Please your honest opinions, IE VOICE, Security or R&S

Abal1

Hello Friends and study mates. I need your honest opinions regarding the following.

First of, I have 6.5 yrs experience working for a large ISP, troubleshooting and repairing DS0 - OC192 from layers 1-3. Therefore, I do lots of MPLS, BGP and other troubleshooting, as well as layer 2 ethernet troubleshooting such as vlans etc... FWSM ASA, NAT, access-lists etc... I have my CCNA and CCNP in R&S and JNCIA.

That is my background.

Recently I decided to do my CCIE but I'm very indecisive about the CCIE track I should go for. I have access to CCIE lab for R&S and Security at work, but my interest lies in VOICE mainly because of the demand and the pay. BTW I have no voice experience whatsoever.

Anyway, after comparing the study topics for all, I came to the conclusion that I can do the VOICE in 1 to 1.5yrs max though I hear voice is harder all the time, I've been reading the CVOICE 6 and some parts of CVOICE v8 and I don't believe it's any harder than R&S. Besides there is less topics and technologies to study for voice than for R&S.

But I don't want to base my judgments after only looking some portions of VOICE, thinking it's easy and finding out later on that it's harder than I thought, after spending so much time and money on it. Because if I do go with voice I'll have to spend a few grands on lab equipment. Please I need your feedback, experiences, guidance and opinions to help me decide.

Thank you all in advance!

Turgon

Abal1 wrote: »

Hello Friends and study mates. I need your honest opinions regarding the following.

First of, I have 6.5 yrs experience working for a large ISP, troubleshooting and repairing DS0 - OC192 from layers 1-3. Therefore, I do lots of MPLS, BGP and other troubleshooting, as well as layer 2 ethernet troubleshooting such as vlans etc... FWSM ASA, NAT, access-lists etc... I have my CCNA and CCNP in R&S and JNCIA.

That is my background.

Recently I decided to do my CCIE but I'm very indecisive about the CCIE track I should go for. I have access to CCIE lab for R&S and Security at work, but my interest lies in VOICE mainly because of the demand and the pay. BTW I have no voice experience whatsoever.

Anyway, after comparing the study topics for all, I came to the conclusion that I can do the VOICE in 1 to 1.5yrs max though I hear voice is harder all the time, I've been reading the CVOICE 6 and some parts of CVOICE v8 and I don't believe it's any harder than R&S. Besides there is less topics and technologies to study for voice than for R&S.

But I don't want to base my judgments after only looking some parts of VOICE and thinking it's easy and finding out later on it's harder than I thought, after spending so much time and money on it. Because if I do go with voice I'll have to spend a few grands on lab equipment. So here is you guys role, I need your feedback, experiences, guidance and opinions to help me decide.

Thank you all in advance!

Do CCIE in R&S, every other CCIE is overated IMHO as they all build on it. Cisco is not no 1 on SP/Voice/Storage/Wireless. Do CCVP for voice if Cisco is the way you want to go, but look at AVAYA and others as well. Two voice specialists at my current and last shop didnt have an IE in it but earned very well. Its all about experience in the field with voice.

Sa'ad

I see where you're coming from man. Touch one to decide on. I'd probably go for voice just because it's the hottest CCIE now a days and it pays much more, since you care more about what's in demand and pays well.

networker050184

Why would you even consider going for a Voice IE if you have no experience with the techonology? If your expereince is in R&S then go for that.

Turgon

Sa'ad wrote: »

I see where you're coming from man. Touch one to decide on. I'd probably go for voice just because it's the hottest CCIE now a days and it pays much more, since you care more about what's in demand and pays well.

Voice really isn't like that and a tough nut to crack. We had luckycharms on here and he failed the exam I think 4 times? You will find in voice it's really experience that pays you the dough. For R&S its much easier to break through with less experience and certifications as it holds everything together including voice. If you want to be a voice guru be an experienced guys lacky for a couple of years and then go from there.

NOC-Ninja

Anything is possible. Its all about how much effort, time, money are you willing to spend in it.
Do you really want it? Go get it!

Btw, we have a Network Architect here at work. He's been in VOIP for more than 6yrs. He failed his CCIE Voice lab last year after studying for a year and half.

shodown

Voice does pay, but you may get in here and decide you don't like it. Voice is a beast, and by far the hardest track.

One other thing to add. All of us in the Voice track and route/switch our tails off, but all traditional route/switch guys can' do voice as turgon said it builds out the route/switch foundations, so if you already know this part why don't you jump on a voice project at your job and configure some gateways, gatekeepers see if you like it.

Abal1

Thanks to everyone for your quick replies and feedback.

Have a question for Turgeon and Shodown, why do you all consider the VOICE to be harder? I only ask cause I keep reading voice being harder on every forum I go to, yet there are no details as to why. With no previous experience ine.com says you can have the CCIE Voice in a year's time if you follow their study plan. Yet they don't say the same for R&S, infact they say you might get the R&S in a years time if you have already completed your CCIE written. And I think that is because there is much more topics to study for the R&S.

I don't mean to challenge your opinions friends, I just want to understand why you think voice is harder.

Abal1

networker050184 wrote: »

Why would you even consider going for a Voice IE if you have no experience with the techonology? If your expereince is in R&S then go for that.

Hey networker, I thought about voice because it might take me a shorter period of time to get it, besides it pays more and it's in more demand than any other CCIE at this time. Go to any job website and search for a specific CCIE position, you'll always find more jobs available for CCIE voice than any other CCIE. I'm in the U.S. btw. Besides, if u think about it, all CCIEs require sweat and blood to obtain them, why put it on something that is not as big as it used like the R&S ?

About 3 months ago, I applied to a network engineer II position that required CCNA and CCNP with about 5yrs experience, guess what? I was beaten to it by a CCIE R&S. CCIE R&Ss are applying to lower engineering positions lately because there arent' enough R&S openings out there.

instant000

I honestly think you're looking at this the wrong way.

You admitted to having lab access to the equipment for the r&s AND the security tracks at work.

You admitted to having YEARS of experience in the R&S and Security tracks.

You admitted to having ZERO voice experience.

Also, the only reason voice is in so big demand right now is that tons of people are realizing that they need to go VOIP, so during this phase, they are working at transitioning from their old PBX to a VOIP system. For this reason, they want the Voice Experts. I can see this providing work for the next few years, mainly because companies are finally seeing the logic to going VOIP.

Do not worry, just like they realized they didn't necessarily need an MCSE to run their servers, they will eventually realize they don't need an IE Voice to run their voice. (Though it's nice to have during the migration/setup.)

What is readily apparent, though, is that regardless of whatever fads come into play: Voice, Wireless, etc., the foundation of it all is in routing&switching, as EVERYTHING rides on top of that. You can have routing and switching without voice, but you CANNOT have voice without routing and switching. The same for Wireless, and anything else you want to tack on top.

The next big fad will probably be IPv6 (if they're smart, they're on top of this already). I can forecast this providing work for the next ten or twenty years, easily, as organizations will likely run dual-stack for several years before finally transitioning over to full IPv6 (if ever).

Now, if you WANT to do this, AND you cannot be swayed in any manner, then go ahead and do it. It's just hard for us to recommend striking into something you lack experience in, that is not foundational, when you have years of experience in foundational topics.

sieff

This a very interesting post. I deal with voice issues nearly everyday and initially when I started doing VoIP projects and design work, I'd have a R&S guy assigned to my projects to work on the LAN Switching and QOS portion. As I got more versed in deploying voice I was able to do the R&S work on my own with little to no assistance. I have access at my job to both a R&S lab and a Voice lab racks and I'm still debating between which to dedicate my next 9-12 months of study with. We have both CCIE R&S and CCIE Voice guys on my team and I recall guys passing R&S on either the first or second attempt, where on the voice track guys passed on the 4th or 5th attempt. I can only conclude the the Voice track has a greater level difficulty.

I had about 6 years experience with Cisco UC before attempting the CCNP Voice track and even I found it to be a bit of a marathon to test on all 5 exams, but I came out of CCNP V having a better appreciation for the material. It may be best to do the CCNP Voice to get a feel for if you'd like the material and want to go further or not.

sieff

@Abal1 - Have you considering CCIE - Service Provider at all? I've worked for an ISP before as well and I would think a CCIE-SP would definitely demand a promotion and lead to a position in the ISP Backbone provisioning and design side.

shodown

I think voice is hard cause I dont have my CCVP and I have years of experience from small 10 seat CME systems all the way up to multi cluster 30,000 seat global systems, so I question guys who get it with no real work experience or access to a serious lab. Its a technology that really builds on previous underlying things being done, and with R&S when its not configured right you get no IP reachability, with voice it may not be until high call volume or ever 10th call. You add in all the applications, like IM, Call Center, Voicemail it gets messy really fast. With that said, most guys who I knew took the lab always fail because of time.

Sirsamon

I have to smile when people ask these questions, especially ones with experience

its very easy to answer

what do you want to do ?

Also use sound logic not, i might do this as it has less to learn, or i might do this it earns more. (these options have nothing to do with it).
its all about what do you want to do and love to do. anything else you will get bored or disillusioned and not be happy.

Abal1

Sirsamon wrote: »

I have to smile when people ask these questions, especially ones with experience

its very easy to answer

what do you want to do ?

Also use sound logic not, i might do this as it has less to learn, or i might do this it earns more. (these options have nothing to do with it).
its all about what do you want to do and love to do. anything else you will get bored or disillusioned and not be happy.

Sirsamon I don't do any of this for love, I simply do it for the money. Unlike many people hiding under the pretext of I like this or I love that I'm frank. I'm doing it for the big bucks. I don't have time to go to a medical school for 15 years but if there was some sort of certification to be heart surgeon with less than 10-15 yrs I would've done it too. If I could do something I love doing and still be paid for, I would have chosen a different profession, like an athelete or actor or some other kind of entertainment career...

Abal1

shodown wrote: »

I think voice is hard cause I dont have my CCVP and I have years of experience from small 10 seat CME systems all the way up to multi cluster 30,000 seat global systems, so I question guys who get it with no real work experience or access to a serious lab. Its a technology that really builds on previous underlying things being done, and with R&S when its not configured right you get no IP reachability, with voice it may not be until high call volume or ever 10th call. You add in all the applications, like IM, Call Center, Voicemail it gets messy really fast. With that said, most guys who I knew took the lab always fail because of time.

Thanks for your feedback shodown and really appreciate the input.

Abal1

sieff wrote: »

@Abal1 - Have you considering CCIE - Service Provider at all? I've worked for an ISP before as well and I would think a CCIE-SP would definitely demand a promotion and lead to a position in the ISP Backbone provisioning and design side.

Hey Sieff, thanks for the suggestions but I don't want to limit myself with ISP's, I want to be able to move around to different places. The IE ISP is mostly good for ISPs but my goal is to be able move to other smaller companies, you can make more money working for smaller companies than Telco's or ISPs IMHO.

Abal1

instant000 wrote: »

I honestly think you're looking at this the wrong way.

You admitted to having lab access to the equipment for the r&s AND the security tracks at work.

You admitted to having YEARS of experience in the R&S and Security tracks.

You admitted to having ZERO voice experience.

Also, the only reason voice is in so big demand right now is that tons of people are realizing that they need to go VOIP, so during this phase, they are working at transitioning from their old PBX to a VOIP system. For this reason, they want the Voice Experts. I can see this providing work for the next few years, mainly because companies are finally seeing the logic to going VOIP.

Do not worry, just like they realized they didn't necessarily need an MCSE to run their servers, they will eventually realize they don't need an IE Voice to run their voice. (Though it's nice to have during the migration/setup.)

What is readily apparent, though, is that regardless of whatever fads come into play: Voice, Wireless, etc., the foundation of it all is in routing&switching, as EVERYTHING rides on top of that. You can have routing and switching without voice, but you CANNOT have voice without routing and switching. The same for Wireless, and anything else you want to tack on top.

The next big fad will probably be IPv6 (if they're smart, they're on top of this already). I can forecast this providing work for the next ten or twenty years, easily, as organizations will likely run dual-stack for several years before finally transitioning over to full IPv6 (if ever).

Now, if you WANT to do this, AND you cannot be swayed in any manner, then go ahead and do it. It's just hard for us to recommend striking into something you lack experience in, that is not foundational, when you have years of experience in foundational topics.

Instant you're right and I totally agree with you on the fact that voice will not continue to be in demand forever. That is why I considered doing it now before it becomes like the MCSE.

Abal1

Thanks everyone for your feedback, looks like majority are encouraging me to go for R&S, because of my background or because it I have access to the lab. I'll think about it some more but something deep down inside me tells me to go for voice. I don't know why.

The other thing is guys, people always talk about experience, in my opinion you get the ultimate experience with the CCIE any CCIE because that is when you really start to put everything into perspective. Configuring and troubleshooting all kinds of technologies and doing it at an expert level. Isn't that why it's so difficult to get the CCIE?

I don't think you'll get the experience the CCIE offers just from doing a simple day to day work on the technologies we deal with.

Forsaken_GA

Abal1 wrote: »

Recently I decided to do my CCIE but I'm very indecisive about the CCIE track I should go for. I have access to CCIE lab for R&S and Security at work, but my interest lies in VOICE mainly because of the demand and the pay. BTW I have no voice experience whatsoever.

Your motivation is seeking voice is where I question whether it's the best track for you. You seem to have plenty of R&S experience, so I think you already have a good foundation there, so you don't necessarily need to pursue that track. If you were completely new to the network world and didn't have a solid R&S base, I'd also be telling you to go for R&S first, and you'd be insane if you didn't (or very, very gifted).

The fact that Voice is hot now means that if you're starting now, you're already behind the curve. What happens if a year or two out, you get your Voice CCIE, but it no longer commands the pay you want?

If pay is your only concern, I'd recommend going the R&S track. The number to go along with your experience should be able to command some decent cash. If you're bored with R&S and don't want to do it as a career, and you've got your heart set on voice, then be smart about it - Go do the CCVP first, this will get you enough exposure to the Voice side of networking to let you know whether it's something you really want to do, or something you'll hate. If you find that you like Voice, or at least can tolerate it as a career, then you'll already have a solid foundation from which to begin your CCIE Voice studies.

And I agree that if you follow INE's study track, you can probably pass the lab in a year. But it's a rigorous study plan, and not for the faint of heart. Mark Snow is an excellent instructor, but always remember that INE's goal is to sell you something, and take their claims with a grain of salt (I'm a huge fan of INE, I'm using their products for my R&S study, all I'm saying is use your common sense)

Sett

Turgon wrote: »

Do CCIE in R&S, every other CCIE is overated IMHO as they all build on it. Cisco is not no 1 on SP/Voice/Storage/Wireless.

I don't agree with the SP part. Most of the ISPs out there are using CRS in their core and it has proven to be very fast and reliable platform. It's a little subjective, but for me it's better then any of the competitive products. There are other series which are popular within the ISPs like GSRs, ASRs. Imo Cisco is strong in the SP market but it's definitely behind in the other segments(Voice, WiFi...) Overall CCIE:SP is valuable cert to have but it makes more sense to take the R&S first.

Forsaken_GA

Sett wrote: »

I don't agree with the SP part. Most of the ISPs out there are using CRS in their core and it has proven to be very fast and reliable platform. It's a little subjective, but for me it's better then any of the competitive products. There are other series which are popular within the ISPs like GSRs, ASRs. Imo Cisco is strong in the SP market but it's definitely behind in the other segments(Voice, WiFi...) Overall CCIE:SP is valuable cert to have but it makes more sense to take the R&S first.

Cisco is certainly a player in the SP market, but their market share has been shrinking. Juniper has been giving them a rough time.

They've still pretty much got the Enterprise market locked down, but others are making inroads into their margins as well. There's a reason folks like Dell and HP are buying storage and networking companies - they want to offer complete end to end enterprise solutions.

Which isn't to say pursuing CCIE's is bad. Competition is a *good* thing in the market place. Hopefully it'll get Cisco out off whatever their smoking and make them realize they need to cut their profit margin a bit if they want to stay competitive.

Turgon

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Cisco is certainly a player in the SP market, but their market share has been shrinking. Juniper has been giving them a rough time.

They've still pretty much got the Enterprise market locked down, but others are making inroads into their margins as well. There's a reason folks like Dell and HP are buying storage and networking companies - they want to offer complete end to end enterprise solutions.

Which isn't to say pursuing CCIE's is bad. Competition is a *good* thing in the market place. Hopefully it'll get Cisco out off whatever their smoking and make them realize they need to cut their profit margin a bit if they want to stay competitive.

Yup. A little too late for us. We went with a totally different vendor for our MPLS core as are many other companies. SP is still a valuable cert to have though if you have the time.

Abal1

Thanks friends for your kind and sincere advices. I decided to do the CCNA voice to really see if this is what I want to do or not. If it doesn't turn out so great for me I'll just go back to R&S. Hopefully I will not have lost much money or time just by pursuing the CCNA. And I will have a good understanding of what voice is all about by then.

Thanks again!

Abal1

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Your motivation is seeking voice is where I question whether it's the best track for you. You seem to have plenty of R&S experience, so I think you already have a good foundation there, so you don't necessarily need to pursue that track. If you were completely new to the network world and didn't have a solid R&S base, I'd also be telling you to go for R&S first, and you'd be insane if you didn't (or very, very gifted).

Thanks for your kind words Forsaken, I decided to go with R&S a few times but I always ended getting bored with the study material and topics and it just seems interminable. So I checked voice like a month ago for the first time and boy I was very impressed. I like reading more about voice now than I do R&S. So yeah I decided to do the CCNA-V to see if this is what I really want to do for the next few years or not. If I don't like it, then I will not have lost no more than 2-3 months hopefully. But if I go for the CCVP that will require me more time and money. If I'm gona do the CCVP then I'll have to do the CCIE whether I like it or not because by then I will have invested a lot money and time in voice.

Sirsamon

Abal1 wrote: »

Thanks for your kind words Forsaken, I decided to go with R&S a few times but I always ended getting bored with the study material and topics and it just seems interminable. So I checked voice like a month ago for the first time and boy I was very impressed. I like reading more about voice now than I do R&S. So yeah I decided to do the CCNA-V to see if this is what I really want to do for the next few years or not. If I don't like it, then I will not have lost no more than 2-3 months hopefully. But if I go for the CCVP that will require me more time and money. If I'm gona do the CCVP then I'll have to do the CCIE whether I like it or not because by then I will have invested a lot money and time in voice.

So its looks like i am right so far, you are going with CCNA voice to see if you like it or back to R&S.

Abal1

Sirsamon wrote: »

So its looks like i am right so far, you are going with CCNA voice to see if you like it or back to R&S.

No you're not right at all. I'm doing this to see if INEs proposed study plan is feasible for me. If I'm successful with the CCNA part I'll stick with voice but if it takes me longer than INE is suggesting, then I'm going to go back to R&S. So this is sort of an experiment for me. To see whether the "Get your CCIE voice in 1 year from scratch" deal is truly duable or not?

dragonmeat

Abal1,

You ask about security vs voice. You also mention doing this to make money. You also made a comment about you'd go for a cert for brain surgery if they had one.

Ok, you got my attention. I registered just to reply to you. I don't often tell my story, but your comments sound so much like me 12 years ago.

I've actually said the same thing back in 2001...if there was a cert for a rocket scientist, I'd go get it and make more money.

12 years ago, all I wanted was to make more money. I decided to jump from MCSE server admin role to CCIE track. Straight away. No stopping for CCNA, no slowing down to "build experience". I looked at the networker guys in the shop at the bank I was at and when I showed an interest, they looked down on me. **** them. I was going to get a CCIE from day one out of the gate. I did CCNA, CCNP, CCIE written, and 3 R&S labs before I passed on 4th all in less than 2.5 years. I had an enormous home lab and I was on fire. I was all about speed and commands. I was so good with my equipment, I did my final ccie lab in notepad and pasted them into the routers with 10 mintues to go and walked away. I was that young and confident.

I then took my first networking job with no experience but a huge pay bump. For 6 months I was scared someone would figure it out I wasn't really CCIE quality. I was running scared. Then I got my legs. 6 months later I was the smartest go to guy in the region and led the shop. I was paid very well and was worthy of it.

Here's my advice. You sound like me long ago. I don't say this to everyone because not everyone is all about the money. I'm not anymore either, but you are right now in this time and space. Go get your VOICE CCIE and don't stop till you have it. And don't stop for anything or anyone. Ignore everything that gets in your way. And stop reading forums looking for advice. You know your way grasshopper.

MrBrian

What a fun story to read. Sounds like it definitely could apply to Abal1 too. Like you said, definitely not the framework for building experience/knowledge for everyone. However, I agree there is a pocket out there for people that this would work with. Just a brutal onslaught of expert level topics, labbing, troubleshooting.. relentlessly until you get it.

If your story's true (cause who really knows right?), than right on.. bottom line is you had a goal and then achieved it. The desire and ambition is respectable. I myself have an inkling to make "big bucks," or at least what I would consider an above average salary. Not trying to toot my own horn at all, but just describing myself (as many here are probably similar): I have a respectable IQ.. strong logic.. good at math.. etc

My contention is that there's no right way for every person. Do what you want, but be aware of the consequences (i.e. not having real world experience). Just for the record though, going for CCIE before a job, yeah I think that's crazy. Not as much as the fact that you'll be missing real-world experience (which is bad, but hey, if you bang your head enough through elaborate labs that you create on your own equipment, than you've got some experience in tow), but more for the fact that you'll be missing out on $$$ the whole time you're studying for the CCIE. But I think it would be interesting to look at the comparison of someone attempting their CCIE while working full-time, to someone who does not work, but studies 8-9 hours every day. You can't really underestimate how rapidly one can learn topics while studying all day with no job. Now let me say, rushing through topics is a completely different story. I'm talking about someone reading various books on the technology at hand, not just a Cisco certification book. Endless research plus labbing. It's almost like a person going for their Masters while in school full-time, compared to someone working while taking a night class here and there, chipping away at the Masters (not a perfect comparison at all I know, but still).

Let me be clear, I don't suggest going for the IE before a job at all. But I wouldn't knock someone for dedicating themselves like that. It all would come down to, can they catch on in the workplace. My opinion would be yes, they'll catch on much much quicker than a CCNA or CCNP would, but that's the kind of pay they might have to start at. Either way, they'll have to prove themselves on the battlefield, that's what it all comes down to. Bottom line, if you want it, go for it wholeheartedly, and take no prisoners. Leave no stone unturned. Tell yourself "I won't burn out, I won't burn out" over and over.. and then you might trick yourself into not burning out . Sometimes you have to deceive yourself for your own personal gain, lol.

Turgon

MrBrian wrote: »

What a fun story to read. Sounds like it definitely could apply to Abal1 too. Like you said, definitely not the framework for building experience/knowledge for everyone. However, I agree there is a pocket out there for people that this would work with. Just a brutal onslaught of expert level topics, labbing, troubleshooting.. relentlessly until you get it.

If your story's true (cause who really knows right?), than right on.. bottom line is you had a goal and then achieved it. The desire and ambition is respectable. I myself have an inkling to make "big bucks," or at least what I would consider an above average salary. Not trying to toot my own horn at all, but just describing myself (as many here are probably similar): I have a respectable IQ.. strong logic.. good at math.. etc

My contention is that there's no right way for every person. Do what you want, but be aware of the consequences (i.e. not having real world experience). Just for the record though, going for CCIE before a job, yeah I think that's crazy. Not as much as the fact that you'll be missing real-world experience (which is bad, but hey, if you bang your head enough through elaborate labs that you create on your own equipment, than you've got some experience in tow), but more for the fact that you'll be missing out on $$$ the whole time you're studying for the CCIE. But I think it would be interesting to look at the comparison of someone attempting their CCIE while working full-time, to someone who does not work, but studies 8-9 hours every day. You can't really underestimate how rapidly one can learn topics while studying all day with no job. Now let me say, rushing through topics is a completely different story. I'm talking about someone reading various books on the technology at hand, not just a Cisco certification book. Endless research plus labbing. It's almost like a person going for their Masters while in school full-time, compared to someone working while taking a night class here and there, chipping away at the Masters (not a perfect comparison at all I know, but still).

Let me be clear, I don't suggest going for the IE before a job at all. But I wouldn't knock someone for dedicating themselves like that. It all would come down to, can they catch on in the workplace. My opinion would be yes, they'll catch on much much quicker than a CCNA or CCNP would, but that's the kind of pay they might have to start at. Either way, they'll have to prove themselves on the battlefield, that's what it all comes down to. Bottom line, if you want it, go for it wholeheartedly, and take no prisoners. Leave no stone unturned. Tell yourself "I won't burn out, I won't burn out" over and over.. and then you might trick yourself into not burning out . Sometimes you have to deceive yourself for your own personal gain, lol.

The problem with labrats isn't knowledge. That will be gained with enough study hours. The problem is context. Vendor workbooks, Cisco Press books, CCO and everything else teach you how to do things and how to produce a configuration to meet a requirement. In the field though, things often hang together very differently for reasons none of these resources teach you. This is why I advocate that anyone serious about a senior career in networking studies hard, but also gets access to real world experience as soon possible, and works harder on that aspect of their career, than self study.

Abal1

Thanks for the encouraging words dragonmeat, I really appreciate it, I really do. Unfortunately, I decided to go with R&S for now because the plan I was going to follow didn't work so well for me, and after calculating the expenses I'll need for a voice lab, I'm not there yet. I was hoping rack rental was going to be sufficient but, after reading some articles from INE and IPEXPERT, they encourage a real lab (homelab) or half a lab to get the ultimate experience necessary to pass the VOICE lab. Therefore, I'm going with what seems easier for me at the moment in terms of time and money. However, VOICE is still my dream and will remain to be so for the foreseaable future. Soon as I get R&S out of the way VOICE is next on my grocery list.