It's my time: Mrock's CCIE thread

down77

Hawaii sounds awesome!

Schedule the lab early if you can just in case they announce v5 of the R&S track @ Cisco Live in Orlando.

Mrock4

Good point. I think once I pass my written (scheduled for early March), I'll schedule the lab immediately to beat the rush!

HOPEFULLY..I'll also be there @ Cisco Live (I'm also in FL too)

down77

Another fellow Florida resident! I'm waiting for work to approve my Cisco Live request right now. It'll be a short 3 1/2 hr drive from me and I frequently visit clients in Orlando and Tampa.

Mrock4

I'm in Tampa, but I spend a LOT of my time out of state on engagements..hoping I'll start landing some closer stuff (ie: in Florida). Seems like TE has a good FL following.

spiderjericho

I'd like to go to Cisco Live? But the government ain't got no money right now. Is there a cost to go? I'd drive from Tampa to Orlando everyday to attend. Maybe we could have a Tech Exam meet up there. And we could weep or giggle like school girls about the CCNA and CCIE R&S changes.

Mrock4

A full conference pass registered by 2/11 is $1,895, but you can go to the free stuff with their Explorer pass, which only includes keynote and world of solutions stuff..no tech breakout sessions.

Cisco Live 2013 – Orlando, FL – June 23-27, 2013Registration Packages - Register Now - Cisco Live 2013

I'd love to do a TE meetup there, but the more I think about it, the more unlikely it will be that I make it. I'm looking at attending a bootcamp in August, which means I'll be booked up with customers until then (throughout June/July) more than likely. We'll see..maybe I can ask real nicely!

spiderjericho

Yeah, the $2,000 price tag might be hard for my organization to swallow with the cliff we're all teetering on. Explorer seems okay, but it seems like a good chunk of the experience is in the learning sessions. But hopefully, things clear up by then.

Kelkin

Im with you Mrock.. I would love to attend myself.. personally never been to one but work offered to send me to an IE Bootcamp in June and I jumped on it So i dont think i will have the time to do both.. One day I'll make a Cisco Live conference..

down77

Shame you guys may miss it. The INE party @ Live is always a blast!

Mrock4

Believe me, I would LOVE to make it there this year since it's literally a 1.5 hr drive for me..but we'll see. I gotta put the bootcamp over Cisco Live!

Kelkin- which bootcamp are you going to? I haven't decided on which vendor OR where to attend, but I'm thinking the earliest I'll go is June, the latest is September, since I'm going to schedule my lab for early October it looks like.

down77

No I understand. I had to pass on Cisco Live last year to attend the INE 10 day bootcamp.

Either Narbik or INE bootcamps are great to attend and I would say choose which ever fits best into your schedule and budget. I did the INE study material/bootcamp and had a friend do the Narbik path. We both had great things to say and we were able to share strategies with each other.

In the meantime Volume 1 and 2 are calling your name!

Mrock4

down77 wrote: »

In the meantime Volume 1 and 2 are calling your name!

I've knocked out Vol I a few times now! Once I pass the written again I'll get crackin on Vol II though!

Mrock4

Spent a bit of time today reviewing some written material. I think I'm in pretty good shape. I might actually reschedule my written and take it sooner than I had planned..we'll see. Even if that's the case I won't be taking it until later this month..I do need some ipv6 and MPLS review since I'm rusty there. Everything else is pretty fresh.

Mrock4

I ended up moving my written exam up- now taking it in 2 weeks. I got tagged for a project on the other side of the country which would have interfered with my test. Makes it a bit of a crunch, but I mostly need some book review on a few topics then I should be OK. On the bright side, that means I can get to scheduling another seat in the lab sooner.

Kelkin

Mrock4 wrote: »

Kelkin- which bootcamp are you going to? I haven't decided on which vendor OR where to attend, but I'm thinking the earliest I'll go is June, the latest is September, since I'm going to schedule my lab for early October it looks like.

IP Expert..

Mrock4

Pumped up after Rakem's AWESOME first time pass on his lab..feeling the need to bring some more #'s to TE this year..I hope!

Nothing eventful will be said in the next 2 weeks..reading and watching videos then sitting my written again. Still waiting on official word from my boss with regards to my bootcamp..once I have the green light there I'll schedule it. 2013 is truly a "CCIE or bust" year for me..this journey started in 2008, and I'm ready to finish the final chapter..and begin others.

jamesp1983

Good luck! You got this. Your QoS articles helped me a lot when I first started. Thanks again.

Mrock4

No problem man! I really let myself down on continuing articles like those, but I had to prioritize..if only I had more time.

Hopefully 2013 is a good year for both of us! Keep up the great work.

Mrock4

Work officially OK'd the bootcamp..looking at INE's 2 week bootcamp in either Seattle or San Jose this summer.

reaper81

Sweet. You won't regret it! Brian is a great teacher.

Mrock4

Good to hear! Now the rush to complete as many labs as I can prior to the bootcamp begins.

Mrock4

Taking my written on Wednesday it looks like. My work is sending me to a couple of days of VMWare training this week, so I'll have to work my attempt in around that. Also, I took and passed the SolarWinds Certified Professional exam last week so I should be getting my number from them pretty soon. I didn't study for it so I was only relying on past experience with Orion. Thankfully I passed, but with only a few seconds to spare.

Once my written is done hopefully my work will have my INE lab scheduled.

SteveO86

How tough was the SolarWinds test? It's my list because I've done quite a few deployments of SolarWinds and have customized it beyond belief for a service provider I worked for. Worked with with it over 5 years now just about all their modules...

Mrock4

If you've passed your CCNA and worked with Solarwinds a fair amount, you could pass it without any prep, honestly. There's a lot of Network Management stuff in general- SSH/SNMP, etc..and it's mostly geared towards Cisco. The only thing I had issues with was with regards to report writing/scheduling. I've done that stuff, but it's been a while.

I took it because I was in the same boat with you, and had worked with it a LOT, but wanted to be able to list that on my resume. In addition to that, when I go on customer sites it'll show them I'm not totally new to NMS.

Mrock4

Passed my CCIE written again today. Oddly enough, I felt it was easier than my first pass, but I technically did worse than my first time..oh well, pass is a pass and now I can schedule my lab soon.

Mrock4

In a weird place for the next 3 weeks. I had to schedule both CCNA DC exams for my job, so I'm studying DC topics really hard, but I'm also spinning up my CCIE lab studies in the meantime too. I'll admit, though, I'll only be passively labbing until I get the CCNA DC out of the way, then it'll be full steam ahead.

At the airport now, so decided to get some BGP labbing in. I had to re-create my BGP topology so I did that- since I travel a lot this will be my "go to" topology for labbing various BGP topics.


Edit: Excuse the whitespace..forgot to trim off my screenshot but I am too lazy to fix it.

Mrock4

Just booked my lab..will be sitting the lab in aug!

vCole

Good luck! I'm sure you'll own it - been following this thread a long time!

down77

August comes fast! After we both pass I think it may be cause for a celebration @ Berns!

Mrock4

Sounds good to me! Was there a couple of months ago (first time)..loved it.

Good luck to you- your 2nd attempt is coming very soon! I'm sure you'll get it, now that you've got the practice lab out of the way