Ccie# 29431

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that I passed my lab yesterday in San Jose! Was my first attempt, and I am extremely relieved. Like I said in another post, I have to thank God, my loving family, coworkers, and friends. It has been quite a commitment, that took the better part of a year. I passed my written last November, and put myself on a pretty strict labbing regime. Now, I didnt completely quarantine myself from having a life, but I was close. I used INE's material almost exclusively, with the exception of a Narbik boot camp, and some Cisco 360 labs ( I highly recommend these mocks through Netmasters).

I studied about 4 hours a day per weekday, but I took 1 night off per week to spend with my wife and kiddo. On the weekends I would at least hit 6 hours per day, but shoot for 8. The real key to this is just to get super familiar with everything, and thats pretty much just rinse and repeat. I.E. Do the same INE vol 2 lab 6 times...you will learn something every time.

The lab overall was extremely hard. The TS section is a beast in the time they give you, but it is doable. You really have to concentrate on not becoming overwhelmed with the topology and massive configs. The config section was exactly what everyone says it is.."alot to do in that amount of time." But if you are well prepared you should be able to do it and have plenty of time to review for errors. Thanks again everyone...I have been in these forums since my pre-ccna days, so to be able to finally post this is awesome. Now to spend some much needed time with my son, and pregnant wife!

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Comments

Asif Dasl

Wow Congratulations! Huge achievement!

keenon

congrats.

SteveO86

Congrats man!!

mikearama

Fantastic. Huge congrats.

reaper81

Wow! Big congats! Didn't even know you had an attempt coming. Doing it in the first try is a great accomplishment. I have to pick your brain some day on how you prepared

Well done Jason!

Chipsch

Congratulations! I bet the family is really happy about the pass as well.

Congrats!

Congratulations!

congrads!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulation!

Way to go, man! It sounds like you've really sacrificed over the past year to get there. Was your employer supportive? Were you able to get any of those weekday hours in on the clock?

jason_lunde

Ya reaper I kind of kept this date close to my chest if you know what I mean. Just wanted to be able to focus on it without the pressure of announcing it. During work I would read the doc-cd, and that is about it. I would spend 45 minutes during lunch vpn'd to home on my rack labbing as well. Besides that I dedicated from abou 8-11:30 to getting my time in. With the help of monster drinks at 8 pm this was possible. Thanks guys!

Cthu1hu

+1 for Monster!! Your accomplishment is nothing less than astounding, well done sir, well done!!

Mike-Mike

holy crap, congrats! you must feel awesome right now

alan2308

Congrats!

Normally I'd ask what's next, but this time who cares?

Turgon

Well done Jason. You have crammed a lot of labtime in on a regular basis giving up night after night and whole weekends. Which is what it takes to clear in a year. Enjoy some time with your family!

Cisco Inferno

huge achievement! congratulations!

veritas_libertas

HUGE congratulations!

NOC-Ninja

Congrats! I hope to be like you someday

How long did it take you to study the written?
How long did it take you to study for the lab, starting when you passed the written?
How much did you invest? on books, labs, boot camps, gears, etc?
Can you list the books that helped you?
What did you use for labbing? GNS3, your own home lab, or tokens?

mikej412

jason_lunde wrote: »

I passed my lab

Congratulations!!

jason_lunde wrote: »

I studied about 4 hours a day per weekday

Wow -- I'm happy when I get 4 hours of sleep per day.

Turgon

jason_lunde wrote: »

and some Cisco 360 labs ( I highly recommend these mocks through Netmasters).

Jason,

Im slated to do some mocks in the Autumn and was thinking about 360. How much do they cost as Im not part of the programme.

Cheers

ITdude

Congrats! A major huge accomplishment.

Now, go have some fun.

Ryan82

Congrats man!

aragoen_celtdra

That's awesome, man! CONGRATS!

Mike-Mike

hey, do you find out immediately? if not, how long is the wait? on a CompTIA test that 30 second delay is nerve racking, I can't imagine a CCIE.

did you feel you nailed it when you did it? or were you on the fence?

froggy3132000

It depends on the day you take it.

Don't take on Friday, you might not get results till Monday.

During M-Th it usually takes 3-6 hrs.

froggy3132000

Congrats, welcome to the club!

rogue2shadow

Congrats man! Outstanding achievement!

jason_lunde

Turgon wrote: »

Jason,

Im slated to do some mocks in the Autumn and was thinking about 360. How much do they cost as Im not part of the programme.

Cheers

Hey Turgon. I went through Rauf at Netmasters...I think they were about $350. I dont know really how it works if your not a member of the program, but I am pretty sure you can get them through the Cisco store too, but they are way more expensive.

jason_lunde

NOC-Ninja wrote: »

Congrats! I hope to be like you someday

How long did it take you to study the written?

How long did it take you to study for the lab, starting when you passed the written?

How much did you invest? on books, labs, boot camps, gears, etc?

Can you list the books that helped you?

What did you use for labbing? GNS3, your own home lab, or tokens?

1. About 9 months I think...that included my trip down the CCIP path though.
2. I passed the written in November...so like 7 months of intense lab prep.
3. My tally is about 15k..that includes my lab, All Access Pass-INE, Narbik boot camp, books, travel, written and lab fees, mock labs, etc... This all came out of my pocket too, as work wouldnt really pay, and I really didnt want them too. I didnt want to feel tied down and I am fortunate enough to be in a position where I did not need them too.
4. Ahh..man..lets see. Routing TCP/IP vol1/2 , Odoms Qos, MPLS Fundamentals, LAN Switching, Odoms CCIE R/S v4 Guide, All my CCNP books, Halibi's BGP...and probably some more but I cant think of them right now.
5. I have a home lab of 2600xm's and 3640's, 3550/60's that I used to do labs from INE. If I couldnt do a task on there, I would pop open a 3725 image on GNS3 and do the task. I used remote racks of course for the mock labs (graded labs, and cisco's remote racks for the 360).