My CCIE Journey Has Officially Begun.

jamesp1983

I have decided that it is time to pursue the first goal I had when I entered IT, the CCIE. I know its going to be an EXTREME challenge, but I'm just pushing forward and trying to stay confident. I'm going to use this thread for tracking my progress throughout my CCIE journey. I purchased the INE Ultimate bundle last week and have been studying and labbing ever since. I'm still trying to figure out what the right balance of lab vs study is at this point, but I'm just reviewing all of the ATVOD material now (over 80 hours), to refresh myself. I'm open for any suggestions on how I should balance lab vs study time. I've been running Dynamips and working with my home switches while watching the videos as a way to get more hands on. I passed BCMSN, BSCI, and ISCW back in 2008, and wrapped up ONT in August of 2010. I have been working with the equipment at my job so that has kept me fresh on a lot of the info, but I'm still studying like I'm just starting out. I research topics in the videos that I don't really remember and that seems to be really helping. I will keep this updated as a motivator and also as a way to keep track of all that I have studied when it comes time for my final review. It feels great to finally get started on this path. My wife and I worked out a schedule and I'm going to try to hit 30-36 hours a week.

My resources:
-INE Virtual Lab
-The INE workbooks
-INE Written VOD
-Routing TCP/IP, vol I.
-Home lab (a few routers and some 3550s.)
-Cisco LAN Switching by Ken Clark
-Routing and Switching, Time of Convergence?
-My CCNP Library.
-Dynamips
-Cisco.com
-INE ATVOD 4.5

Should I buy Odom's exam guide? I think the Boson Exsim for CCIE will be the next addition.

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Comments

jamesp1983

Attempt 3 = fail.

Passed Diag, failed the other 2 sections. I did much better score wise this time though.

I seem to lock up in the lab. I can complete INE, IPExpert, and Narbik's TS/CFG labs without issue. (under time usually as well). The cfg wasn't difficult, but I think I trusted the preconfig a little too much.

Mow

Going for another attempt? Sounds like you're really close...

jamesp1983

Absolutely. No quitting.

JoJoCal19

Sorry to hear about your latest attempt. Do you know exactly where/what the disconnect is from being able to perform the practice labs well, and then the difficulties with the actual lab?

rjon17469

Glad to hear you're sticking with it. I passed on my third attempt, and from my experience it became more difficult to stay motivated each time. But keep in mind how much time you have put in already - it's definitely worth it to make the final push and finish off.

One thing I did around this phase was to stop relying so much on labs, and instead think of my own ways to break (and then fix) scenarios. For instance, make an MPLS cloud with PE-CE peerings using EIGRP, OSPF, and BGP (at least two of each), and have routes appear as internal if possible for each protocol while maintaining full reachability. Or, make a DMVPN network with multicast support, and place the RP and mapping agent on different spokes of the DMVPN cloud - try to make work with auto-RP and BSR, and figure out why one is simple to implement full reachability and the other isn't.

Do all configurations from the base config, so you have to type out every command. Also, type into notepad first, then copy in. On my passing attempt I kept two notepads, one "active" and one "storage". The storage notepad was for configs I typed that I thought I might need/use later, so it got big. The active one was the one I was manipulating to paste into a device, and was cleared between each step. Find something that works for you to save time. I'm confident I passed because I had about an hour left at the end to check my work, where I found about five sections where I had missed one bullet point (and would have got the entire portion wrong).

Keep at it!

jamesp1983

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your latest attempt. Do you know exactly where/what the disconnect is from being able to perform the practice labs well, and then the difficulties with the actual lab?

Thank you.

I do. I think the pressure and nerves get to me.

I was making a lot of mistakes and I was exhausted. I was labbing from around 8am to 3-4am everyday leading up the exam, and studied my notes all day the day before. I got about 3-3.5 hours of sleep the night before because I kept thinking about technologies that might trip me up, and would look over my notes on the subject to calm my nerves. This went on until around 2am. It was clearly 100% my fault. I need to be more disciplined.

On lab day, I crashed around 8:30-8:45am, and kept crashing like that throughout the day (I had to keep taking espresso shots to wake up). I just made a lot of dumb mistakes due to nerves and being exhausted. I literally "fixed" a router that was completely fine which had nothing to do with the question because I lost track of which router I was on (issue was with rX, and I was on rY). My brain was playing tricks on me.

I am still labbing/studying, but I am trying to get my sleep schedule back on track as well. I am considering getting back in the gym, too.

rjon17469

I suspect you figured this out already, but I just realized that we met at the lab in Raleigh on your December attempt, and so you have already heard much of my story. It truly is a small world.

The sleep aspect likely played a significant role. Back when we were taking the lab in December, the night before I traveled up early and went for a hard bike ride that day. This, combined with adjusting my sleep schedule forward, meant I was beat by 9 PM, and despite the nerves was able to fall asleep pretty quickly. I think that helped a lot, as the exam is challenging enough if you're wide awake. On limited sleep, I'll say it's nearing impossible.

Other things that I did which helped me, that may be worth considering. First, I stopped all labbing two days before, and only spent 30-45 minutes reviewing notes the day before. Additionally, I completely stopped all caffeine long before the exam. Learn to study and lab without it, that way you don't depend on it, but rather can use it if needed. Back in December I thankfully got a good night's rest, so I didn't have any caffeine during the lab. But it was a good fallback to be able to rely on.

Keep labbing!

gorebrush

Ah I am sorry to hear about your latest attempt. Best of luck for the next one. You know what needs to be done.

jamesp1983

gorebrush wrote: »

Ah I am sorry to hear about your latest attempt. Best of luck for the next one. You know what needs to be done.

Thanks. I do. No stopping.

jamesp1983

Reece, check your PMs when you get a chance.

jamesp1983

its been a long journey, but I finally passed today! I will elaborate more later.

joetest

huge congrats - seems it's well deserved!

joelsfood

Congrats!

gorebrush

Well done that man. Go have a beer on me. Immediately!

Mow

Congratulations!

siggnation

Congrats james! Can't wait to hear about it.

Bardlebee

Dude! Proud of you. Spent all that time for one goal and you saw it through. Amazing! I am hoping I can have the same fortitude to do the same!

jamesp1983

joetest wrote: »

huge congrats - seems it's well deserved!

Thank you. It still doesn't feel real.

JoJoCal19

Congrats man!! That's some serious dedication

Bardlebee

jamesp1983 wrote: »

Thank you. It still doesn't feel real.

So jealous of your success! Well earned man!

I can't even begin to understand how it should feel!

Bet your coworkers are all happy for you too! I bet you're going to swear off studying for a good few months huh? I promised myself a few months of rest when I pass my CCIE. I miss my down time.

lrb

That's great news James! Enjoy your numbers

jamesp1983

Thanks guys! I flew right out to CA to install a UCS after my lab so I haven't had a chance to really celebrate it yet, but I will soon. I had to catch a 5:50pm flight so I haven't stopped yet.

jamesp1983

Life has been insanely busy since I passed so this post is a bit delayed. I postponed several projects since I took a few weeks off before this attempt and I've been wrapping those up as well as catching up on lost time with the family.

The last 2 weeks prior to my pass attempt I took off, and made sure to align my sleep pattern with lab day. I also tried to eat right and exercise. Each day I would wake up early, and do a mock lab day using INE/IPExpert/Narbik/360 workbooks/mocks. I tried to lose my dependence on caffeine (coffee) as well.

PREVIOUS FAILED ATTEMPT: I knew the material for my 3rd attempt (2nd v5 attempt) in September of this year, but was doing foolish things that were eating a ton of time (i.e.; achieving connectivity for devices that didn't need it due to being exhausted and my brain playing tricks on me). My 2 cents: Do not study on the day prior to your lab attempt, and DO NOT let your nerves keep you up all night. I slept about 2 hours the night before this failing attempt due to nerves. I tried using Espresso during the lab and that helped for about an hour at a time. It was not a good day for me. I could have fallen back asleep by 8-8:15am. Also, my TS process needed some refining. I actually ended up in the hospital for a few days due to not taking care of myself and only getting about 3-4 hours every night for about 2-3 months leading up to this attempt. I put my health second and studying first, and know now this is a bad strategy. (I'm not in my early 20s anymore. This strategy worked for me in college, pre-brain injury.)

NIGHT/DAY BEFORE MY PASSING ATTEMPT: I didn't study at all, had a steak dinner (6 oz), and took a melatonin to ensure that I slept well (6-7 hours). My mental stamina was where it needed to be due to previous mock attempts, so I knew how much sleep I needed at a minimum to make it through the entire lab. I rented a car this time so I didn't have to depend on the hotel's shuttle to catch my flight to CA at 6pm lab day. I stayed at Hotel Indigo and was happy I did.

LAB DAY: I showed up about 15 minutes early. We started a little later than normal, but we were done by 4:20pm EST.
I finished TS w/ verification in a little over 2 hours, DIAG was the full 30 minutes, and cfg with verification took me until the very end of the day. I used about 45 minutes of cfg for verification so I was feeling pretty good when I left. I had full end-to-end connectivity so that was reassuring. I only had fruit and salad for lunch because I didn't want to crash in the afternoon. I did have a cup of coffee, but it wasn't really needed. I would say that the lab is fair, but you have to be able to digest and understand the topologies quickly. I did look for landmines prior to digging into the cfg section, but didn't burn a ton of time here. Most INE/360 labs are harder than the real lab in my opinion.

I received my score report around 8:20pm that same evening just as I was boarding my connecting flight from Charlotte to San Francisco, CA. My cell coverage was spotty as I boarded the plane so it took FOREVER to pull up the official score report. I yelled in excitement when the page finally pulled up. I couldn't contain myself and was completely overwhelmed by emotion since this was the culmination of a goal that consumed 4 years of my life off and on. I wrapped up my CA UCS project quickly as to extend my free time there as much as possible. My wife and 2 sons flew out and we had a great time there. It was a great celebration. My company also gave me a bonus so we used some to enjoy ourselves a bit more than we would have normally.

It still doesn't seem real, and I do feel a bit lost since I don't have to lab all the time.

I will not be going for a 2nd, but may go for the CCDE in a few years. We have a 1 year old, as well as a 3 year old, and are trying for another so it will be a while before I take on anything like this again. My wife will murder me if I go for #2, plus my workload is intense since we do route/switch, ucs, security, and just about anything else the sales guys can push.

Bardlebee

Congratulations man! Your story gives me hope, especially since you mention INE/360 should be harder then the real deal from your experience (as any good test site should) so that means if I can do those with ease I should be a shoe in

While your labbing is over, mine has just begun. I'll think of you in my dark lab hours. Man its so awesome to hear you got this!

joelsfood

Great rundown (and review of what I need to make sure to do, and not to do, here shortly). Congratulations again!

gorebrush

Nice writeup, good show.

jamesp1983

Thanks guys! Good luck!

bharvey92

Congrats James, inspiring post!

jamesp1983

bharvey92 wrote: »

Congrats James, inspiring post!

Thank you! Are you going after your IE?

bharvey92

jamesp1983 wrote: »

Thank you! Are you going after your IE?

Afraid not mate, currently going for my CCNA: DC, as my work currently is involving a lot of these technologies.. but definitely one day.....

What's next for you!?