Starting CCIE Written. Just had "the talk" with Mrs. Zartan.

down77

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

Feels like it's been forever since I last updated. Haven't done anything with my blog either. Just been focused on lab time the last month or so and I'm feeling pretty worn out. Thankfully I passed my lab so I don't have to worry about that for a while. I plan on keeping up with my flashcards though since I'd hate to forget all of that stuff.

And which lab would that be

Zartanasaurus

down77 wrote: »

And which lab would that be

R&S lab of course. 5 days shy of 1 year from when I started this thread.

jdballinger

Holy hell, like the actual one and not a mock? That was the most subtle "I am now a CCIE" post I've ever seen!

I hope I'm not reading that wrong and congratulating you for no reason! Jeebus the number of TE guys knocking this down is incredible! I've said it before and I'll say it again, thank you to all of you who post publicly about your journey to get the digits. It keeps me motivated in my own quest to advance my knowledge and be a kickass network engineer! You are all truly an inspiration!

Or you were joking and I'm gonna edit this in a minute...

down77

Congrats on passing the lab! I smell a group celebration!!!

QHalo

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

R&S lab of course. 5 days shy of 1 year from when I started this thread.

Oh snap man, nicely done.

reaper81

Congrats and welcome to the club!

Zartanasaurus

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

Narbik brought the proctor in here at RTP and we had 30-45 mins to ask him questions and hear him speak. I'll summarize what I think was the most interesting.

The grading script pretty much uses verification commands (show, ping, whatever) and is results oriented to give you points. As long as it can make the verification and you didn't break a restriction, you get the points. If you don't have enough points to pass, he does a manual review of only questions you didn't get points for to see if you solved it in a way the grader didn't expect until you either make the cut score or he runs out of missed questions.

Couple of other things I learned about the grading script during our lunch break.

The script takes 5-10mins to complete based on the track. Voice and Wireless take two hours. Those racks are basically left alone for 24 hours, unlike the other racks which are reset and used daily. There are parts of Voice that are not graded by the script and he has to go in and verify them manually. The manual process takes about 20 minutes. So for you Voice and Wireless guys wondering why it takes so long to get your score, that's why. It's probably impossible for San Jose to grade your rack the day you take it because they only have 3 hours of time left from the time the RTP lab ends, so you're waiting for Sydney (the first CCIE lab to start on a calendar day).

Also, regrades are a waste of money. He's only had one fail overturned in the 15 months he's been a proctor.

reaper81

My friend passed on a regrade just a couple of weeks ago :P That was in Brussels though. Not sure what happened because he was sure he passed config and then got a bad score in a section. Then it came back with a pass. No debugs running or anything funky like that.

bryguy

Well done, sir!

Zartanasaurus

reaper81 wrote: »

My friend passed on a regrade just a couple of weeks ago :P That was in Brussels though. Not sure what happened because he was sure he passed config and then got a bad score in a section. Then it came back with a pass. No debugs running or anything funky like that.

One of the other guys taking his lab mentioned something similar. A guy he knew asked for a regrade because he got a 0 in one of the major sections. Even if it was an error with the grader, the manual review of the missed sections should've uncovered it. Do you get a refund of the $350 if the regrade passes you?

reaper81

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

One of the other guys taking his lab mentioned something similar. A guy he knew asked for a regrade because he got a 0 in one of the major sections. Even if it was an error with the grader, the manual review of the missed sections should've uncovered it. Do you get a refund of the $350 if the regrade passes you?

Yeah, you get the money back from the regrade. But think for a sec if he didn't go for that regrade then he wouldn't be a CCIE now and would have to spend 1500$+ on another attempt. So even though very very few pass on a regrade imagine that there are probably some people out there that would have been CCIEs if they asked for a regrade, some people might even have given up and never gotten it.

One day he noticed that score report was gone and replaced by a -. I've heard others that said that this usually means it was changed to a pass but it's not like it's a certain sign. He was very happy when he passed anyway.

mhonsky

R&S lab of course. 5 days shy of 1 year from when I started this thread.

Congratulations!!! Enjoy your magic number

Any advice on the candidates that are still on track like us?

Zartanasaurus

mhonsky wrote: »

Congratulations!!! Enjoy your magic number

Any advice on the candidates that are still on track like us?

Probably nothing that hasn't been said a thousand times. Just be prepared for the time investment and the mental and physical drain you have to endure putting in the lab hours. I feel exhausted. But at the time time it feels weird not coming home and having something to study. I will enjoy the vacation while it lasts. I have some loose ends to tie up at work and I need to start looking for a new job/state to live in.

mhonsky

Just be prepared for the time investment and the mental and physical drain you have to endure putting in the lab hours

Thanks for this advice and good luck to your future job!

spiderjericho

Zartan, I just noticed your accomplishment. Congrats on obtaining that number and hopefully, it makes your wallet fatter.

Blackout

Congrats man! I cant imagine how good this accomplishment feels. Enjoy it you conquered the beast!

Master Of Puppets

Amazing! Huge congrats, indeed