I am now a CCNP

I finished my CCNP today.

I took three weeks off from work to spend 12-16 hours a day cramming for these guys, in addition to studying part time for a couple weeks before.

Materials used for studying

3 x 2811 (borrowed from work)
2 x Cat 2950
1 x Cat 3350
4 x 2620

(Also, right before I took the time off, I had to set up a testbed at work comprised of 1720, 2 x 3640, 2 x 2611XM, Cat 3500XL, 2514, 2509, 2610, etc.--great timing).

Routing TCP/IP Vol 1 & Vol 2
CBT Nuggets (we have the CBT Nuggets Archive Server at work--it is sweet)
CCNP Quick Reference Sheets
Sybex CCNA Study Guide (sometimes needed basic review

Transcender
A chapter about QoS, designed for CCDP students (I got this from someone at work--don't know where it is from)
cisco.com

BSCI and BCMSN were possibly the hardest tests I've taken in my life. When I was taking ONT at the testing center someone failed the CCIE written (gave up midway through really) and another guy failed ONT. Very intimidating have these people around you failing Cisco exams!

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Comments

gojericho0

Congratulations! Did you end up taking all 4 is 3 weeks?

aueddonline

Congrats man,

how did you do 12-16 hours a day without going mad? if it was drugs ,where can I buy them?

FluxCapacitor

Congrats!
I bet it feels good to pass that after all that hard work.

kpjungle

Great news. Congratulations on the great achievement!

nel

COngrats man, What experiance did you have before taking these exams?

whats up next for you?

scheistermeister

Congrats!

shednik

Congrats on the NP!!

Daniel333

Awesome!

I just did an interview yesterday, they are paying very well for CCNPs in San Francisco. I could have negotiated a lot more money if I had that cert. It's now back on my list!

ITdude

Congrats man on a very dedicated pursuit.

kpjungle

Daniel333 wrote:

Awesome!

I just did an interview yesterday, they are paying very well for CCNPs in San Francisco. I could have negotiated a lot more money if I had that cert. It's now back on my list!

whats the salary for a CCNP in that area?

btowntech

Congrats!!

mikej412

Congratulations!

What did you use to keep your head from exploding?

FattyAcid

gojericho0 wrote:

Congratulations! Did you end up taking all 4 is 3 weeks?

Yes I took all four tests in 3 weeks. I think it was a mistake on some level as my scores would have been higher had I spread themselves out more.

FattyAcid

aueddonline wrote:

Congrats man,

how did you do 12-16 hours a day without going mad? if it was drugs ,where can I buy them?

I do not recommend doing it. I probably won't do such an aggressive schedule again. Yes, drugs (all legal) were used.

FWIW, I started having anxiety, sleeping, and physical health problems by the end of the 3 weeks. I am totally burned out. The schedule was also hard on my wife.

I was being this aggressive because of fears of a forced job change and a lack of reserve funds in the bank. Fear will make you work really hard.

jbaello

Fear is a motivating factor...

Your hardcore dude, congrats!!!

telco1

FattyAcid wrote:

gojericho0 wrote:

Congratulations! Did you end up taking all 4 is 3 weeks?

Yes I took all four tests in 3 weeks. I think it was a mistake on some level as my scores would have been higher had I spread themselves out more.

wow you took all four exams in three weeks? that is truly impresive! congratulations!

I have one more exam left and Ive been studying CCNP fr a little over a year now.

and as far as the high scores go, dont worry a pass is a pass no matter what.

Slowhand

Congratulations, that's a serious accomplishment over just 3 weeks. Good luck on the next cert.

Daniel333 wrote:

I just did an interview yesterday, they are paying very well for CCNPs in San Francisco. I could have negotiated a lot more money if I had that cert. It's now back on my list!

Yup, having CCNP makes you very attractive to employers around here. That's why it'll be my next stop after MCITP: Enterprise Admin, to ensure a little but of wiggle room as the economy gets worse and my school-years progress.

gojericho0

FattyAcid wrote:

aueddonline wrote:

Congrats man,

how did you do 12-16 hours a day without going mad? if it was drugs ,where can I buy them?

I do not recommend doing it. I probably won't do such an aggressive schedule again. Yes, drugs (all legal) were used.

FWIW, I started having anxiety, sleeping, and physical health problems by the end of the 3 weeks. I am totally burned out. The schedule was also hard on my wife.

I was being this aggressive because of fears of a forced job change and a lack of reserve funds in the bank. Fear will make you work really hard.

Well at least that will help out the old resume if something were to happen. Congratulations though... now enjoy some much deserved R & R

jamesp1983

wow! congrats! that level of dedication is extremely admirable!

Plazma

you of all people deserve a nice long rest.. spend some time with the wife and have a few beers.. i'll pop a cold one for you tonight!

snadam

wow, amazing progress. Im glad you didn't kill yourself over it either. Have a nice Pint of Warstiener Dunkel for me

congrats!

astorrs

Congrats! That's an impressive feat.

rezap

Hi ... i am a CCNA and i want to start for CCNP. i want to buy some routers and switches. ineed to know which model of CISCO switch and router i need. something not expensive please.

regards
reza

Plazma

rezap wrote:

Hi ... i am a CCNA and i want to start for CCNP. i want to buy some routers and switches. ineed to know which model of CISCO switch and router i need. something not expensive please.

regards
reza

This really isn't the place to ask that, ask in a new thread

mikej412

rezap wrote:

ineed to know which model of CISCO switch and router i need. something not expensive please.

Did you read the Lab Threads in the CCNP FAQ?

Do not Hijack a thread -- your lab question has nothing to do with FattyAcids's post (other then Fatty listed their equipment).

If the CCNP FAQ doesn't answer any of your questions, then follow Plazma's suggestion and start your own thread. If you do that, make sure you mention what you used for your CCNA so that we'd have a clue what you already have.

And if you need to quote something -- make sure it's relevant to your post and cut it down to just the important stuff -- your quote of the original post just takes up space and makes it harder for others to read the thread.