Who is pursuing the CCIE in 2011

tomaifauchai

I will go for the written this autumn i think! I can't see a better timing than right now!
You can't just memorize all this stuff on a long period and with the blueprints changing and changing, you have to go when it's fresh in your mind.

I have invested a lot of time and money already and by december 2012 i think it's possible for me to get the digits. This is the goal i'm fixing to myself! We'll see how it goes!

Turgon

avlad wrote: »

CCIE R&S by end of Q1 2011.

Q1 has been and gone. How did the lab attempt go?

Turgon

agent2592 wrote: »

I am doing the written this summer. Got the lab and books on standby.

Cool. Keep posting.

Turgon

millworx wrote: »

I will probably be taking the written within 6 months, and the lab by years end.

More takers. Like it. Open a blog and post the journey as you go along. We have about three going on TE including my own. It's nice to swap notes and encourage each other.

gorebrush

I'm back on the hunt for one of those coveted #'s

aldous

just booked mine for early june! stuff just got real!

tomaifauchai

I see there's not a big waiting queue for the exam.
When you get the rights to book the exam, does it works like the pearson vue booking system? Is it pearson vue on the first place?

Thanks

mikej412

tomaifauchai wrote: »

When you get the rights to book the exam, does it works like the pearson vue booking system? Is it pearson vue on the first place?

Anyone can book a CCIE Written Exam at Pearson Vue at any time -- just like a normal Cisco Exam.

Passing the CCIE Written Exam for a specific track gives you access to the Lab Scheduling system on the Cisco Website. The are 10 Cisco Lab Locations worldwide.

There is a Mobile CCIE Lab Option. I know that R&S and Security exams were offered here in Chicago at a Cisco Location near the airport in January 2010, but I don't see any US Mobile Lab Locations for the 2011 schedule....

There was The Abomination offered April 2010 at some Pearson Vue Professional test centers -- unfortunately they didn't use the same software (or real hardware racks) that they use at the Mobile Labs and Real Lab Locations.

Edit: Wow -- they still have the LIE posted on their website.

All CCIE R&S lab exams--whether taken on a Cisco campus, at Pearson Professional Centers, or at a temporary mobile lab location--are presented in the same format using the same equipment, have the same point values, and address the same exam topics. You will not need to adjust your preparation in any way.

By same equipment they meant that Pearson had the 26" monitor, a computer, keyboard and mouse. There was no real rack with real switches or routers -- it was ALL the IOU Software.

And there was no access to notepad or ability to copy and paste within or between terminal sessions -- so it was more like The Mavis Beacon CCIE Typing Test than a REAL CCIE Lab Exam.

And the software locked up and someone had to remotely clear the processes on the remote Solaris system -- and sometimes your configurations would just disappear.

And the link they had to the documentation only worked once for me when I looked up the weird Solaris Switch Configuration Guide Link -- and then never again after that, even when they cleared a software lab access application freeze and lost my configurations.

tomaifauchai

hehe Mike, i've read your story and it's a real shame from Cisco!

But my question was pointed toward the CCIE lab and not the written. I should have been more precise, sorry !

I meant, once you pass the written, what happen? Can you see a schedule to see when you can book etc. Basically i just want to know if it is possible to know wheter there's X waiting time at San jose, X waiting time in North Carolina, etc..

Because i'm not the kinda guy to book an exam in much advance, i prefer to prepare myself and when i feel prepared, i book the exam 1 day before. I know it won't be possible for the CCIE lab because i have to travel overthere but if i know i can book around 1 month, 2 months in advance everywhere..., for me, it'll be much better !

Forsaken_GA

tomaifauchai wrote: »

hehe Mike, i've read your story and it's a real shame from Cisco!

Do not taunt happy fun mike

mikej412

tomaifauchai wrote: »

I meant, once you pass the written, what happen? Can you see a schedule to see when you can book etc. Basically i just want to know if it is possible to know wheter there's X waiting time at San jose, X waiting time in North Carolina, etc..

You get access to the schedule -- and I think it used to run out to about 6 months, but since they moved the "pay date" from 30 days to 90 day before the lab, it may have moved to 8 months out. I'm not sure about booking the night before (or morning of, but I have seen "today" on the schedule before) -- but you can try it if you're at a Lab location and there's an open date.

When you log in you're telling it your CSO number, CCIE Track, Written Exam Date, and Written Exam Score to access the scheduling system.

You select the Lab Location (any of the 10 Fixed Labs or Mobile locations)
You can page through the schedule for the specific track 5 days at a time starting with today. Or you can input your desired start date and page through 5 open lab day at a time from that. It shows you the date and number of open seats for that track at that lab site.

You can "sit on a lab date" outside of 90 days -- but once you hit that 90 day point you have submit your payment information or cancel or reschedule.

I met someone who registered (and paid) on a Friday for an exam the following Tuesday. Just remember that you have to make sure you can get a flight and hotel room if you're waiting until the last week to book.

There may be gaps in the schedule where the proctors are on vacation or work is being done in the lab (or remote racks) -- or the lab may just be booked solid. There's no way to really tell from the schedule.

You can keep checking the schedule -- sometimes they toss in some extra seats (like with the SP Lab change to give more people 1 last chance at the old lab).

Right now there is 1 seat on Monday at RTP, and 4 seats Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. And in May at RTP there's only one R&S seat showing on May 10th.

At San Jose there's 1 R&S seat on April 22nd. Then you have to wait until June (starting on the 9th) for open R&S seats. But if you check the schedule next week, it could show more (or less) dates....

Dates are in the RTP/San Jose R&S schedule out to 8/9 December 2011 right now.

tomaifauchai

Quality! Well resumed, thanks you for clearing that up
I'm still very far from thinking to take it but it's always interesting to know the procedures
Unfortunately there's no fixed labs in Canada, so chances for me to book on the same week is probably not a good idea anyway.

So that 90-day policy is true, i mean, no refunds in case of rescheduling after the due-date? Much can happen in 90 days!

mikej412

tomaifauchai wrote: »

So that 90-day policy is true, i mean, no refunds in case of rescheduling after the due-date? Much can happen in 90 days!

That's where the Cisco Online (and phone) Certification Support comes in. Have their number in your cell phone just in case you miss a flight or get caught in weather -- or there is a death in the family. Just make sure you've got documentation -- and hope for the best.

Plus it looks like they still run the payment 30 days (or the week before) the Lab -- so the sooner you hit an issue, the sooner you should call Certification Support.

The last time I compared the Written/Lab blueprints they were almost identical -- so you could almost wait until you're ready for the lab to take the Written Exam. Except the sooner you can access the schedule, the sooner you can grab your perfect date if you already scheduled your vacation for the year and only have the 2nd week of September available for the Lab Exam. And even if you're flexible on the Lab date, there may be no dates available on your continent for the next week if you wait until the last minute to check.

Chris.M

Well its offical, passing my Voice written yesterday, I am in the lab hunt. Tentatively planning my first attempt late this year.

Turgon

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Do not taunt happy fun mike

Yeah, dont taunt uncle Mike. We all love him on TE.

tomaifauchai

Have i missed something ? I never had the intention to taunt anyone here. I just said Cisco should be ashamed of what happened

burbankmarc

I had all kinds of intentions of starting lab studies in 2011. But I'm still wrapping up this CCIP (ladies and night life got in the way for a while). The year is 1/3 over all ready and I haven't even started prep for the written so looks like lab work will have to wait until 2012.

Luckily I live in southern virginia which means RTP is a ~4 drive from here, so scheduling should be easy.

Forsaken_GA

tomaifauchai wrote: »

Have i missed something ? I never had the intention to taunt anyone here. I just said Cisco should be ashamed of what happened

lol, no, i was being facetious. mentioning the abomination tends to bring out a side of mike we don't see very often hehe

tomaifauchai

@Forsaken
Okay, i thought i had used a wrong way of wording my phrase and that you felt that i have insulted Mike!

@burbankmarc
Lucky you, at least you can save the hotel and the flight!

gorebrush

Think I'm having a holiday in Belgium when I get round to the lab.

Turgon

gorebrush wrote: »

Think I'm having a holiday in Belgium when I get round to the lab.

You got 1000 hours of racktime to crank out first. Get across that 100 hour reading mark and press on to the written.

gorebrush

Oh, don't I know it

aldous

gorebrush wrote: »

Think I'm having a holiday in Belgium when I get round to the lab.

if your gonna take a mini break from belgium you can get to holland(train goes all the way to amsterdam ) and luxembourg for around 20E via the train.

i wouldn't recommend spending too long in brussels mind you. there is some nice stuff around the grand place and the beers are awesome (Belgian beer especially trappist is amazing) some of the other places in belgium are supposed to be quite nice (brugge,gent,leuven) but i only saw brussels the 4 months i was there (and far too long was spent trundling on the train through brussels, the worlds biggest train set)

avlad

Turgon wrote: »

Q1 has been and gone. How did the lab attempt go?

I had to reschedule the exam for next month. I will keep you posted with my result .

Raptien

I'm gunning for CCIE too, attempt(s) being made in 2011.

Turgon

avlad wrote: »

I had to reschedule the exam for next month. I will keep you posted with my result .

Cool avlad, good luck with all that.

Turgon

avlad wrote: »

I had to reschedule the exam for next month. I will keep you posted with my result .

Bump. How did you get on?

mikearama

Alright... enough's enough. I was going to add the DP to the NP and SP I have, when a wintel colleague at work (not even remotely a cisco guy) told me I was retarded... and to just go after the IE. Not exactly sure why I was holding off.

So, I'm in. Starting the clock today toward the written. Downloaded some stuff online until I land some physical course content.

I enjoyed INE's "How to Pass the CCIE Routing & Switching Exam" page... just as sobering yet inspiring as Turgon's continuing comments on his saga.

Fortunately, I work at a great company (Toyota Canada), where, though they won't help me with any of the costs towards the certification, are willing to let me study and play when there aren't issues, and all regular maintenance is completed. I expect to get paid to study somewhere around 3 or 4 hours per day.

Let the games begin!!

Forsaken_GA

So, after being forced to readjust for work related crap, my goal of taking the lab by the end of the year is unlikely. I did accomplish my passing of the Written, and right now, I'm aiming for a lab date somewhere between April and July of 2012

Turgon

mikearama wrote: »

Alright... enough's enough. I was going to add the DP to the NP and SP I have, when a wintel colleague at work (not even remotely a cisco guy) told me I was retarded... and to just go after the IE. Not exactly sure why I was holding off.

So, I'm in. Starting the clock today toward the written. Downloaded some stuff online until I land some physical course content.

I enjoyed INE's "How to Pass the CCIE Routing & Switching Exam" page... just as sobering yet inspiring as Turgon's continuing comments on his saga.

Fortunately, I work at a great company (Toyota Canada), where, though they won't help me with any of the costs towards the certification, are willing to let me study and play when there aren't issues, and all regular maintenance is completed. I expect to get paid to study somewhere around 3 or 4 hours per day.

Let the games begin!!

Good luck. Studying on workstime really is the way to go if you can get the buy in and you have the time in the office, it's a real boost to your evening and weekend study sessions which you will still need.