It's my time: Mrock's CCIE thread

Mrock4

Hey, any progress is progress. I tend to think learning this field is like losing weight. The slower it happens, the more likely you are to retain it long-term. I say that because if it takes longer, you tend to overlap topics, and by the time you're done you've studied frame-relay no less than 50 times (I did exactly that)!

Mrock4

Back at it today. About to go for a full lab. My studies this week are pretty much 80% troubleshooting and tech-focused labs, with one full lab this week. Let's get to it!

Mrock4

Lab went well- I finished it. Didn't pass, but I did it within 8 hours, and the things I missed were all pretty minor- for example, for whatever reason, OSPFv3 authentication would NOT work between my two devices. The config was correct, but it just wouldn't happen. I didn't spend too much time on it as I wanted to manage my time, but I would have lost points on that in the real exam. All in all I have no complaints, I just need to work on verification and ensure I'm meeting ALL of the requirements for a task.

Will be back at it tomorrow for troubleshooting practice. Going to do an INE TS lab, and then some misc lab topics on my large GNS3 topology.

Mrock4

TS Lab got interrupted, but I did pretty well. I decided in the middle of it to extend it to figure out one particularly stubborn task (did get it eventually), so I went over the time, but in the real lab I think I'd just skip that task.

Tomorrow I'll be back at it!

Mrock4

As promised, here goes another day! Last week, I used my whiteboard in my home office to write out each day between now and my lab exam, along with what I would lab that day- whether it's a full lab, TS labs, or tech-focused labs, etc. It's funny, when I wasn't studying as much as I should a few months ago, time was FLYING until my lab date. Now that I'm studying a lot, it seems to be dragging! In short, I'm ready for the test to come, so I can find out where I stand, one way or another!

That being said, I'm going to get to labbing so my outcome is a good one!

carterw65

Keep it up man. You can do it.

Mrock4

Thanks! I hope so. I'm really pushing hard at this point! Back at it today.

silver145

Good luck pal!

Mrock4

Gracias!

Another successful day. In 16 days I'll be on a plane destined for RTP!

Mrock4

Back to it this morning for some short labs before having a family day. Today would usually be a day off, but I had a shorter study session yesterday, so I'm making up for it today. 14 days!

Essendon

You got this Mike! That number is yours to pick, just go get it.

Mrock4

Thanks sir! Drinks on me next time I visit Melbourne!

Mrock4

On the road, but got some good MPLS labbing in this evening as well as some reasonably complex redistribution labs.

gorebrush

Good progress dude! Looking forward to hearing you pass.

From the book I read about the non-technical help with completing the CCIE - Any little bit you can do from day to day will help.

Yesterday I was watching a video streamed from the YouTube's during my lunch hour..

Mrock4

Definitely. I've always been a firm believer in "immersion" - or totally surrounding yourself with the subject matter, even if only briefly. For example, if I'm being honest, I've never studied NTP because I work with it fairly extensively (with all the bells and whistles), but I don't work with reflexive ACLs, so For a few days, I'd use my lunches to lab on GNS3, read documents, in the evening while watching TV I'd read CCIE blogs and stuff like that, etc. In no time they were easy. I also realized the other day that I have a pretty good understanding of MSDP, and previously on this thread I labeled that one of my worst topics- and I'm actually teaching a class on it now next week! So, studying is having a good effect..the question is will I be ready in time! I did an INE TS lab last night, and passed, and completed 9/10 tickets in 1.5 hours, so that was promising. Not sure if it is a fluke or what though! We'll see when I get around to another one. Going to do a full lab tomorrow since it's been a little while since I did one. I'm also thinking about doing a "mock" lab day..this might sound stupid- but waking up at the same time I'll have to get up at RTP (it's earlier than I'm used to), starting TS at 7am (INE TS), then finishing, and starting an INE config lab immediately after- including the mandatory 30 minute lunch break. Mostly as a guide to see where I'm at, and get used to doing config right after TS. We'll see though. Anyway, gotta get off to work, then hit the road back home! As soon as I get there, spend some time with the kids, then back to studying, it's crunch time!

instant000

Hrm. "Train as you fight." Where have I heard that before?

I'm over here cheering you, and all the others on.

gorebrush

Great news on the TS lab. Keep on chugging! You will kick it good.

kaytaurus

Nice thread... I think its about time i jump on the CCIE wagon. Keep the sharing spirit alive

carterw65

Keep trucking along. Doing great!

Mrock4

Thanks everyone (even instant, for that Army flashback!) - I am trying harder than ever right now. Went on a good run this morning to help clear my mind before my lab today. Getting started a bit late, but hopefully I can finish the lab today.

Mrock4

Back at it today! Between now and my lab date, I'm not taking any days off from studying. My "days off" are actually light study days- which I plan to put in about 2-4 hours on those days, and spend the rest with the family. The good news is I should be able to do a fair amount during the days, so I'm not really giving up much family time.

Doing one of the Vol 2 labs today. Feeling really good right now, but we'll see if it's enough very soon!

Mrock4

Finished the lab WELL ahead of schedule, and did great on it. It really came easy, and things just happened smoothly. I use notepad in my daily job a LOT, but using it on these labs has been a tremendous time saver. I once heard "if you can do all your configs in notepad by memory you're probably ready" - and while I am not someone who remembers all commands, I found myself completing 100% of my QOS configs in notepad without the CLI- and they were spot on, so that is really awesome.

Who knows how this thing will go. I'm going to put up a good fight either way.

Done for the day, going to spend some time with the family. Back it tomorrow for some TS practice.

Mrock4

Back at it today. Nothing new, just working on speed lately. I feel pretty confident with the blueprint. The only area I've decided to concede points on is OER. I hate to say that, but it's true. I've labbed OER a ridiculous amount, and if I am lucky enough to get it to work, I can almost guarantee it won't work a second time around. I'll probably attempt an OER task if I get one, but I'll save it for the very last task of the day.

down77

I ended up with the same strategy on OER. I've done a few PfR deployments on IOS 15 and find it a much improved implementation.

How much longer until your lab attempt?

Mrock4

I haven't touched OER/PfR on IOS 15, but have heard it's a lot better also. I fly out for RTP in 7 days.

gorebrush

7 days. You are going to be the man. I know it. You've put a lot of work into this journey and I am merely at my beginning!

Any last minute tips for a Written candidate?

Mrock4

haha! I'm glad you have faith in me! I'm feeling like the 26th is going to be like playing the lottery. I'm confident in my skills, but like I tell a lot of people I know- the CCIE ruins even some of the best engineer's days..it's very possible to be a great engineer and fail the CCIE. So that being said, I feel like I'm good at my job, but the CCIE is a whole different beast!

As far as tips, I think you'll be alright. It can be a tricky test as some of the questions are designed for someone who has seen the technology in action (ie: knows the difference between good/bad output for a particular command, for example)- so the first time I took the written (200, I had a hard time because I didn't have much lab time on MPLS. Second time I took it (Feb 2013), it was no problem. Not much you can do at this point, but to be honest it's not a bad test, and with a 70% passing score, you've got a little room to play with from a scoring perspective.

I'm pushing. I'm cautiously optimistic, but I think my biggest issue right now is going to be my nerves. My personal opinion (which isn't worth much since I haven't sat the lab before), is a lot of candidates fail because their mind isn't right. They're in a new place, using a new keyboard/mouse/monitor, with different sounds than what they're used to, the gravity of what they're doing surely hits them at some point, so that comes into play- they may be used to labbing at night vs. day, etc...to me, that results in an unusual setting that could easily throw you off your game. For me, the problem is this has been a goal for 11 years now (I only started doing something about it in 2008'ish)- so it's going to be extremely hard to not focus on how big of a deal it is that I "have my chance" - etc.

So we'll see how it goes. I'm going to try hard to calm down and think of this like all my other labs, and just do my best to solve problems, which is what I feel I am good at doing. To some degree it also depends on how the proctor's are feeling Monday morning when they assign me my lab for that day.

Mrock4

Back at it today! 6 days till I fly out!

Zartanasaurus

I wish I had some grand words of wisdom for you or something, but I don't.

Just remember that probably 80% of the stuff they ask you, you know it, you've done it before, don't overthink it. The config tasks are written very clearly almost every time. Just take your time as you read and make sure you don't overlook a key requirement. They tell you exactly what they want, and you do it. Don't be creative, don't say "well this isn't how you'd do it in production", just do it. Exactly what they asked for. Verify it works.

Once you do all the security related config stuff GO BACK AND CHECK EVERYTHING to make sure you didn't break any basic connectivity. Make sure you consider other tasks when configuring services and security. It's easy to make the task work and forget to take into consideration something from another task.

Troubleshooting can be nerve wrecking, especially since the diagrams in some of them are... not good. But it's going to be all stuff you've seen before. A CCIE configured the network and a CCNA came in and screwed some stuff up. Follow your normal routine you've been doing in practice labs up to this point. Most of the fixes are "easy" in retrospect, you just have to narrow the search down. Don't be afraid to skip tasks until you find one you're comfortable with or you've been at it for 5 minutes and haven't figured it out. Getting into a groove of knocking out tasks has a nice effect on your confidence as you go on.

YFZblu

Mrock4 wrote: »

Back at it today! 6 days till I fly out!

Rooting for you