ASA for 2-3 years and have been in the R&S world with CISCO, specifically their newer command line platform as well as their IOS XE/XR type stuff. Working on Nexus for about 1-2 years. I currently work in my new job on all JUNIPER gear which makes studying a little more annoying, but nonetheless not horrible. Since I work from home I can study before and after my shift fairly quickly and easily.

Concerns: One of the main things I've noticed from stories is that the CCIE becomes longer then you expect, not due to your lack of wanting to study, but due to life stepping in the way. I am hoping that I can do my first attempt in 10 months confidently. I am also concerned if I am attacking this the right way, 4 hours a day, is that too little? Is that too much? Is 6 hours too much? I guess everyone is different.

Current Status: I am currently at the STP marker on the INE track. Doing Lab's in VIRL I've noticed unfortunate inconsistencies with how port-channels and STP works on that software so I may do rack rentals going forward.

Are there any tips? I will be updating daily (including today) to keep me honest with my goals. Is my goal of 10 months insane? Is it possible? I've seen some who've taken years on it, but I believe that is more due to life getting in the way and more important stuff to do then study hours a day on a cert.

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Bardlebee

DAY 195 - 213

THINGS I DID:

- PASSES COMPLETE

Total Time: 4 hours x 18 Days = 72 HOURS

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:

TOTAL DAYS OF ZERO TIME STUDYING SINCE BEGINNING: 10

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Well, its over. I redid every lab until I knew how to deploy the solution, why the syntax was deployed and how it affected things. I can't tell you whether I remember any of it, but its done.

Out of all the things I've done in this now 7 month journey, this was the most tedious and boring of it all. It has improved my syntax quite a bit, but there are still plenty of things I can't do right off the notepad. A lot of that is fairly corner case and outside of IGP/BGP stuff, stuff like system management or other things of that nature.

I didn't do daily updates again because I felt it was unneccessary. This process took me a lot longer then I had ever anticipated. I thought about running through all the labs one more time, just to be sure that the ones I eliminated a month or two ago are still good. But at this point I think that would be a waste of time.

Going forward I think the best thing I can do is start to put this all together. I need to take thorough notes on what I can't configure from memory and what logic I am missing. I'm going to move on to the full scale labs, but there is some spring cleaning I need to do before I do that, I hope to do that all next week. Some of those include:

1) Make my own CSR1000v lab, instead of using rack rentals since full scale will cost more.
2) Read end-to-end QoS a bit on shaping and rate limiting
3) Re-learn the different IPv6 tunnel technologies.
4) Choose a good flash card program (I should have done this day one)

I think the first one will take me the longest.

I've been kicking around the idea that I will schedule my lab exam. I mean holy crap. I said I'd take my first attempt 10 months from when I started and holy crap its already month 7. Where did the time go!? I feel like I have no more time left! I hear most people take 18 months to get their CCIE, I don't expect to pass on this attempt but I would like to have a chance at it.

The real question is, can I do full scales/functionals and other large labs for the next 4 months and be close to ready for a lab? I wonder should I wait to schedule?

I'm thinking of scheduling the last week of August which would put me at 11 months of studying. My lack of experience and that short time frame I think will affect my grade for sure and most likely I won't be able to do it. But, you won't know until you try so screw it. I'm about to drop/waste 2k on a goal of goals!

7 MONTHS DRAINED:

There has been a sickness that has affected me since when I passed my Written in late January, I mentioned it before. That sickness is the loss of drive I've had pushing myself. I spend more time in leisure then I used to in the beginning. I'll lab for 4-5 hours but feel only focused and effective for 2-3 of those. I think this may be due to the longevity of this, but its also because in the last 6 months I've really started to hate where I work. It's affected my mentality a lot and just at the end of the day I don't want to work hard.

I have a kid coming next month too, nothing is going to stop me, but a first child is going to be tough. I'm hoping my wife will be able to sustain me as backup for the next 4 months. As a network engineer herself, she knows what this is and what it takes. But I can't tell you how frustrated I feel that I am split between wanting to be a great father and wanting to finish this CCIE through. Its funny, when I started this thing my wife wasn't pregnant and my mind set was like "Man this is going to be a straight shot, nothing in my way I work from home and all is good." Yeah, I guess that didn't happen. This is a life road block, but not a hard stop.

I thought foolishly that the "life" factor wouldn't hit me and I hit a sweet spot in my timing for pursuing this. I was wrong. Both in my career, being frustrated with my work and not enjoying it at all, and with a new kid coming, things are going to get super challenging.

I need to bring things up to the next level, when I schedule my lab at the end of this week I think its going to help a lot with my focus on this. Worst case scenario I work my ass off for 4 months and fail, it just means I get closer to the goal. It sucks losing that money, but once I have my CCIE I can leave for a company that actually has real benefits. :P

Anyway, a lot of jabber to say nothing is going to stop me and I need to wake up and get on my second stride. That's your tl;dr.

Bardlebee

DAY 214

THINGS I DID:

- Fourth Pass 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:

TOTAL DAYS OF ZERO TIME STUDYING SINCE BEGINNING: 10

FINAL THOUGHTS:
So I did a bit of 1) and 2) today. I purchased a shuttle server recommended by routergods and so that should be here on Tuesday for me to build my lab environment. I decided to do this over doing a lab environment at my work because my work could change sooner then later. I'd hate to have to redo all that work.

I read up on QoS, specifically shaping and how to determine Bc and Be when configuring. I think I've got a good handle on the logic... very grey maybe. But most importantly I think I can equate it given the CIR and time in ms intervals.

Not much was done today, kind of the calm before the storm I guess. I think tomorrow I will do a functional lab or focus on reading most if not all the day while I wait for my lab to come in. Tuesday will likely just be me building my server all day.

When I get paid this coming weekend I'll pay for my lab attempt in Late August, I do however want to give myself a FULL four months to study for it, so I may do first week of September, we'll see.

Bardlebee

DAY 215-216

THINGS I DID:

- Some Nexus poking around, prepping for work stuff - 2 x 3
Total Time: 6 hours

QUESTIONS/CONFUSION/CONCERNS:

TOTAL DAYS OF ZERO TIME STUDYING SINCE BEGINNING: 10

FINAL THOUGHTS:
So I thought I'd get my server up today, it came in the mail and all that. But I have some immediate things going on this week that requires me to bone up on Nexus devices. I actually never deployed Nexus, I was in operations with them, but never had to say deploy EIGRP on them or anything. So I spent time doing that today and going through EIGRP on it. It's very different but its a great OS so far. I don't know if it will help me later this week but here is hoping.

I'm kind of strung out on this weeks upcoming events and after Friday I'll be able to schedule my lab and go full force on it. Tomorrow, I am going to try to setup my server, because its a fools errand I think to pursue Nexus more, its not going to help this week. Its a good taste but that's it. I may keep doing rack rentals until my server is 100 percent up. To that end I may do all 3 functional labs again... that reminds me, I need to add to my list:

5) Learn PPPoE you scrub.

Bardlebee

DAY 217 BEAST MODE ACTIVATED!

THINGS I DID:

- Functional Lab 1 - The Redo

Total Time: 5 hours

TO DO LIST:

- Learn Usage/PPPoE Logic

TOTAL DAYS OF ZERO TIME STUDYING SINCE BEGINNING: 10

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Today I spent a good amount of time doing and redoing PPPoE setups, basic ones, over and over again so I can get the syntax down. While the logic isn't in the commands yet, I can at least configure it. I redid Functional Lab 1 as well. This time around I hardly missed anything. There were some typos but that's it, for the most part I was able to type it all in text doc and transport over.

One of the takeaways is that I do a section, and I just go at it. I read over the section and I just do exactly what it wants me to do, this may not be so great in the Lab, but for Day 1 it was a good observation to have. I need to increase my speed, but I've got four months.

I'm stressing out right now, can't wait for Friday to be over, I have a thing I won't go into detail, but I'm being technically put on the spot and its got me nervous :P

Functional Study - (Misses/Etc)
4.2 - IPv4 EIGRP Authentication - (Syntax - Not fully memorized)
5.2 - IBGP Sub-Section - (Forgot forgot to utilize route-reflection enable another path out the network)

I SCHEDULED MY LAB HOLD ME!:

This is it folks, I said I would take my lab 10 months from when I started. While September is like... 11.5 months, I'm adding a little cushion to have a real go at it. I don't expect much but I'm going to work my ass off to pass the best I can.

I have a LOT going on the past few weeks that have been stressing me out, I got a baby coming next month. But I'm going to do it come hell or high water.

SEPTEMBER 12TH IS MY DATE!

Both excited and nervous, but worst case scenario I become more of a badass.

Bardlebee

DAY 232: Stupid Labs!

THINGS I DID:

- Functional Lab 3 - Half and half 3 hours
- Building New Labs - 4 x 4 hours
- TSHOOT Labs - 5 x 4 hours

Total Time: 39 hours

TO DO LIST:

- Learn Usage/PPPoE Logic

TOTAL DAYS OF ZERO TIME STUDYING SINCE BEGINNING: 16

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I've been beating myself up on trying to get two new labs running. One of them is for INE and is setup with CSR1000v's and VIRL as Layer 2. I am so super close to having this done, but there was a steep learning curve as I have ZERO Virtualization experience so its been a process. I'm very close to being done with this setup, so hoping tomorrow or next day that will be done.

I've purchased Narbik's full bundle, with that I need to get GNS3 running as well. Another process through VM's. So you can tell I basically have my work cut out for me. Every day I spend/waste on building these labs I feel like is wasted study potential. To the point to where I feel like I should push back my lab. But screw it, I'll take it come hell or high water.

Hoping I can get both lab builds done by end of this coming weekend so I can just focus on 8 hour long study sessions.

My daughter is to be born in like 2-3 weeks too, so that's a thing. Lots of things happening that is slowing me down, but I still have my focus. My big weaknesses right now are my speed of config and my ability to identify the problem in troubleshooting. So I have four month and feel I can get both those problems more or less resolved. As I said from the beginning, I'm down with failing this thing, I just want a decent shot.

The past two weeks have sucked for getting any labbing done. But I have a feeling once I get these lab builds done I can activate beast mode, shut the whole world out minus my new daughter and just be anti-social for the next 3.5 months.

nickelito

Hi Bardlebee!

Ive been reading through your journey as a preparation for starting my own CCIE journey.
Is there anything in particular that you wish you had done differently in the first few months?

Bardlebee

Probably a generalized outline from the start of what I wanted to achieve and by what date/time. Other then that I think the way I started was probably the best I could.

I would say though, and I'm still bad about this, I didn't use flash cards and I think that would have helped me for my written. I also started with the idea that I would take my written just before scheduling my lab. However since the written has derailed even further from the actual lab. I'm of the opinion its best to study for your written, pass it and then focus on the lab. Its wayyyyy too much of a derailment as it was and now more so in my opinion.

Bardlebee

DAY 261: BABY AND NEW JOB

THINGS I DID: Full Scales

Total Time: 84 hours

TO DO LIST:

Do full scales/tshoot/mock labs till your eyes bleed

TOTAL DAYS OF ZERO TIME STUDYING SINCE BEGINNING: 23

FINAL THOUGHTS:

So I've been silent for a time, its mainly because I fell off the face of the earth.

There is also something else that has squandered both my study time and my vigor to get this CCIE wrapped up. While I still have the CCIE scheduled and payed for September 26th, I don't think I will pass on this attempt. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to give 100 percent. But see the exhibit below as to why.

1) Its a hard test I hear, real hard. First attempts usually aren't a pass, hell 4th attempts have been failed.

2) I had a baby on Monday. I mean, my wife did, so my time will be divided between my family and my labbing.

3) I got a new job. This is a fact I've kept hidden for about 2 months now because I was going through series of interviews and my work mates know about this thread. Sucked to give them the news, but I am excited about the new job as it will take me out of my comfort zone. However... I want to be good at this job, to be good at this job I need to study the things they use at this job. So this will also divide my time.

With all those facts at play, I will be jumping to full scales. I was going through Narbik's Advanced Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, I was going to do Vol. 3/4 and then do TSHOOT, but I got advice from other CCIE's that I should just do the full scales at this point, then mock labs and TSHOOT and just rinse and repeat forever. With three months left, I guess I do need to get my time down on config for sure. I need a lot more practice.

Its going to be really difficult with a new job to get my skills up. But it is what it is. I think right now its more important to me that I'm in a job that I am growing in both financially and skills wise then getting this CCIE. To me the CCIE is an eventuality, I don't want to rot in a position I don't enjoy while pursuing it.

So, I will start the INE full scales today and do one a day to begin with, then do more and more. I took a whole week off studying for the baby being born, naturally, so its tough for me to get back into the groove. Especially since the past two months my drive has suffered significantly. I actually firmly believe my vigor for this test has suffered tremendously due to how much I disliked my work place and how useless I felt at work. I won't go into details, but I didn't feel like I was useful at work and felt I was in a dead end position, even though I was their top senior engineer. This gave me a lot of after hours frustration and I think that had a lot to do with the past two months for frustration and lack of labbing. I honestly do.

I guess we'll find out with this new job.

ITSpectre

Bardlebee wrote: »

2) I had a baby on Monday. I mean, my wife did, so my time will be divided between my family and my labbing.

You sure it was not REALLY you???

Congrats on the bundle of joy! I know you are happy/excited/ready/overjoyed

Bardlebee

ITSpectre wrote: »

You sure it was not REALLY you???

Congrats on the bundle of joy! I know you are happy/excited/ready/overjoyed

Yeah a lot of new stresses in my life, but its all good stress so its okay. I just would hate for all this to detract from my end goal. I don't like failing at something I start. I am fine with failing to achieve, but I don't like having to give up. We'll see. I doubt it'll come to that.

I think WORST case scenario. I fail a few times and just simply try to get acclimated to my new role, then I'll be able to get at it and balance better. Right now its kind of like being on a 3 legged stool so to speak, so I have to find that balance WHILE sitting on it. lol.

jaffe

How's everything coming along, haven't heard from you in a while