Am I crazy or what?

LAN_Guru

This is my tentative exam schedule for the remainder of 2011. MCITP-EA, CCEE, and CCNP by Christmas. Microsoft exams are paid for. All Microsoft books are either in my possession or paid for and on order (70-640 and 70-643 2nd Editions not released yet, hence the weird exam sequence). I built a brand new lab server (Supermicro 1u Xeon E3-1230 w/16GB memory and 4-500GB WD RE4 drives in RAID 10). The virtual server and virtual PC VHDs for the labs are built and configured. Citrix XenApp 6, XenDesktop 5, and XenServer 5.6 in my possession. Citrix documentation downloaded. The Visio drawings and parts list to build the Cisco lab is complete and devices (1 x 2511RJ router (access server), 2 x 2950G-24 switch, 2 x 3550-24 EMI switch, 4 x 2611XM router, and 2 x 3640 router) are on order. CCNA and CCNP lab manuals downloaded. Was just given a 42U APC NetShelter cabinet today. Exam simulators for all exams are in my possession.

PASSED 880/1000 - 6/30 - Microsoft 70-642 Configuring Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure

SEAT CONFIRMED 7/14 - Microsoft 70-680 Configuring Windows 7

7/25 - Citrix A18 Basic Administration for Citrix XenApp 6

8/5 - Microsoft 70-640 Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

8/11 - Citrix A19 Citrix XenDesktop 5 Administration

8/24 - Citrix A24 Citrix XenServer 5.6 Administration

9/1 - Microsoft 70-643 Configuring Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure

9/23 - Microsoft 70-647 Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Administrator

10/7 - Citrix 08 Advanced Administration for Citrix XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2008

10/21 - Citrix A15 Engineering a Citrix Virtualization Solution

11/10 - Cisco 640-802 CCNA composite exam (640-822 ICND1 and 640-816 ICND2 combined)

11/23 - Cisco 642-813 Implementing Cisco IP Switched Networks

12/9 - Cisco 642-902 Implementing Cisco IP Routing

12/23 - Cisco 642-832 Troubleshooting and Maintaining Cisco IP Networks

Essendon

That's a pretty stiff target you've set for yourself. I am assuming you have lots of experience to get you through all these exams?

pzero

Certifiably insane? Thats a pretty ambitious goal. You must be studing full time for that.

Not to put a downer on it, but have you factored in what happens if you fail an exam or will you just keep hammering on schedule? (excluding roadblocks like not passing pre-req certs)

The best of luck to you! Keep us updated on your progress.

LAN_Guru

Essendon wrote: »

That's a pretty stiff target you've set for yourself. I am assuming you have lots of experience to get you through all these exams?

17 years as full-time IT professional. Have worked as a sr. field network engineer at consulting companies for the last 9 years. Cut my teeth on Netware 3.11 back in 1994, got my MCSE on NT 4.0 in 16 days in 2000 (took the 6 exams the last 8 days of that 16 and had a 916/1000 average exam score). Have been working with Server 2003 since 2002 and Server 2008 since before it was released. I just don't work with the enterprise features and functionality very often.

Essendon

LAN_Guru wrote: »

17 years as full-time IT professional. Have worked as a sr. field network engineer at consulting companies for the last 9 years. Cut my teeth on Netware 3.11 back in 1994, got my MCSE on NT 4.0 in 16 days in 2000 (took the 6 exams the last 8 days of that 16 and had a 916/1000 average exam score). Have been working with Server 2003 since 2002 and Server 2008 since before it was released. I just don't work with the enterprise features and functionality very often.

Damn man, I sure hope you stick around!! Just of curiosity, why all the varied certs, the EA-CCEE-CCNP. That's 3 completely different beasts.

Good luck with the tests, I can only speak for the MCITP: EA, the 647 was a bit of a beast, the others werent that much of an issue.

LAN_Guru

pzero wrote: »

Certifiably insane? Thats a pretty ambitious goal. You must be studing full time for that.

Not to put a downer on it, but have you factored in what happens if you fail an exam or will you just keep hammering on schedule? (excluding roadblocks like not passing pre-req certs)

The best of luck to you! Keep us updated on your progress.

I have taken a 6 month sabbatical from work (consulting Sr Field Network Engineer) to do this. So yes, I am a full-time, self study student. i am devoting 50-60+ hours a week towards preparing for exams. Some exams I have allowed 50 hours prep time and others (CCNA for example) I have allowed 150 hours prep time (Wendell Odom says most people spend 10 hours a week for 10-14 weeks on CCNA and I learn very quickly and have Cisco experience, know my way around IOS) Some exams will take less time than I allowed. I was very conservative in my estimates. I spent about 40 hours 6/27-6/30 preparing for 70-642 and made 880/1000 last Thursday, 6/30. I have also allowed a 3-day weekend off twice a month to go visit my fiance who lives 200 miles away and 10 days off in September because my birthday is the 2nd and hers is the 6th so we will take a vacation then.

Failure is not an option...

LAN_Guru

Essendon wrote: »

Damn man, I sure hope you stick around!! Just of curiosity, why all the varied certs, the EA-CCEE-CCNP. That's 3 completely different beasts.

Good luck with the tests, I can only speak for the MCITP: EA, the 647 was a bit of a beast, the others werent that much of an issue.

I contract full-time to a consulting company that is a Microsoft Gold Partner and a Citrix Gold Partner so I do Microsoft and Citrix consulting. Also work with WatchGuard firewalls a bunch. I have some experience with Cisco (can add routes to routers, add NATs, open ports and forward them in PIX, add VLANs to switches, etc from command line) but I want to know a lot more then I do. Citrix and Cisco gurus make a lot of $$$...

Basically, in the consulting world, you walk into clients who have technology you have never worked with or seen before and you have to figure it out...ASAP. You learn a lot about some things and a little bit about almost everything. Because I understand how firewalls work, i can figure out how to do things in WatchGuard, SonicWall, Juniper, etc. It's just a matter of figuring out how each manufacturer does things and what they call it.

As an example, i just deployed a WDS (Windows Deployment Services) server in a VM on my lab network, added images to it, and tested it by deploying a Windows 7 Enterprise VM with an unattend file...all over the last hour, without opening a book or help file. And i had never worked with WDS (or RIS) before.

kohadara

Nice man,
But what kind of books did you use to prepare your 70-640 and 70-642.
I need to follow you exemple

LAN_Guru

kohadara wrote: »

Nice man,
But what kind of books did you use to prepare your 70-640 and 70-642.
I need to follow you exemple

Don't follow my example! Different people learn in different ways. And some people naturally do well on tests and other don't. Some people have to work real hard at learning this stuff and others just "get it". I am one of those fortunate one's who just "get's it" and does well on tests.

That being said, I use the Microsft Press study guides and some sort of exam simulator (usually Transcender, ExamForce, MeasureUp, or the ones that come with the MS Press books). Also, I cover the material rapidly, do exam sims, find out where I am weak, focus more prep on my weak areas, and exam sim again. Interesting enough, I rarely pass an exam sim. I tend to rush through them.

Take 70-642 for example. UPS delivered my 2nd Edition MS Press book around 6:00PM on Monday, 6/27. I studied from 8:00PM that night until 2:30 Tuesday morning, 12:30PM Tuesday afternoon until 3:30AM Wednesday morning, and 12:30 Wednesday afternoon until I finished the book at 5:30AM Thursday morning. Then I woke back up (sleep deprived with 4 hours sleep) at 9:30AM on Thursday 6/30, did exam sims until 2:30PM, left to drive an hour to the testing center for the exam scheduled at 3:30PM, and made an 880 on the exam. I finished the exam in 47 minutes.

Brutal...but it worked...for me. Exactly how I did my NT4 MCSE back in November of 2000. Studied NT4 Server, Workstation, and NT4 in the Enterprise for 8 days. Took NT4 Server in the AM and made a 1000 and took NT4 Workstation in the PM on the same day and made 966. Then I took NT4 in the Enterprise the next morning and made 866. Proxy Server 2.0 two days later - 858. Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) two days later and made 808 (difficult exam based on remembering buried settings rather than understanding concepts), and finally Networking Essentials two days later and made 1000. Six exams in eight days with a 916 exam score average. Brutal. Sixteen 18-19 hour days in a row. But it worked....for me. Earned my MCSE in 16 days with an extremely high exam score average using nothing but MS Press books and Transcenders.

Yeah, I'm proud of that exam score average. But you know what? I have never been asked in an interview or by an employer what I made on the exams. All they care about is do you have the cert or not.

When we would come out from taking an exam, anyone who had already finished would ask "Doctor?". What that meant is "did you pass?"

What do you call a Doctor that finished at the bottom of his class? A Doctor. He passed, even if just by the hair of his chin...

Do what works for you. If you find that you are forgetting material you studied a month ago, you may be better off spending 8 hours Friday evening and 18 hours a day Saturday and Sunday over a weekend and taking the exam on Monday morning while it is all still fresh in your mind. That's 44 hours studying in 3 days. That's how I do it. YMMV.

Ahriakin

I understand that when consulting you need to have exposure to many different technologies but tbh you seem to be trying to rack these up as trophies more than anything else. It's not hard to cram and rush certs, it is hard to maintain indepth knowledge in those fields as you do more of them. It may also count against you in some interview situations. We often receive and reject resumes (with less aggressive cert achievement schedules) based on the fact it's obvious the candidate did many of them just as padding, there's a certain point where less-is-more holds true for certification (of course that line depends on your career track, again I know as a general consultant it's very different to a specialist).

NOC-Ninja

LAN_Guru wrote: »

I have taken a 6 month sabbatical from work (consulting Sr Field Network Engineer) to do this. So yes, I am a full-time, self study student. i am devoting 50-60+ hours a week towards preparing for exams. Some exams I have allowed 50 hours prep time and others (CCNA for example) I have allowed 150 hours prep time (Wendell Odom says most people spend 10 hours a week for 10-14 weeks on CCNA and I learn very quickly and have Cisco experience, know my way around IOS) Some exams will take less time than I allowed. I was very conservative in my estimates. I spent about 40 hours 6/27-6/30 preparing for 70-642 and made 880/1000 last Thursday, 6/30. I have also allowed a 3-day weekend off twice a month to go visit my fiance who lives 200 miles away and 10 days off in September because my birthday is the 2nd and hers is the 6th so we will take a vacation then.

Failure is not an option...

How come you didnt have any CCNA or CCNP when you were a Sr Field Network Engineer?

LAN_Guru

NOC-Ninja wrote: »

How come you didnt have any CCNA or CCNP when you were a Sr Field Network Engineer?

Because none of the companies I worked for were Cisco partners or resellers and we have done very little Cisco work. In the corporate and government environments, there were Cisco engineers who did nothing but Cisco.

As I stated in another post, I know my way around Cisco enough to add routes, NATs, ports, port forwards, VLANs, etc. I could pull a router, switch, or PIX out of the box and configure it. Would the config be perfect? Probably not. Would it work? Probably so. Would I be able to bill the client for all my time? Probably not because it would take me more time to config the device than someone who has done the training and knows the commands, syntax, best practices because they have done the training.

Do I NEED these certs for my job? No (except for MS Partner competencies.) Do I WANT these certifications? Absolutely! I know that spending the time to prepare for these exams will make me a better engineer and my clients will benefit from that. I can market Cisco service to my existing and prospective client-base. Plus, I will be able to increase the percentage of my time billed to time logged to time worked because I won't have to spend as much time researching things when working with these technologies. I can't bill clients for my learning curve. As Paulie Shore said in "In The Army Now", it's a win-win situation. My clients benefit so I also benefit. Bottom line is, I make more money for working less time and the clients benefit from increased competency by getting better quality at lower overall cost. My hourly rate will go up but the amount of time to accomplish a task goes down. An added bonus is that I can more effectively hire, train, and retain Jr Engineers.

LAN_Guru

Ahriakin wrote: »

I understand that when consulting you need to have exposure to many different technologies but tbh you seem to be trying to rack these up as trophies more than anything else. It's not hard to cram and rush certs, it is hard to maintain indepth knowledge in those fields as you do more of them. It may also count against you in some interview situations. We often receive and reject resumes (with less aggressive cert achievement schedules) based on the fact it's obvious the candidate did many of them just as padding, there's a certain point where less-is-more holds true for certification (of course that line depends on your career track, again I know as a general consultant it's very different to a specialist).

Who would you rather hire, someone who can take a book home over the weekend and come in Monday morning with an excellent grasp of the technology and can start billing hours deploying that technology that day or someone who takes the book home and attains 10% better understanding of features he will never use and spends 2 months learning it? You may have lost out on the opportunity to hire some very sharp fast learners by tossing resumes of people with aggressive cert achievment.

I'm one of those people who learns new technology extremely fast and has excellent retention. I perform much better in an accelerated learning mode. I wouldn't consider spending approximately 400+ hours preparing for MCITP-EA, 400+ hours preparing for CCEE, 160+ hours preparing for CCNA composite, and 300+ hours preparing for CCNP an aggressive cert achievment. I'm spending about the same amount of hours prparing for each exam as anyone else, I am just spending that amount of hours in less total days.

By the way, CCIE is a cert you should be very proud of. I am envious

Ahriakin

LAN_Guru wrote: »

Who would you rather hire, someone who can take a book home over the weekend and come in Monday morning with an excellent grasp of the technology and can start billing hours deploying that technology that day or someone who takes the book home and attains 10% better understanding of features he will never use and spends 2 months learning it? You may have lost out on the opportunity to hire some very sharp fast learners by tossing resumes of people with aggressive cert achievment.

Of course we look for the folks who can learn faster than their peers, you don't get to this level without it. More importantly we need people who can dedicate, reason and work with that knowledge rather than just prove they can compile it. Simply earning certs quickly is not a show stopper and yes there is value in the evident raw talent vs. experience, but many different certs in varied fields with relatively little experience in each just screams academic. We interviewed a Quad CCIE before and the guy was stumped within a few questions of real world issues, at the same time I've hired people to positions that have CCIEs as a pre-requisite who don't have a number because they have proved they have the raw talent and mindset for the job. But as I said we have outright dismissed resumes that have a serious imbalance between paper and experience - you will find this echoed over the years in many similar posts from different folks.
A good resume, experience and certs gets a phone-screen that gets the candidate a hands on lab that includes what you would consider that extra 10% of minutiae because that is exactly what makes the successful candidate stand out from a talented crowd. You hire experts in their field for rarely touched areas of knowledge that you might just need at 4am on a sunday morning in the middle of an outage, because right then you pretty much can't afford NOT to have that on your team.

Again I know this does not apply directly to your current field but you did mention 'Cisco guys earning big bucks' - well the only way you will do that is to prove your focus is on what those customers need. A Jack of All Trades can be better than the other Jacks (and sometimes that is exactly what you need), but they're always master of none...and master is where the money is (or so I'm told ).

Ultimately I'm not saying you're wrong to do this. Just providing some advice from this side of the business/fence.

NOC-Ninja

LAN_Guru wrote: »

Because none of the companies I worked for were Cisco partners or resellers and we have done very little Cisco work. In the corporate and government environments, there were Cisco engineers who did nothing but Cisco.

As I stated in another post, I know my way around Cisco enough to add routes, NATs, ports, port forwards, VLANs, etc. I could pull a router, switch, or PIX out of the box and configure it. Would the config be perfect? Probably not. Would it work? Probably so. Would I be able to bill the client for all my time? Probably not because it would take me more time to config the device than someone who has done the training and knows the commands, syntax, best practices because they have done the training.

Do I NEED these certs for my job? No (except for MS Partner competencies.) Do I WANT these certifications? Absolutely! I know that spending the time to prepare for these exams will make me a better engineer and my clients will benefit from that. I can market Cisco service to my existing and prospective client-base. Plus, I will be able to increase the percentage of my time billed to time logged to time worked because I won't have to spend as much time researching things when working with these technologies. I can't bill clients for my learning curve. As Paulie Shore said in "In The Army Now", it's a win-win situation. My clients benefit so I also benefit. Bottom line is, I make more money for working less time and the clients benefit from increased competency by getting better quality at lower overall cost. My hourly rate will go up but the amount of time to accomplish a task goes down. An added bonus is that I can more effectively hire, train, and retain Jr Engineers.

I believe that you can be the best of what you do if you concentrate on one certification.

Example:
Cisco = Networking / VOIP / Security / Wireless
Microsoft = System / Server

I havent seen jack of trades become successful. All of my co-workers have their passion. They are the best on one thing.

Ahriakin is right. You need to find where your best at. Where you passion is. In my opinion, you are rushing all this certs just to pass. Just to make money out of gaining the certs. Yeah sure, you have all this certs but can you really connect all the dots? Like you said " I could pull a router, switch, or PIX out of the box and configure it. Would the config be perfect? Probably not. Would it work? Probably so. "

Here's the thing in my job. The config should be perfect.
Scenario 1:
Boss: Is the config working?
Me: Probably so.

See that? It sounds like my answer is unsure. Im not sure what the hell Im doing.

If you really know what your doing then you would say "Yes the config is done". See the confidence compare to "probably so"?

Well, goodluck on your journey.

Forsaken_GA

Yes, you are absolutely, totally, bat-**** crazy.

Say hi to George Lucas at the next meeting.

EdTheLad

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Yes, you are absolutely, totally, bat-**** crazy.

Say hi to George Lucas at the next meeting.

Good job Forsaken_GA, i don't think NOC-Ninja and Ahriakin are participating as the thread creator anticipated. Get on board guys, were supposed to say " wow you amazingly great, how could you even envision doing such an incredible feat, us mere mortals could never even dream of doing that amount of certs in our lifetime no mind in just 6 months."

Ok, now where's did i put my beer and remote control?

Forsaken_GA

EdTheLad wrote: »

Good job Forsaken_GA, i don't think NOC-Ninja and Ahriakin are participating as the thread creator anticipated. Get on board guys, were supposed to say " wow you amazingly great, how could you even envision doing such an incredible feat, us mere mortals could never even dream of doing that amount of certs in our lifetime no mind in just 6 months."

Ok, now where's did i put my beer and remote control?

Oh believe me, I am *not* being complimentary I am simply confirming that he is nuts

It's always fun to see new folks full of vim and vigor who flame out in six months. He'll learn to his dismay that it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Unless he already has extensive networking experience (or unless those 'lab manuals' are something else, as I suspect), I find the concept of doing all three CCNP exams in a month to be quite entertaining.

Ahriakin

Guys c'mon, a wee bit more courtesy please. You can make the same points without the sarcasm.

LAN_Guru

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Oh believe me, I am *not* being complimentary I am simply confirming that he is nuts

It's always fun to see new folks full of vim and vigor who flame out in six months. He'll learn to his dismay that it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Unless he already has extensive networking experience (or unless those 'lab manuals' are something else, as I suspect), I find the concept of doing all three CCNP exams in a month to be quite entertaining.

This was not intended to be entertaining, but thanks for the laugh Forsaken! That cartoon rocks. And I am not trying to say "look at me, look at what I am doing you mere mortals" Sorry if it came across like that. I am much more humble than that. The "Am I Crazy or What" was more tongue-in-cheek humor than anything. And the others do have me figured out right. I am serious about doing this.

I messed around and let work, kids, life, etc. get in the way of keeping my certs current. I let my certs get stagnant but not my skills. I have been doing Novell and Microsoft networking since 1994, started working with Win NT (3.51) in 1995, started working with Citrix products in 1999, obtained my first Citrix CCA and Microsoft MCSE in 2000, and have worked extensively with every version of Windows desktop OS from WFW 3.11 to Win7; every Windows server OS from NT 3.51 to w2k8r2 (plus SBS 2011); Every version of Citrix from MetaFrame 1.1 through XenApp6; and know enough IOS/PIX/etc. to do what I need to do in SMB environments (though I do not hold any Cisco certs...yet.)

This is not my first dance and won't be my last. I am already an MCSE and CCA (MetaaFrame 1.8 - that Citrix retired), have quite extensive (17 years) of full-time network admin/engineering experience, have a fairly deep understanding of networking (1000/1000 on Networking Essentials during MCSE NT4 exams in November, 2000 and made in the high 900's on Network+ exam), and work with the Microsoft and Citrix products I will be testing on daily for a living. I don't work with Cisco nearly as much but I have (and do) work with it in small to mid-size businesses occasionally.

I did my MCSE NT4 in 16 days start to finish and took the 6 exams in 8 days. I had a 916/1000 exam score average using nothing but MS Press books and Transcenders. I excel in an accelerated study mode. And I DO NOT **** by using braindumps as I suspect you were inferring.

But thanks for the laughs, you made my day. Have a bountiful and blessed day...

LAN_Guru

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Oh believe me, I am *not* being complimentary I am simply confirming that he is nuts

It's always fun to see new folks full of vim and vigor who flame out in six months. He'll learn to his dismay that it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Unless he already has extensive networking experience (or unless those 'lab manuals' are something else, as I suspect), I find the concept of doing all three CCNP exams in a month to be quite entertaining.

When I am in study mode like this, I spend 12-14 hours a day, 6-7 days a week preparing for an exam. During the 39 days that I will be doing the CCNP, I have mapped out 28 study days (I will be out of town for 5 days over Thanksgiving, 12-10 to 12/12, and have 3 exam days). Over that 28 days, I will be spending 360+- hours preparing for exams. What is so far fetched about someone who has immersed themselves into 12-14 days doing nothing but studying Cisco technologies and having completed CCNA a week before to pass the 3 CCNP exams with 100-140 hours prep time for each? People do CCNP at 10-14 days bootcamps all the time, what makes you think someone can't do it in triple that amount of time?

Do the math and it won't seem so daunting of a undertaking...

LAN_Guru

Ahriakin wrote: »

Guys c'mon, a wee bit more courtesy please. You can make the same points without the sarcasm.

Thanks. And inferring that someone is cheating is beyond sarcasm, it is downright insulting. I guess I was raised to have a little more respect for others than that.

I will defend my abilities with my actions over the next 6 months rather than stooping down to insults and sarcasm.

An Irishman among rednecks? You in the Southeast of USA?

Forsaken_GA

LAN_Guru wrote: »

When I am in study mode like this, I spend 12-14 hours a day, 6-7 days a week preparing for an exam. During the 39 days that I will be doing the CCNP, I have mapped out 28 study days (I will be out of town for 5 days over Thanksgiving, 12-10 to 12/12, and have 3 exam days). Over that 28 days, I will be spending 360+- hours preparing for exams. What is so far fetched about someone who has immersed themselves into 12-14 days doing nothing but studying Cisco technologies and having completed CCNA a week before to pass the 3 CCNP exams with 100-140 hours prep time for each? People do CCNP at 10-14 days bootcamps all the time, what makes you think someone can't do it in triple that amount of time?

Do the math and it won't seem so daunting of a undertaking...

2 responses to the same post. I must have hit a nerve.

Dude, you can talk about it all you want, but I still stand by my opinion. Unless you have oodles of network experience (in which case you're a ringer, not a prodigy), your goals are unrealistic. Even if you are brilliant at exam preparation, you're studying for the exam, not to learn the material. I doubt your retention will be all that good.

As far as those 10 to 14 day bootcamps... you are aware that more than a few have a shady reputation, aye? When the instructor is handing out braindumps as 'study material', it's not a big wonder why people manage to pass them.

All in all, you're going to do what you're going to do, and I wish you the best of luck. All I will say is this - if I was interviewing you, and you mentioned that you'd passed all these exams in such a short amount of time, your stock would immediately drop with me, probably irrecoverably. I'm not going to lie, nor am I going to beat around the bush for the sake of being pleasant in public - At worst, I would suspect you were a cheater, and I wouldn't be willing to take a chance that you weren't. At best, I would suspect you of being inconsistent and unable to make up your mind about what you wanted to do.

LAN_Guru

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

2 responses to the same post. I must have hit a nerve.

Dude, you can talk about it all you want, but I still stand by my opinion. Unless you have oodles of network experience (in which case you're a ringer, not a prodigy), your goals are unrealistic. Even if you are brilliant at exam preparation, you're studying for the exam, not to learn the material. I doubt your retention will be all that good.

As far as those 10 to 14 day bootcamps... you are aware that more than a few have a shady reputation, aye? When the instructor is handing out braindumps as 'study material', it's not a big wonder why people manage to pass them.

All in all, you're going to do what you're going to do, and I wish you the best of luck. All I will say is this - if I was interviewing you, and you mentioned that you'd passed all these exams in such a short amount of time, your stock would immediately drop with me, probably irrecoverably. I'm not going to lie, nor am I going to beat around the bush for the sake of being pleasant in public - At worst, I would suspect you were a cheater, and I wouldn't be willing to take a chance that you weren't. At best, I would suspect you of being inconsistent and unable to make up your mind about what you wanted to do.

I understand and respect your point of view. Please remember that I am on the consulting side of the fence and we are expected to know a lot about a lot of different technologies. As a Microsoft Partner, we have to have x number of MCPs on staff who have passed x number of certain exams in order to attain different competencies and move up the Microsoft ladder. We also have to have x number of customer referrals where Microsoft interviews them to determine customer satisfaction levels so simply passing exams doesn't cut it. You have to produce quality results.

The broader my skillset is, the more services I am able to offer to existing and prospective clients. As for Citrix, I do a ton of Citrix work and want to expand my skillset. Cisco is something I have set my goals on for a while but the timing hasn't been right until now. I will be a darn good Cisco professional when done, you can count on it. I never do anything half-a$$.

There are exceptions to everything. Please don't assume that I am cheating or have any less understanding or retention of the material because I choose to learn something in less days, weeks, or months than most (though the same or more total hours of prep time).

Have a great weekend. PM sent.

NOC-Ninja

Reality is we have been in your shoes. Specifically Cisco tests. I dealt with the current CCNA and CCNP tests. Its impossible to passed CCNA and even more CCNP if we based it in your schedule. Moreover, its impossible to clear CCNP in a month. No matter how you try to convinced us, Cisco guys, we believed that CCNP takes time to understand and passed. From the way I see it. You really just want to passed the tests. Good for you if you passed it but can you really answers the questions of the guy interviewing you if you have those certs?

What if I give you a config, Will you be able to tell me whats wrong with the config? Can you really deploy 6500 series and tune it?

I believe, even the brightest/author/teacher in the Cisco realm wont passed the CCNP in a month.

Lets break it down in pages
ROUTE = 768
SWITCH = 504
TSHOOT = 552

TOTAL 1824 pages + Video tutorials + Labbing = X hrs

You might as well add your family time and work time.


Forsaken is right. You will do whatever you want to do. Goodluck

Forsaken_GA

NOC-Ninja wrote: »

I believe, even the brightest/author/teacher in the Cisco realm wont passed the CCNP in a month.

I think they probably could. I just think they'd know better than to actually do it. Slamming down exams like they're tequila shots will have about the same effect on a career.

LAN_Guru

NOC-Ninja wrote: »

Reality is we have been in your shoes. Specifically Cisco tests. I dealt with the current CCNA and CCNP tests. Its impossible to passed CCNA and even more CCNP if we based it in your schedule. Moreover, its impossible to clear CCNP in a month. No matter how you try to convinced us, Cisco guys, we believed that CCNP takes time to understand and passed. From the way I see it. You really just want to passed the tests. Good for you if you passed it but can you really answers the questions of the guy interviewing you if you have those certs?

What if I give you a config, Will you be able to tell me whats wrong with the config? Can you really deploy 6500 series and tune it?

I believe, even the brightest/author/teacher in the Cisco realm wont passed the CCNP in a month.

Lets break it down in pages
ROUTE = 768
SWITCH = 504
TSHOOT = 552

TOTAL 1824 pages + Video tutorials + Labbing = X hrs

You might as well add your family time and work time.


Forsaken is right. You will do whatever you want to do. Goodluck

Let's see here:

1824 pages/28 actual full prep days out of 39 days/12 hours minimum study per full prep day= 5.43 pages an hour. (remember, I am doing this full-time, my son is grown and out now, and I am single)

Hmmm, wonder if I could study 10 pages an hour for 7 hours a day and have approximately 5 hours a day (x 28 days = 140 hours) for doing labs?

Simplified, how many hours does the average person put into study and labs for CCNP? Not days, weeks, or months...how many hours? I have 336 minimum hours set aside over a 5 week period to do this. I said minimum because I usually sspend 14ish hours rather than just 12. 14*28=392 hours.

If I can't study, lab, test, and retain 1824 pages in 336-392 hours over a period of 5 weeks, I need to change careers and stay under the porch with the little dogs...

Forsaken_GA

LAN_Guru wrote: »

There are exceptions to everything. Please don't assume that I am cheating or have any less understanding or retention of the material because I choose to learn something in less days, weeks, or months than most (though the same or more total hours of prep time).

I think you're displaying quite a degree of hubris in assuring us you're the exception. Which I'm actually ok with, I'd rather deal with people that are willing to speak their mind, than fall in line with the rank and file.

I'm going to make assumptions based on my personal experiences and opinions, like every other human being, and if being profiled like that offends you, well, then I'm sorry, but that's how I see it.

What it all boils down to is thus - talk is cheap.

LAN_Guru

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

I think you're displaying quite a degree of hubris in assuring us you're the exception. Which I'm actually ok with, I'd rather deal with people that are willing to speak their mind, than fall in line with the rank and file.

I'm going to make assumptions based on my personal experiences and opinions, like every other human being, and if being profiled like that offends you, well, then I'm sorry, but that's how I see it.

What it all boils down to is thus - talk is cheap.

I had to look up hubris. LOL. Another thing I don't have (yet) is a degree. Not only do I acknowledge and embrace my strengths, I acknowledge my weaknesses and faults and actively work towards resolving them. If I don't know something, I will tell you in a heartbeat "I don't know, but I will find out". As Louie Giglio said "I am not, but I know I AM".

I suppose there is a fine line between confidence and hubris. My extreme level of confidence is being confused for hubris but that is OK. And I apologize to those who may feel I am arrogant and cocky as I am not. And you are right, you will always know where I stand and where you stand with me. There is no facade or pulling of punches with me.

And you are right about another thing. Talk is cheap. Money talks and BS walks so I will be putting my money where my mouth is over the next few months. Hold on tight, it's gonna be one hell of a ride.

You're OK by me...we think more alike than you know and this thread portrays.

Essendon

Whoa guys this is some thread. Chill!!

@LAN-Guru - I'll have to agree with Forsaken and the others a little bit, you OP did come across as pompous and loud and had "Look at me, look at me" overtones in it. But after I read on, it looked like you had the knowledge and experience to accomplish this seemingly impossible task.

One of our accomplished members, astorrs, attempted a similar feat once, he did his MCSE in like 2 weeks. All he was doing was getting the cert, and he had the experience to back it up. When he posted his thread, people (including me) thought he'd **** his exams. But disdain and sarcasm turned into awe and respect when he achieved the MCSE in a short frame of time. And mind you he had the experience to back it all up. He did, you can, in fact we all can achieve goals which people think are insurmountable.

@Forsaken - I'd have to disagree with your opinion that LAN_Guru's stock would drop if he told you in an interview that he had achieved all these certs in a short period of time. Sure it would arouse suspicion, but c'mon, you could ask him all the questions in the world, you could see all his jobs on the resume, you could grill him all you liked. He would stand in the clear at the end of it all.

I wish you luck LAN_Guru!

Forsaken_GA

Essendon wrote: »

@Forsaken - I'd have to disagree with your opinion that LAN_Guru's stock would drop if he told you in an interview that he had achieved all these certs in a short period of time. Sure it would arouse suspicion, but c'mon, you could ask him all the questions in the world, you could see all his jobs on the resume, you could grill him all you liked. He would stand in the clear at the end of it all.

No, I can quite assure you that would be exactly the case. It wouldn't my first time around the block, after all. I wouldn't instantly dismiss him based on that alone, of course, but he'd get a much more thorough grilling in the finer points, as I probed to determine whether or not he was a paper cert or the real deal. Unfortunately, I have yet to see a candidate who can pass a large amount of certs in a short period of time, and still retain the knowledge. It's almost always they're good on what they studied last, but it's pushed out what came before.

I'm not being a dick for the sake of being a dick, I'm just being honest based on what I know, and what I've experienced, and that comes with all the biases you might expect of a personal viewpoint. I don't expect folks to agree with me (I've found it's safer to assume the opposite, honestly), but everyone makes their own decisions.

He does seem to be taking my criticism in stride, and I'd like nothing more than to be proven wrong.