1st CCIE lab attempt blog and help for candidates.

Chipsch

Way to keep at it Turgon. I have been around these forums for 2 years now and your dedication is quite inspirational.

Turgon

Chipsch wrote: »

Way to keep at it Turgon. I have been around these forums for 2 years now and your dedication is quite inspirational.

Thanks Man. Well Im nearly done with reading switching in Vol 1, INE. I just need to make some notes. The hardest part is work right now. I have things on I have to lead, cant delegate, have aggressive deadlines and absorb a lot of my workstime to accomplish to the required level of quality and detail. I will just have to sneak an hour in when I can.

Turgon

A mad week ahead, but Im determined to do some reading on the dollar

Turgon

No reading M/T/W, just too much to sort out on the projects at work. Will try Thursday.

Turgon

Last weeks study windows were wiped out by work pressure. Full day at work Thursday, four hour drive Thursday evening after work, hit the hotel at 2AM, full day Friday doing concept testing at a Vendor followed by a long drive home late. Full weekend with the family. Another busy week at work ahead with lots of meetings and things to research. Will try and get the Vol 1 Switching notes down during the course of the week. Seven and a half months until projected lab attempt (mid November).

Turgon

Too many big technology decision meetings and too much data centre design work to study this week.

Turgon

Very busy week on DC design, architecture, infrastructure audit and customer solution work. Rubbish on studies. Tired out and no time for that. House hunting this weekend.

gateway

Turgon wrote: »

House hunting this weekend.

Are you getting away from the North then?

Turgon

No chance mate, wouldn't want to.

Turgon

Evaluating VSS and VPLS at Cisco in some days time. Overworked as usual and have felt unwell of late. On anti biotics.

Had an offer accepted on a new house we are buying woot! One of the kids is sick so too much on indoors. Studies jettisoned to the asteroid belt for the moment but nice to see some of the others pressing on with their blogs this year *shrug*.

PsychoFin

Always nice to get closer on that elusive new house deal, pick up the studies later

Turgon

PsychoFin wrote: »

Always nice to get closer on that elusive new house deal, pick up the studies later

Yeah. What with this job, house hunting and two kids it has to wait.

Turgon

Lab prep looms this week. Time to buy some tokens and schedule a session again. Will start on Vol II Lab no 1. I think I can probably get 1 - 2 hours in on works time which is a waste of 3 hours of rented racktime but it's better than nothing.

bertieb

Turgon wrote: »

Yeah. What with this job, house hunting and two kids it has to wait.

Just wait until you get ordered to do all the redecorating by the better half. You'll be studying for the CCIE to relax

Congrats though, and hope you feel better soon

Turgon

bertieb wrote: »

Just wait until you get ordered to do all the redecorating by the better half. You'll be studying for the CCIE to relax

Congrats though, and hope you feel better soon

Thanks man, saw the doctor today. I will pay someone to do all the redecorating, Im far too busy for all that. Have a trip away on business on Friday so labtime is unrealistic this week after all, but I may do some test questions for laughs.

Turgon

13 hour network rescue. No studies.

Turgon

catching up at home with two days vacation. Lotsa paperwork to do!

Turgon

Catharsis. The business has finally realised the insanity of the workload with so few resources. Extra will be pouring in.

This means as of next week, I will finally have the time and the energy to return to some ad hoc lab prep, perhaps one hour a day for starters and hopefully a couple of hours on good days. Reading the lab books and note taking will be the primary activity when time is pushed, but when a couple of hours opens up I will do the switching sections across all the labs in Vol II. I should aim to get switching done on a practice lab inside an hour. First switching, then IGP/BGP, then all the other stuff.

My written exam has now expired. Should my lab prep get up to standard I will take it again for the fourth time.

gorebrush

Good news! We could do with an extra person, or 10...

reaper81

That is great news Turgon, glad to see you finally get a shot at doing some real preparation for this. I and everyone here want to see you get through this.

I'm kind of in the reverse seat right now as we have a CCIE quitting and I'm taking over his most important customer so I have lot's of work ahead. I'm still labbing a few evenings every week though and I'm closing in on 200 hours lab prep.

Turgon

reaper81 wrote: »

That is great news Turgon, glad to see you finally get a shot at doing some real preparation for this. I and everyone here want to see you get through this.

I'm kind of in the reverse seat right now as we have a CCIE quitting and I'm taking over his most important customer so I have lot's of work ahead. I'm still labbing a few evenings every week though and I'm closing in on 200 hours lab prep.

Cool keep at it. I think the first year is the important one as it lays your foundation. I had a good first year on the prep, so even though I have been more off than on since then (although 2009 was pretty solid), I find that when I do return to my studies all those hours I put in way back do still help me pick things up. I think it's mostly going to be a squeak the study in on workstime when I can kind of thing. Too busy with the family after work to disappear into books and labtime.

Turgon

Im on holiday this week. Lab practice banned by my wife so I spend as much time as possible with the family. She's sick of the hours I have put in on the job this year as it is. Understandable!

gateway

Have a nice week off! Much deserved. The weathers nice for you too. Enjoy!

Turgon

Enjoying the vacation with the family. Should be some study time when I get back to work. Happy Easter!

Turgon

INE Vol 2 Labs 1 - 5 SWITCHING - DONE

All documented in my notes. After weeks of busting my bollocks for my employer I get some studying done. About an hour anyway. It felt good!

DPG

Completely off topic, but what is the story behind your avatar?

Turgon

DPG wrote: »

Completely off topic, but what is the story behind your avatar?

Ah...that is routergirl a picture from the old routergod website that was up in the late nineties. Back then knowing Cisco made you hot and attractive to women when the dotcom money rolled in and the nerds got laid. Happy days when the Catalyst 5000 was king and the bookshelves in Barnes and Noble simply heaved with certification guides and kits in MCSE/CNE/SCSA/CCSE. Today they just heave with PHP and Java books and there are fewer shelves of computer books. Too bad.

Turgon

INE Vol 2 - SWITCHING. Labs 6 - 12 documented.

500 hours reading - see certification list. Cool.

ITdude

Turgon wrote: »

Happy days when the Catalyst 5000 was king and the bookshelves in Barnes and Noble simply heaved with certification guides and kits in MCSE/CNE/SCSA/CCSE. Today they just heave with PHP and Java books and there are fewer shelves of computer books. Too bad.

That is back when people still went into bookstores to look at books versus buying them online.

Turgon

ITdude wrote: »

That is back when people still went into bookstores to look at books versus buying them online.

That too although the cert publishing boom and the race to get NT certified topped out around the year 2000. The good writers moved on and the **** took over. That and the economy tanking finished the feeding frenzy on endless shelves of books by certification writers. The computer section just exploded before that happened with multiple publishers Sybex, Corialis, New Riders, Que et al knocking out cert books in everything you could imagine. Heady days.

INE Vol II - Switching. Labs 13 - 20 documented. Cool. Then the day got busy with the family. Royal wedding to watch followed by shopping.