An Introduction...
kiddsupreme
Member Posts: 29 ■□□□□□□□□□
in CCIE
Just wanted to introduce myself to the people of this forum as I am new here. I came across this website by accident doing last minute research before taking my CCIE written exam next week. I had seen some posts by Darby Weaver, an individual I know from another forum such as this. Decided if this forum was good enough for Darby to lurk in, I could do no worse.
As far as background, I have been involved in networking for 7 years now. Had extensive experience with one of the top tier backbone providers. At the time I only had my CCNA. While working at said job, I had tried on 3 different occasions to do my CCNP. All three times I became overwhelmed and gave up. It wasn't until they announced layoffs in the next 6 months that I got the motivation to achieve my CCNP. 6 months later, I had my CCNP. Got a new job with a company that works mainly in goverment contracts. About a year in, I decided to go get my CCDA and CCDP, which I did.
It was around the end of August that I had a decision to make. I could either sign up for college classes and finish up the Associate's degree I had been working off and on for a while or I could go after what I had been dreaming about since I learned about Cisco; the CCIE. After deciding that in the long run, getting the certification and knowledge from the CCIE would do more for me career wise than an Associate's degree could, I started my training in September of this year.
I went through all the usual books. Doyle's Volume I & II, LAN Switching, QOS book, etc. I purchased NMC's CCIE Written Preparation. Between the online prep questions, and going through the Cisco Doc CD, I am planning to sit my CCIE Written exam next Monday.
When I originally decided on my plan to tackle my CCIE, I decided I wanted to attend the NMC's bootcamps (RS-1 & RS-2 I believe). Reality set in though, knowing I did not have $10000 plus travel and lodging expenses to do such a thing. After doing more research, I had heard a lot of great things said about Internetwork Expert, and the 'Brians'. I decided on their End-to-End Self Paced CCIE Program. I felt that spending $3000 was more palatable to myself (and my wife
) than 10k. The package should be arriving this Friday. If everything goes as planned, I should be able to begin my lab studies next Tuesday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Just wanted to thank you for welcoming me to your forum, and I hope to be able to glean knowledge from you guys/gals, and hopefully, vice versa.
As far as background, I have been involved in networking for 7 years now. Had extensive experience with one of the top tier backbone providers. At the time I only had my CCNA. While working at said job, I had tried on 3 different occasions to do my CCNP. All three times I became overwhelmed and gave up. It wasn't until they announced layoffs in the next 6 months that I got the motivation to achieve my CCNP. 6 months later, I had my CCNP. Got a new job with a company that works mainly in goverment contracts. About a year in, I decided to go get my CCDA and CCDP, which I did.
It was around the end of August that I had a decision to make. I could either sign up for college classes and finish up the Associate's degree I had been working off and on for a while or I could go after what I had been dreaming about since I learned about Cisco; the CCIE. After deciding that in the long run, getting the certification and knowledge from the CCIE would do more for me career wise than an Associate's degree could, I started my training in September of this year.
I went through all the usual books. Doyle's Volume I & II, LAN Switching, QOS book, etc. I purchased NMC's CCIE Written Preparation. Between the online prep questions, and going through the Cisco Doc CD, I am planning to sit my CCIE Written exam next Monday.
When I originally decided on my plan to tackle my CCIE, I decided I wanted to attend the NMC's bootcamps (RS-1 & RS-2 I believe). Reality set in though, knowing I did not have $10000 plus travel and lodging expenses to do such a thing. After doing more research, I had heard a lot of great things said about Internetwork Expert, and the 'Brians'. I decided on their End-to-End Self Paced CCIE Program. I felt that spending $3000 was more palatable to myself (and my wife
) than 10k. The package should be arriving this Friday. If everything goes as planned, I should be able to begin my lab studies next Tuesday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.Just wanted to thank you for welcoming me to your forum, and I hope to be able to glean knowledge from you guys/gals, and hopefully, vice versa.
Comments
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Ricka182
Member Posts: 3,359
Welcome aboard! I think it's great so many potential IEs are here recently....that way, when I start my journey, I'll have a ton of people to advise me, not to mention, the little things I've already picked up by reading the IE posts.....this is so cool.....i remain, he who remains to be....
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Webmaster
Admin Posts: 10,292 Admin
Welcome kiddsupreme, and thanks for the introduction!
You forgot to tell us what your lab looks like though
Good luck on Monday! Our distinguished moderator Mike is going for the CCIE Security lab next Monday so we'll have double excitement. Heck, the Olympics are boring in comparisson. -
mikej412
Member Posts: 10,086 ■■■■■■■■■■
Welcome!
I'm not sure I'd say Darby lurks... Though there was that quiet week or two after his first lab attempt... but that was probably just recovery (and his wife making him catch up on chores).
If you're thinking about 2007 for your first (and hopefully only) Lab Attempt, you might as well "declare" in the Who is Pursuing the CCIE in 2007 thread:mike: Cisco Certifications -- Collect the Entire Set! -
MrD
Member Posts: 441
Rock on! I hope your competitive, cuz we have us a little competition going on here...who will be the first? Of course, Mike & Darby don't count
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Webmaster
Admin Posts: 10,292 Admin
Sounds much betterModemHumper wrote:nono, Team TE
Or just:
TEam
we could print T-Shirt and coffee mucks. "TEam, just pass it!" -
keenon
Member Posts: 1,922 ■■■■□□□□□□
welcome to the forum
i was thinking
TeCCBecome the stainless steel sharp knife in a drawer full of rusty spoons -
kiddsupreme
Member Posts: 29 ■□□□□□□□□□
Webmaster wrote:Welcome kiddsupreme, and thanks for the introduction!
You forgot to tell us what your lab looks like though
Good luck on Monday! Our distinguished moderator Mike is going for the CCIE Security lab next Monday so we'll have double excitement. Heck, the Olympics are boring in comparisson.
As far as equipment that I own, just 8 2501s. As far as equipment that I have access to at my job, its a mixture of 2600s, 2800s, 3700s, 2950s, 4000s, 7200s. I think the only thing I don't have access to is 3550s. -
kiddsupreme
Member Posts: 29 ■□□□□□□□□□
MrD wrote:Rock on! I hope your competitive, cuz we have us a little competition going on here...who will be the first? Of course, Mike & Darby don't count
I'm game. Although I do believe that everyone should take it when they are good and ready. No need to blow $1250 and not pass. With that said, I hope to take the test in June 2007. I just got my package today from Internetwork Expert. OMG, the thing is HUGE! I'm going to be going through that thing forever! Can't wait for my testing date next week, so I can get started on the lab. -
Humper
Member Posts: 647
kiddsupreme wrote:
Were you tier 1 or 2? I know they shipped Tier 1 off to the Phillipines. Which is a load of sh!t. I believe their Tier 2 is now in FLA and SC? AT&T is all over the place!!
We have a big contract with them, probably one of there bigger customers since we are always testing out there new gadgets.Now working full time! -
kiddsupreme
Member Posts: 29 ■□□□□□□□□□
ModemHumper wrote:kiddsupreme wrote:
Were you tier 1 or 2? I know they shipped Tier 1 off to the Phillipines. Which is a load of sh!t. I believe their Tier 2 is now in FLA and SC? AT&T is all over the place!!
We have a big contract with them, probably one of there bigger customers since we are always testing out there new gadgets.
You are probably thinking about GCSC... the group in Alpharetta, GA (hope I spelled that right). I was with the Web Hosting group in San Diego, CA. We use to have all the customers. When the instituted this new group in GA, at first they were only suppose to take care of the customers that needed specific needs, i.e. Marriott Intl, etc. But, slowly but surely, they started taking more, and more customers, until they just finally shut us down, and moved all the customers to the new group on the East Coast.
I can tell you that a number of customers were not happy with the move of NOCs from our group to theirs, since we did better work than them. Not trying to be snotty or anything, but we did better work with 1 NOC tech in San Diego than 10 of their techs could do. I heard they lost a number of contracts because they were not getting the same kind of service as they had before.
So imagine my surprise when my friend who still works at the T tells me that they just canned everyone in GCSC and moved the Tier I jobs the the Philippines, and the Tier II jobs to Singapore. Amazing. Just goes to show you, in this industry there is no such thing as loyalty. The only way you can prevent such things from occuring again is to make sure you know your stuff so people will be coming to YOU with job offers, and not the other way around. Hence, my CCIE journey.
I tell you, when I get that CCIE, I'm going to write a letter to Edward Whitacre, Jr. (CEO and Chairman of the new AT&T) and thank him for laying me off. If it wasn't for him and the management idiots under him lighting a fire under my ass, I would of never been motivated enough to get to where I am today.
Imagine that...someone thankful they were shown the door. -
Humper
Member Posts: 647
kiddsupreme wrote:ModemHumper wrote:kiddsupreme wrote:
Were you tier 1 or 2? I know they shipped Tier 1 off to the Phillipines. Which is a load of sh!t. I believe their Tier 2 is now in FLA and SC? AT&T is all over the place!!
We have a big contract with them, probably one of there bigger customers since we are always testing out there new gadgets.
You are probably thinking about GCSC... the group in Alpharetta, GA (hope I spelled that right). I was with the Web Hosting group in San Diego, CA. We use to have all the customers. When the instituted this new group in GA, at first they were only suppose to take care of the customers that needed specific needs, i.e. Marriott Intl, etc. But, slowly but surely, they started taking more, and more customers, until they just finally shut us down, and moved all the customers to the new group on the East Coast.
I can tell you that a number of customers were not happy with the move of NOCs from our group to theirs, since we did better work than them. Not trying to be snotty or anything, but we did better work with 1 NOC tech in San Diego than 10 of their techs could do. I heard they lost a number of contracts because they were not getting the same kind of service as they had before.
So imagine my surprise when my friend who still works at the T tells me that they just canned everyone in GCSC and moved the Tier I jobs the the Philippines, and the Tier II jobs to Singapore. Amazing. Just goes to show you, in this industry there is no such thing as loyalty. The only way you can prevent such things from occuring again is to make sure you know your stuff so people will be coming to YOU with job offers, and not the other way around. Hence, my CCIE journey.
I tell you, when I get that CCIE, I'm going to write a letter to Edward Whitacre, Jr. (CEO and Chairman of the new AT&T) and thank him for laying me off. If it wasn't for him and the management idiots under him lighting a fire under my ass, I would of never been motivated enough to get to where I am today.
Imagine that...someone thankful they were shown the door.
So from my understanding there is no Tier 1 or Tier 2 in North America? When I call GCSC op managers they are located in the US along with the tech's it seems.
It's also funny, because we had an issue escalated to Tier 3 and the Tier 3 tech was asking where the Tier 1 tech was located but wouldn't tell him, lol...I guess thats supposed to be kept on the down low....
I have also spoken to some really really bad Tier 3 tech's before....What kind of qualifications do they usually have? CCIE? Experience?
BTW Good luck on the CCIE!Now working full time! -
determinedgerman
Member Posts: 168
Wow.....this sounds so familiar.....I am still with the new AT&T at the moment....I have started with SBC which then became the new AT&T...our Tier 1's have been migrated to Manila, Philippines in August. We are now a truly Tier 2 and 3 support center but we still have Tier 1's who are working with GEM accounts. Customers start to realize that they just need to escalate and they will be transfered to the Tier 2's in the US.
Oh well...I am not seeing our call center in the Philippines around for long....we are loosing way to many customer because of that....
But anyway.....kiddsupreme welcome to TechExams.net and good luck.... -
kiddsupreme
Member Posts: 29 ■□□□□□□□□□
ModemHumper wrote:
So from my understanding there is no Tier 1 or Tier 2 in North America? When I call GCSC op managers they are located in the US along with the tech's it seems.
It's also funny, because we had an issue escalated to Tier 3 and the Tier 3 tech was asking where the Tier 1 tech was located but wouldn't tell him, lol...I guess thats supposed to be kept on the down low....
I have also spoken to some really really bad Tier 3 tech's before....What kind of qualifications do they usually have? CCIE? Experience?
BTW Good luck on the CCIE!
As far as I know, the only two groups that are left in North America are CBB (Common BackBone Group) and the GNOC (Global NOC out of New Jersey). This could of changed; its been a year since I worked at the T. Like I said, it seems that the T was hell bent on getting costs down before the merger (with SBC). Now that they are in the middle of another merger (with Bellsouth), I wouldn't be surprised if in a couple of years after that merger closes, that they bring back those groups stateside. We shall see. As far as the technical qualifications, lets just say this... I heard that they were giving Tier II jobs to people in Singapore with their *CCIE* @ $12 an hour.... kinda makes you wonder just what kind of CCIE that could be.
Thank you for your encouraging words. -
kiddsupreme
Member Posts: 29 ■□□□□□□□□□
germangiant wrote:Wow.....this sounds so familiar.....I am still with the new AT&T at the moment....I have started with SBC which then became the new AT&T...our Tier 1's have been migrated to Manila, Philippines in August. We are now a truly Tier 2 and 3 support center but we still have Tier 1's who are working with GEM accounts. Customers start to realize that they just need to escalate and they will be transfered to the Tier 2's in the US.
Oh well...I am not seeing our call center in the Philippines around for long....we are loosing way to many customer because of that....
But anyway.....kiddsupreme welcome to TechExams.net and good luck....
Thanks. Good to hear people still working hard at the T. -
keenon
Member Posts: 1,922 ■■■■□□□□□□
. I heard that they were giving Tier II jobs to people in Singapore with their *CCIE* @ $12 an hour.... kinda makes you wonder just what kind of CCIE that could be.
Thank you for your encouraging words.
wow crack head prices for a CCIE Become the stainless steel sharp knife in a drawer full of rusty spoons -
mtbcyclist
Member Posts: 30 ■□□□□□□□□□
Wow... interesting stuff about the competition. I work at Verizion Business (formerly MCI) myself as a Tier 1 tech. Kidsupreme you are EXACTLY the reason why I study so hard, along with the fact that I enjoy the knowledge. I am always worried about loyalty and where my job will be shipped of to next. Dad always sad "Son you make your own luck". That being said furthering my knowledge with Cisco certs can't help. I got a good buddy who is also a triple CCIE who has been a big motivational factor too.
On another note PLEASE let us know what you think about the package you are buying though Internetwork Expert. I was thinking about buying the same package you are getting and getting work to pay for it though tuition assistance program.
Oh yea, and welcome aboard Kidspreme. -
kiddsupreme
Member Posts: 29 ■□□□□□□□□□
mtbcyclist wrote:Wow... interesting stuff about the competition. I work at Verizion Business (formerly MCI) myself as a Tier 1 tech. Kidsupreme you are EXACTLY the reason why I study so hard, along with the fact that I enjoy the knowledge. I am always worried about loyalty and where my job will be shipped of to next. Dad always sad "Son you make your own luck". That being said furthering my knowledge with Cisco certs can't help. I got a good buddy who is also a triple CCIE who has been a big motivational factor too.
On another note PLEASE let us know what you think about the package you are buying though Internetwork Expert. I was thinking about buying the same package you are getting and getting work to pay for it though tuition assistance program.
Oh yea, and welcome aboard Kidspreme.
Thanks for the warm welcome. Well lets see if I can break what I received from Internetwork Expert down.
It comes in a box from FedEx. 20lb monstrosity. I opened it up to see a bunch of packing peanuts. Digging through them, I found two binders of varying sizes. One huge (1000+ page solution guide) and another one (maybe 500+ solution guide). They give you laminated diagrams of every lab that they offer. They give you the Core Lab workbook, the IEWB-RS Volume I & II V3 (Although they say that they will be coming out with Version 4 of this in the coming weeks. Great thing about their investment protection is when it does come out, I get online access to it without having to pay again. If I want a printed copy, I only pay 17.5% of the original cost, which ends up being something like $88. By far, the number one reason I went with IE). They give you a retractable badge holder, a pen, a thank you letter, etc.
As far as the online portion, you get access to everything I stated above in digital format. In addition to that, you get the Mock Lab Class on Demand, the Advanced R&S Class on Demand, the Audio Class MP3s, and when you are ready, access to 4 of their Mock Labs to try. All in all a smorgasboard of CCIE material at your fingertips.
I haven't been able to dive in just yet, since I take my CCIE Written this Monday, and am trying to make sure I concentrate on that, and not get myself confused, or ahead of myself. With that being said, I browsed over the material online, and was very pleased. You can listen to the audio mp3's online from the website. The CoD's have information on the 3560's which I think will come in handy, plus up to date documentation.
I guess that biggest thing I appreciate is the professionalism of the sales and support staff. Anytime I had a question, they were quick to respond back with an answer. Couple that with knowing that my investment is protected for the next 2 years, and I feel that there was NO WAY I could pass this up. I hope to be able to give you more information on how well it works as the weeks go by. -
Humper
Member Posts: 647
kiddsupreme wrote:mtbcyclist wrote:Wow... interesting stuff about the competition. I work at Verizion Business (formerly MCI) myself as a Tier 1 tech. Kidsupreme you are EXACTLY the reason why I study so hard, along with the fact that I enjoy the knowledge. I am always worried about loyalty and where my job will be shipped of to next. Dad always sad "Son you make your own luck". That being said furthering my knowledge with Cisco certs can't help. I got a good buddy who is also a triple CCIE who has been a big motivational factor too.
On another note PLEASE let us know what you think about the package you are buying though Internetwork Expert. I was thinking about buying the same package you are getting and getting work to pay for it though tuition assistance program.
Oh yea, and welcome aboard Kidspreme.
Thanks for the warm welcome. Well lets see if I can break what I received from Internetwork Expert down.
It comes in a box from FedEx. 20lb monstrosity. I opened it up to see a bunch of packing peanuts. Digging through them, I found two binders of varying sizes. One huge (1000+ page solution guide) and another one (maybe 500+ solution guide). They give you laminated diagrams of every lab that they offer. They give you the Core Lab workbook, the IEWB-RS Volume I & II V3 (Although they say that they will be coming out with Version 4 of this in the coming weeks. Great thing about their investment protection is when it does come out, I get online access to it without having to pay again. If I want a printed copy, I only pay 17.5% of the original cost, which ends up being something like $88. By far, the number one reason I went with IE). They give you a retractable badge holder, a pen, a thank you letter, etc.
As far as the online portion, you get access to everything I stated above in digital format. In addition to that, you get the Mock Lab Class on Demand, the Advanced R&S Class on Demand, the Audio Class MP3s, and when you are ready, access to 4 of their Mock Labs to try. All in all a smorgasboard of CCIE material at your fingertips.
I haven't been able to dive in just yet, since I take my CCIE Written this Monday, and am trying to make sure I concentrate on that, and not get myself confused, or ahead of myself. With that being said, I browsed over the material online, and was very pleased. You can listen to the audio mp3's online from the website. The CoD's have information on the 3560's which I think will come in handy, plus up to date documentation.
I guess that biggest thing I appreciate is the professionalism of the sales and support staff. Anytime I had a question, they were quick to respond back with an answer. Couple that with knowing that my investment is protected for the next 2 years, and I feel that there was NO WAY I could pass this up. I hope to be able to give you more information on how well it works as the weeks go by.
Which package did you get? I am curious how much this cost?Now working full time! -
kiddsupreme
Member Posts: 29 ■□□□□□□□□□
ModemHumper wrote:Which package did you get? I am curious how much this cost?
The End-to-End CCIE Self Paced Program ($2995). -
kiddsupreme
Member Posts: 29 ■□□□□□□□□□
DarbyWeaver wrote:Hey Kidd,
I did not realize you were stalking me or I would have had to thought twice about giving out my IP like that...
Lol, I was wondering when you'd see this email. Everything looks perfect. Thanks again. Shot you another email on a question I had. Let me know if it makes sense.
