How much money have you spend to get your digits?

SeekBytes

Dear members,

I would like to ask if you could tell me how much money you spent to achieve your goal of obtaining the CCIE certification. I am trying to plan ahead of time the money to be put on the side to pay for the books, video courses, rack rentals etc.

My goal is to clear the exam within three attempts, I noticed that even INE's employees struggle to get through the lab exam. Which is not what I was expecting to be honest, but given the difficulties of the exam, it might still represent a passe-partout for landing new jobs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSemYm7Gg-g

Kind Regards.

gorebrush

Figure: -

Written - £320
Lab - £1000 if you go to Belgium, £1200 for mobile lab
Hotel + expenses = ~£200
Books = Get a Safari subscription
Bootcamp = Optional, but figure a few thousand
INE/IPexpert workbooks/videos = I'd get an INE AAP subscription - they are like £100 a month and you get access to all the videos, workbooks you'd need to buy extra. Or you could get an Annual AAP for ~£1K

Dieg0M

Around 10k USD

lrb

Written = 500 AUD
Lab = 2000ish AUD
Narbik 10-day CCIE bootcamp = 3500 USD
Safari subscription for a year = 200 USD
INE AAP for 2 yeares = 1999 USD
Hotel = 200 AUD

There are probably some more costs I've forgotten about. The thing you can't put on a price on is time as it will 1000+ hours of study at least

SeekBytes

Did you use both INE and IPexpert workbooks for your preparation? Maybe one video series, but the workbooks from both vendors?!

SeekBytes

gorebrush wrote: »

Figure: -

Written - £320
Lab - £1000 if you go to Belgium, £1200 for mobile lab
Hotel + expenses = ~£200
Books = Get a Safari subscription
Bootcamp = Optional, but figure a few thousand
INE/IPexpert workbooks/videos = I'd get an INE AAP subscription - they are like £100 a month and you get access to all the videos, workbooks you'd need to buy extra. Or you could get an Annual AAP for ~£1K

Thank you Gorebrush.

I think that the facility in Feltham comes very handy.....even though the idea of visiting Brussels is still there

deth1k

Presumably you are going for RnS? In that case don't bother wasting money on rack rentals and get yourself a decent laptop to run UnetLab Also don't get caught thinking CCIE will land you a job, it has devaluated itself quite a bit here in UK. You will see most jobs requiring CCIE level experience rather than actual cert so they can pay you less ;( It will all depend on where you are in the UK, obviously London is more demanding but living costs down there are less attractive. Unless CCIE is your personal objective I wouldn't bother chasing it for the money as with anything else in this life

Danielh22185

deth1k wrote: »

Presumably you are going for RnS? In that case don't bother wasting money on rack rentals and get yourself a decent laptop to run UnetLab Also don't get caught thinking CCIE will land you a job, it has devaluated itself quite a bit here in UK. You will see most jobs requiring CCIE level experience rather than actual cert so they can pay you less ;( It will all depend on where you are in the UK, obviously London is more demanding but living costs down there are less attractive. Unless CCIE is your personal objective I wouldn't bother chasing it for the money as with anything else in this life

Agreed. Chasing something for money as the primary goal in any regard never ends up being worth it in the end. I cannot imagine if chasing IE with the primary expectation that the money will rain even can ultimately carry someone though the entire process. People seeking to achieve IE such as myself are looking for the sense of achievement and to place themselves in the top 1-2% of all certified professionals while possessing expert level industry knowledge / skills.

I have seen too many times where people chasing money as their primary intent ends up netting them potentially de-marketing themselves and they get stuck in a specific role that is unique to that company / operation and are in big trouble if their job ever goes away because they didn't take the time to develop industry level skill-sets to be successful.

I've always heard the generic average numbers are ~$10k USD. This is actually a very broad question too as it depends on what training methods you select to use, how many books you buy, how many attempts it takes you to pass, etc.

I've actually been thinking about this a lot recently as I'd image I’ll spend right at that $10k amount if not more to get my digits. I am not sure at what level my company will fund my endeavor either, or if even I’ll be at the same place when I make my test attempts. So I've decided I need to save a bit of extra money regardless of where I end up or what level of financial assistance I can possibly receive at the time when I am ready to make the final push. If I spend upwards of $10k that is roughly $200-250 per month for the next 4 years for which I plan to achieve CCIE within. I can't really afford to put that kind of money aside each month as I have other financial responsibilities that priority over CCIE however I will start putting away some money or as much as I can month-to-month to prepare for when I need to really start making the big purchases like training workbooks, classes, rack rentals / equipment, etc.

Iristheangel

It took about $15K. Thankfully my current and last job ate the brunt of that for me. It was something like $2000 for rack rental tokens on INE, $1200 for INE's AAP for 12 months, $5000 for rack rentals and a bootcamp from IPX, $1500 for hotel for the bootcamp, whatever food and airfare was getting to Tulsa OK (I think like $900 more), $500 for the written, $3200 for two lab attempts + travel, hotel, airfare, rental cars, etc ...

Thankfully work paid for a good chunk of that and if you do have a dream to pursue the CCIE, having a company financially support you is one of those things you look for before getting too far down the track. In early 2014, I knew that's what I wanted to do and I wanted to get out of my current job so I jumped ship to a job I knew would cover me. It definitely was worth it in the following ways (not necessarily in order):
- 12% bonus of my pay immediately payed out when I passed a CCIE (and every CCIE I get after this one as well)
- I get a 6% bonus every time I renew my CCIE
- Getting a promotion + $30K raise in March
- Definitely more marketability. My Linkedin exploded all over itself after I posted my plaque a week ago. I think I was up to almost 4,000 profile views a week ago and I'm still catching up on PMs who from companies that want to throw money at me.
- It was fun learning so much and putting it to use every day still. I love learning and if I'm not doing that, I'm miserable
- Job security - I am pretty sure that this and a combination of other things I am doing help solidify that

It's not just my company either. CCIEs are highly valued at partner organizations as well. Mrock told me he was able to +~20% to his salary every time he got a CCIE and a couple of my buddies at CDW have had the same results. The CCIE is definitely valued in enterprises but on a monetary-level, probably moreso in the partner or Cisco space or in consulting. Most partners get to charge a higher rate for professional services if they're having a CCIE do the work vs a CCNP so there's that benefit for them as well. I know people like to mention VARs keeping their gold partnership but in reality, they only need 4 CCIEs for that which is easy for a large VAR.

Not sure how it is over in the UK so I can't 100% speak to that and I know there's a lot of people out there that cheapen it by cheating. Not to stereotype but I see more of those guys originating from certain continents more than others I have a feeling it's going to get harder and harder for those guys to keep certified.

jamesp1983

I'm thinking between around $12k of my own money. My employer put up quite a bit as well.

NOC-Ninja

This will depend on how many attempts.
The breakdown:
400 written
1600 lab
You have to add the books, video, bootcamps, renting or building a lab and travel expenses (gas,plane ticket, and etc)


Is it worth it? everyone that passed gets a big raise and job security.

gorebrush

I did it for the job security. I haven't even changed jobs since I completed it because I have some external issues that have kept me grounded for the time being.

However, when I am ready to move to the next level - 3rd line, I want a decent pay rise, or I'll walk out the door. Either way I'm pretty golden now. With another IE in progress then I am onto a winner. Not like im getting badly paid right now either.

Danielh22185

Iristheangel wrote: »

- It was fun learning so much and putting it to use every day still. I love learning and if I'm not doing that, I'm miserable

^^ This sums me up 100%, if I am not being challenged and am not learning something knew often in my role I become miserable and need something new / fresh to feed that.

jamesp1983

It is definitely worth it. The subject matter that you will master throughout the journey will make you stand out in addition to having the digits.

Job security and salary increases also factor in as others have stated.

Dieg0M

SeekBytes wrote: »

Did you use both INE and IPexpert workbooks for your preparation? Maybe one video series, but the workbooks from both vendors?!

IPexpert workbook/videos + INE workbooks/videos + Cisco 360 workbooks. Also, used v4 IPexpert workbooks and replaced some of the labs frame-relay by DMVPN Phase 1.

jamesp1983

I attended Narbik's 10 day bootcamp, and used INE/IPExpert/Narbik workbooks. I used certain sections from each, but I did INE's workbooks end-to-end. (for v4 and v5 since I started on v4)

Bardlebee

jamesp1983 wrote: »

It is definitely worth it. The subject matter that you will master throughout the journey will make you stand out in addition to having the digits.

I'm only 4 months in and I feel I've ascended to a CCNP+ at my job. With questions in the past where I had to say "Let me look that up" I instantly know the answer and how to deploy the need. I feel pretty confident that in future interviews, I will be much more prepared and well versed then other CCNP's just by going full throttle for these past 4 months like I have.

Whatever happens I have a lot better job security through my knowledge gained then I have ever had before. To have the CCIE number would certainly help, but at the end of the day, in the interview room they will be asking the questions I can answer. So whether I have a CCIE or not, its done nothing but help me just by trying for it.

I'm only like 1/3 through my journey (hopefully), so I can attest to the 10k marker. I've spent quite a bit on rack rentals, Safari, Books, Books and more books. As well as my written attempt was 400 and my next attempt which is scheduled already will be 400. I figure the lab attempts might hit the 3-5 attempt region since I am trying to do this in such a short amount of time and I don't have 10+ years experience (I have about 5) so it'll most definitely hit the 10k+ region.

All on my dime too... maybe with my CCIE I can find a position somewhere where they will pay for training.

OctalDump

Bardlebee wrote: »

I'm only 4 months in and I feel I've ascended to a CCNP+ at my job.

I figure the lab attempts might hit the 3-5 attempt region since I am trying to do this in such a short amount of time and I don't have 10+ years experience (I have about 5) so it'll most definitely hit the 10k+ region.

It's been said on here before, but some people don't really have 10 years' experience, they have 10x 1 year's experience. It sounds like you are getting real experience, which is worth more. I'm planning on just dipping my toes into CCNP this year, so these CCIE threads are always quite heartening.

Good Luck!

Bardlebee

Oh heck yeah, place I work now some guy is telling me he has 12 years of experience in IT so I should listen to him. The guy doesn't have particular expertise, he's just a jack-of-all-trades guy, which is important to have in a company. But he's awfully rude when I try to explain when he's wrong on how traceroute works.

I've had the fortune to work at very large companies that were growing fast. And the current fortune working in a smaller company building DC networks from scratch, albeit Juniper.

Good luck to you to man, stick it hard to the CCNP!

21ctl

ipexpert workbook+video ( got that through IPX scholarship), INE workbook + VOD,IPX and INE Rack Rentals, Flight and hotel expenses all cost me like $7500, the experience and feeling has been worth it.since i work in a financial institution, all the cert does for you is to make your work better. no pay increase or bonus comes with it, unlike does that get certification related to finance ( like ACCA,CFA that comes with promotion).

techiie

Bardlebee wrote: »

I'm only 4 months in and I feel I've ascended to a CCNP+ at my job. With questions in the past where I had to say "Let me look that up" I instantly know the answer and how to deploy the need. I feel pretty confident that in future interviews, I will be much more prepared and well versed then other CCNP's just by going full throttle for these past 4 months like I have.

I'm currently working on my CCNP RS and I'm curious what did you use or do in those 4 months post CCNP RS that you felt brought you a different level (CCNP+)?

Bardlebee

techiie wrote: »

I'm currently working on my CCNP RS and I'm curious what did you use or do in those 4 months post CCNP RS that you felt brought you a different level (CCNP+)?

INE Videos, watch a topic, read about it and lab it. The AAP line of videos for R/S and doing it 4 hours or more a day EVERY day. You'll get great at anything you do that much. I toned down in the past 4 weeks due to my prep for the written. Its much easier to go long hours on labbing then it is book knowledge.

SeekBytes

@deth1k
Hi, deth1k. To be honest, I wanted to use the CCIE as passe-partout to join different Gold Partners in Europe. I saw that on Linkedin many CCIEs kept on moving to different companies regardless the crisis (In London you're always broke, but in Europe officially never ended ). Of course, on the top of those reasons, it's an intellectual challenge I'd like to pursue.

Kind Regards.

SeekBytes

@Diego
Diego, you did a good, you managed to stay within two attempts

Did you have your own equipment or used emulators?

SeekBytes

@Iristheangel
Great work, Iris. Really awesome. I think that DC it's on high demand and you jumped on it at the right time.

Well done again.

jamesp1983

OctalDump wrote: »

It's been said on here before, but some people don't really have 10 years' experience, they have 10x 1 year's experience.

Excellent quote. It reminds me of numerous people that I've worked with over the years.

Dieg0M

SeekBytes wrote: »

@Diego
Diego, you did a good, you managed to stay within two attempts

Did you have your own equipment or used emulators?

I originally started studying the CCIE in v4 and virtualization was not as popular so I did buy a lab. I still have it but don't really use it anymore. When the CCIE transitioned to v5, the topologies grew larger and I had to use emulators to fit the v5 workbooks exercices.

gorebrush

I was lucky, I managed to sell all of my lab and didn't lose a massive amount of money.

joelsfood

Around 13.5k so far with three attempts down.

SeekBytes

@DiegoM
Do you do everything on GNS3/VIRL these days?

SeekBytes

@JoelsFood

Did you try Cisco 360 to check where you are?