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.
