Well I didn't get it

CCIE # 20000 that is, but I'll take the one I got #19991!

Finally.

I thought this one was the most difficult of the exams yet. There were many issues that needed to be resolved throughout the lab. I was basically done by 1:30 and had the remaining 2.5 hours for verification. In that time I found 2 mistakes I made for a total of 5 points, not sure if that pushed me over the top or not but I was glad to find them. Lunch was pizza (papa john's). The proctor ran the grading scripts before we left the lab which was cool, made the traffic jam on I-85 more bareable comming home.

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Comments

Mishra

You are one of the ones who seriously deserved the title of CCIE. Good job, I commend you on your efforts and determination. Even the best needs to have a good pat on the back instead of envy and praise ever now and then.

sprkymrk

WooHoo!

Congrats!

So the pizza is the key, right?

Chicken=Fail
Pizza=Pass

networker050184

CONGRATS ON THE NUMBER!!!!!

I new you could do it! I'm sure it feels good to have all the hard work pay off.

Whats next? A break or going for another number??

APA

Congratz buddy!!!!

You thoroughly deserve it!!!

nel

congrats man.

i am so pleased for you !

give yourself a nice deserved break or go out and buy yourself something to celebrate your ccie.

bighornsheep

WOW

nice!

Congrats, congrats......

doom969

CONGRATS !!!!

:P
I bet it feels really good !

Megadeth4168

Congrats!

dtlokee

Yes it does feel good, and thanks!

What's next? Most likely CCIE Service Provider, although I have passed the Security written, so I'm not sure. The SP has the most overlap between RS so that seems to be the next logical one.

Things I did that made the difference:
1. Study the DOC CD - this can not be underestimated in it's importance, it's the only resource you will have in the lab
2. The Doyle books (Vol 1 and 2) - Again of the utmost importance.
3. Used the books for CCNP and the CCIP (without MPLS) - These were not the Cisco Press ones but the official curriculum (I would guess the Cisco Press books would be good as well, I love the QoS book)
4. Lots of rack time with the above resources.

Things I didn't do:
1. Use vendor labs to study. In the week before I went I ran through 3 of these labs that were scored an "8" but I don't think it made a difference. I was just trying to get into the mode of sitting for 8 hours.
2. Boot camps or Class on demand / CBTs of any sort - I tried an "audio" boot camp because they were highly recommended by people. I made it through about 2 hours and got bored with the lack of substance and all the "think about this" and "think about that"

All in all it's been a great experience and I have learned the lab is not as difficult as I once thought it is if you know the underlying technologies. If you're just trying to memorize a bunch of scenarios and how to solve them you won’t get far. You don't need $10,000 worth of equipment to do it. Dynamips is a great resource (although I didn't use it much only when there were no open racks at school). You need to know switching inside and out, you will need access to some 3550's and 3560's. The switching component will make up about 1/3 of the lab and the config guides are like 1,000 pages so know them. Compare that to the QoS part which will be about 1/12 of the lab and it's config guide is around 1100 pages.

Turgon

dtlokee wrote:

CCIE # 20000 that is, but I'll take the one I got #19991!

Finally.

I thought this one was the most difficult of the exams yet. There were many issues that needed to be resolved throughout the lab. I was basically done by 1:30 and had the remaining 2.5 hours for verification. In that time I found 2 mistakes I made for a total of 5 points, not sure if that pushed me over the top or not but I was glad to find them. Lunch was pizza (papa john's). The proctor ran the grading scripts before we left the lab which was cool, made the traffic jam on I-85 more bareable comming home.

Congratulations man. Nice to get it done finally!

cisco_trooper

Congratulations. That's awesome!

Ahriakin

Brilliant, well done DT

well deserved.

dynamik

dtlokee wrote:

CCIE # 20000 that is, but I'll take the one I got #19991!

That's what you get for rushing into things

I'm really happy for you; that's an amazing accomplishment. Congratulations.

So... when are you going to be taking that security lab?

Cessation

Congrats Dtlokee! Wow, top of the mountain.

Pash

Congratz man!

A great deal of respect to you mate, one of the true helpers on these boards.

Good luck for the future.

Ferret999

Well done dtlokee it must be an amazing feeling

Really well done

Networkhead

Shoot. This guy has a variety of skills. MCAD, MCSD, CCIE, MCDBA, MCSE? Are you kidding me? Hats off to you.

dtlokee

Networkhead wrote:

Shoot. This guy has a variety of skills. MCAD, MCSD, CCIE, MCDBA, MCSE? Are you kidding me? Hats off to you.

Add to that list a very understanding and patient wife

BeaverC32

Congrats on the amazing achievement! Was this your first attempt?

dps

Wow!!
Congratulations, dt!!!
You really deserve this.

Webmaster

Congratulations!

dtlokee

Thanks all.

No it wasn't my first attempt but who's counting

darkfibre

Absolutely awesome mate, well deserved achievement

shednik

Congrats DT!!!

like everyone has said you were one of ther people who deserved it..best of luck on your studies for SP or Security

mikej412

Congratulations!

So the Sunday Lab dates are real?

dtlokee wrote:

I'll take the one I got #19991!

Cool number -- easy to remember. Hey, it's the same reading forwards as it is backwards!

dtlokee

Yeah there really are Sunday lab dates but I don't know if I would do them again (well I can't unless I plan on retaking the R+S lab). There were issues with the initial configs and they needed to be redone due to changes in the rack numbering (people were having troubles following directions on the lab I gues so they went to 2 digit numbers now). Once they were reapplied all was good for me but I think one of the others was having issues still. Pizza for lunch was a bit heavy in the gut but it worked, it was better than the standard mystery meat. One benefit of the Sunday date was knowing I passed before leaving the lab because they ran the script at the end of the day.

I have decided on SP next, hopefully in the next 3-6 months I'll take the written and attempt the lab. That all depends on what happes here at work.

Darthn3ss

congrats! i'd like to be CCIE before 50,000..

(giving my self some time...)

Mrock4

Congrats man. I can't imagine the relief you feel now. Question for ya- how much experience do you have leading up to your CCIE? Was this your first attempt?

Mishra

Mrock4 wrote:

Congrats man. I can't imagine the relief you feel now. Question for ya- how much experience do you have leading up to your CCIE? Was this your first attempt?

Read the thread peoples!

You think CCIE's have time to respond to the same questions asked everytime.

dtlokee

No it wasn't my first attempt. I rushed into the first one because I was given a false sense of securty by passing the written so easily. The lab hit me like a ton of bricks and it hurt. I totally underestimated it based on the written, somehow thinking the two were related.

As far as experience, I worked in the field with Cisco gear back in 1998-1999 but never persued certs beyond a CCNA. I moved away from Cisco and more towards Microsoft development starting in 2000 and became a trainer in 2001 doing MCSE/MCSD/MCDBA type courses. I got back into Cisco starting in 2005 with the CCSP and VP certs and delivering training in CCNP, VP and SP. I started studying for the CCIE in Feburary 2007 (roughly) after I failed my first lab attempt. Yeah I started studying after I failed, it was a bad approach. I took it again in July 2007 and came close (75-76) so I decided to do it again in Aug. 2007 and came close again but no pass. I took a couple of months off and started studying again in early December 2007.

I would guess I have 600 or so hours of study time wrapped up in the CCIE lab alone, I will keep better track on time spent for the CCIE SP.