RouteMyWorld's CCIE Journey Begins

aragoen_celtdra

Well, I'm making it official by declaring on TE that I'm finally going for the CCIE.

A quick blurb about me: I started out in IT around 2001 after graduating college. Stopped working for about 2 years (2002-2003) to study music -music theory, that is (I'm also a part-time church musician/accompanist). Resumed working in IT Support in 2004. That is when I began exposure to Cisco. Since then I've had gradual increase in exposure and experience working with Cisco gear. In 2011 I started working at a MSO (cable provider) and currently I work as a Network Engineer tasked with configuration, implementation and maintenance of the edge routing devices - mostly 7609s and a few ASR9Ks.

I've decided that my approach will be to focus on passing the written portion first then go deeper towards labbing later - as opposed to hitting the labs hard now and take the written whenever I feel I'm ready. Of course I'm still going to lab stuff up to complement the theory.

Because I work for a huge MSO, I was thrilled to find that we have a pretty hefty collection of training materials available for our consumption - mostly Cisco Press publications. So for the written, I have the following materials to use:

CCIE Routing and Switching Certification Guide
Routing TCP/IP, Volume 1
Routing TCP/IP, Volume 2
Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks (BSCI) (Authorized Self-Study Guide)
Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks (BCMSN) - 4th Edition
Developing IP Multicast Networks - Volume I
IP Telephony Self-Study Cisco QOS Exam Certification Guide, Second Edition

Do you think this is enough for the written? Or is it overkill?

I know I have to ultimately go through all of them. But for the purposes of the written, I don't want to burn myself out on the outset. I'd like to start at a slow, consistent pace then gradually build up as I gain momentum. I'm currently in Chapter 5 of the Cert guide and must get back to studying now... after I take a nap cause I just came back from on-call escalation overnight.

I welcome thoughts and encouragement.

64:61:6e

This is my first post but wanted to join in on the community rather than continuing to just lurk and read everyone else's stories.
Anyways, the list you have pretty much matches my reading list as well. I also added the MPLS Fundamentals Cisco Press book. I heard some of the chapters in that book are worth a read for the R/S. Also, Internet Routing Architectures by Halabi is good. My strategy is to read the following in this order or at least close to this order:
- Routing TCP/IP Volume 1
- Routing TCP/IP Volume 2
- Internet Routing Architectures
- MPLS Fundamentals
- QoS OCG
- then finally the R/S OCG
I also have the INE Ultimate packet which includes the CCNP level materials as well as the Written VoD series. I think those videos will be mixed into the reading to provide a high-level overview of what I read. I used the CCNP materials to help pass the CCNP just a few months ago.
Also, I just received an email from Boson a few minutes ago that all their products are 25% off. Might be worth picking to find my weaknesses. I find that as I'm reading the material, it all makes sense. Then I go to lab it up and feel that I'm still missing theory so go back to reading.

Good luck on your studies and keep at it. I've started a few times but things always come up that force me to focus on other things in life. I'm in a position now to continue my studies so hopefully I'm able to stay at it this round.