Final hurdle cleared... I is a CCNP

Cherper

Crushed the ONT this morning. Moving on to something else, QoS or ARCH. It will depend on which book arrives first.

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Silver Bullet

Congratulations!

networker050184

Congrats!

Go for QoS next it has a huge overlap with ONT. As soon as I can fit in a proper review I will be knocking this one out myself. Just not enough time lately with a new job and move....

Paul Boz

as Networker said, you may want to go for the QoS. The overlap is ridiculous. You could probably pass it in a few weeks, especially because the ONT was your last exam. From there you're only or two tests from the CCIP.

kalebksp

Congrats!

miller811

Wow, considering that you completed the composite with 5 days of studying and then completed both the ISCW and ONT 10 days later, I guess you should have your CCIE in 2 weeks......
You must have total recall or you have been doing this for a while.

I took me 10 months...

Congrats

Paul Boz

miller811 wrote: »

Wow, considering that you completed the composite with 5 days of studying and then completed both the ISCW and ONT 10 days later, I guess you should have your CCIE in 2 weeks......
You must have total recall or you have been doing this for a while.

I took me 10 months...

Congrats

A guy that I worked with at my last employer got the CCNP in three days. BSCI + ISCW one day, took a break for a day, then did the BCMSN and ONT the next day. If you work with a majority of the technologies and surround yourself with current information it's definitely possible.

mikej412

Congratulations!

I'd 2nd the QoS suggestion.

Check out the http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccip/39766-starting-ccip.html thread in the CCIP - TechExams.net IT Certification Forums.
You'll find some links to the Cisco QoS docs in that thread. It should be enough to get you started, and might even be enough to tempt you to try the exam before your Odom book arrives.

impelse

Congrats

mikearama

Paul Boz wrote: »

A guy that I worked with at my last employer got the CCNP in three days. BSCI + ISCW one day, took a break for a day, then did the BCMSN and ONT the next day. If you work with a majority of the technologies and surround yourself with current information it's definitely possible.

I'm probably the only one to read that and want to say... WHATEVER! Anything's possible, but you just described something that must be as improbable as it gets. No one can work with that many technologies all at once... not in enough depth to pass a cisco exam in it.

mikearama

CONGRATs to you, Cherper. Nicely done. Incredibly fast though... I hope you have awesome recall when it comes to applying your new cert on the job.

Cherper

I use most of the stuff in my daily job. Have been for a long time, just needed to buckle down and take the time to study and test.

Netwurk

What's he chirping about?

Congrats man!!!

Nice job

Paul Boz

mikearama wrote: »

I'm probably the only one to read that and want to say... WHATEVER! Anything's possible, but you just described something that must be as improbable as it gets. No one can work with that many technologies all at once... not in enough depth to pass a cisco exam in it.

Are you kidding me? The CCIE is a one day test that forces you to exhibit a majority of CCNP coursework. When you work for a small internet provider that has done a fiber to the home rollout with zero outside consulting you have the skills to take any test. You have to know QoS, voice services, complex routing and switching, and wide areas of security. You can't afford to have to do research when you have a 20,000 customer outage. You have to know the technology and know how to perform. That's just the bottom line. The service provider industry chews up most people and spits them out.

Cherper

mikearama wrote: »

I'm probably the only one to read that and want to say... WHATEVER! Anything's possible, but you just described something that must be as improbable as it gets. No one can work with that many technologies all at once... not in enough depth to pass a cisco exam in it.
CONGRATs to you, Cherper. Nicely done. Incredibly fast though... I hope you have awesome recall when it comes to applying your new cert on the job.

I have found two camps of people in getting certs. Those who studied the stuff on their own for a long time and those that work with it daily. It often seems that one side or the other feels slighted. I don't know which camp you are in, but if you work in the industry long enough you will get a chance to do a lot of what is on the tests.

lildeezul

congrats Bro, nice achievement

aragoen_celtdra

Congratulations! As I recall, didn't you just get done with the composite? Must be nice to not have to worry about "formalities" just to show you know your stuff.

Do I smell CCIE in the near future?

mikearama

Paul Boz wrote: »

Are you kidding me?

Well, I wasn't kidding you... but if you were able to also pass all four exams in a week, then I guess it's more than possible. You did do that, right?

I work with 'most' of the technologies covered in the BSCI and BSMSN, a lot of the BSCI material, though little of the ONT stuff. I was still shocked at the amount of material that we just don't get to touch on a daily basis that was tested on, despite that. The level of detail required is over the top.

But, if you think it's possible to work with the technologies in sufficient depth and detail to pass ALL four NP exams in three days, and that's reasonable to expect, than I apologize for thinking it isn't. My bad.

/chirp

kpjungle

CCNP in three days seems almost impossible, but then again, I didnt think pigs could fly, but given enough booster rockets, even that has been shown to occur. However, I do believe it is VERY unique to do the entire track in 3 days.

Wasnt there a poll somewhere around here, giving info on how long people used in order to obtain CCNP or was that CCNA? dont remember.

Cherper

I honestly didn't think that the NP tests were that in depth. They wanted lots of theory (can get that from reading and working) and the sims seemed to be pretty straightforward. Nothing that you wouldn't see in most working environments.

QoS was one area that I haven't done much with, but most of what is tested is pretty low level. I guess that is why they have the QoS test on the IP track. The same seems to go with MPLS. Not much depth, but this isn't a test on MPLS.

kpjungle

Cherper wrote: »

I honestly didn't think that the NP tests were that in depth. They wanted lots of theory (can get that from reading and working) and the sims seemed to be pretty straightforward. Nothing that you wouldn't see in most working environments.

QoS was one area that I haven't done much with, but most of what is tested is pretty low level. I guess that is why they have the QoS test on the IP track. The same seems to go with MPLS. Not much depth, but this isn't a test on MPLS.

Well, as is evident by the thickness of the official Cisco Press books, there is alot more material to be learned (if you dont already have experience with it), in the BSCI and BCMSN blueprint than the ISCW and ONT blueprint. Do you have alot of work experience?

Cherper

I have been doing routing and switching for going on 6 years. I currently maintain about 200 routers and about 65 switches. I have worked on just about all the switch platforms that Cisco has out, the only routers that I haven't worked on are the 7600 series, though we have a few of those in our network.

LarryDaMan

Congrats!

Interesting debate. I think anything is possible, but I don't think being an expert in the field directly translates to breezing through difficult certifications. We all have our own habits and ways for doing things and they are not always the "by the book" method.

Some people just pick things up quick and some people have great short term memories. There are MCSE and CCNP bootcamps out there in which people take an exam every other day.

I've looked at some of the cirriculum schedules at Accelerated IT Training :: Training Camp and I am amazed at the pace of some of these courses.

kpjungle

Cherper wrote: »

I have been doing routing and switching for going on 6 years. I currently maintain about 200 routers and about 65 switches. I have worked on just about all the switch platforms that Cisco has out, the only routers that I haven't worked on are the 7600 series, though we have a few of those in our network.

Okay that figures then

And congrats on the pass btw. I envy your experience. I think it really helps solidify alot of things by seeing them at work. The fact that you both have alot of work experience + know all the theory behind it is a big thumbs up in my opinion!

Turgon

I think Cherper has done very well to clear these tests in this timespan. But he is a CCNA and CCDA and he has been working on a frequent basis with routers and switches for a number of years now. So to the doubters out there I can attest that cumulative on the job experience will certainly have helped him. It's still good going though!

AutoBahn81

Congrats on your achievement.

200 routers and only 65 switches? What kind of an environment do you work in? I'm assuming ISP-esque?

In my network the gist of it is we have 2 7600s, 9 6500s, and about 400 access-layer devices comprised of 4500s & 3750s (collapsed core), not to mention a bunch of wireless. Our 6500s are running EIGRP on our 10Gbps backbone. We just ordered about 70 of the PoE Gig e-series 3750s so we'll be extending the 10Gig connectivity all the way down to the access layer for a few special customers. I know what you're thinking...overkill...but it is oh-so cool.

Cheers...

a543047

Congrats on the CCNP!

As far as completing it in a short amount of time, anything is possible! Petr from Internetwork Expert became a 4x CCIE in under 2 years and he certainly does know 'everything' as far as I'm concerned.

mamono

Congrats!

I hope that my on-job experience will start to show as I work at my new job longer!!!