CCIE wannabees

Well I thought I would put up a thread that may be a sticky. Essentially anyone with a written pass who is fully engaged in lab prep please let yourself be known here. This can be a good thread for those actively working on lab prep and to swap notes on workbooks, resources and general banter on lab preparations. It will also be useful for observers with CCIE aspirations. I encourage everyone to keep their own CCIE lab thread/blogs going. This will be an officers mess to exchange ideas, keep people motivated and workgroup.

I can swap ICQ number to students if they send me a PM.

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lostindaylight

Hi Bender,

I think the disconnect in the perception of the gap from CCNP->CCIE on the part of myself and mr. Joelsfood is due to the differences between route/switch and DC (so I've been told by someone knowledgeable).

Debugging MPLS VPN is by far the thing that gives me the most fits. When there's a lot of route leaking between VRFs, multiple ISPs, etc, I'm looking at a VPNv4 table with the same routes but with like 5 different route descriptors, and it's like "FML. I'm over this".

Thanks for the link, I really appreciate it. I'm grateful for any help and support I can get.

EDIT: Also, I am most definitely more thin skinned and grouchy than normal. I'm on the grind prepping for my lab date, so I'm studying until I pass out every night, not getting a lot of sleep, girlfriend not happy, ect. You know the drill. I'm trying to be mindful of that, but any perception I have of people being flippant or dismissive or condescending, I don't tolerate it real well right now

.

-lid

Iristheangel

lostindaylight wrote: »

EDIT: Also, I am most definitely more thin skinned and grouchy than normal. I'm on the grind prepping for my lab date, so I'm studying until I pass out every night, not getting a lot of sleep, girlfriend not happy, ect. You know the drill. I'm trying to be mindful of that, but any perception I have of people being flippant or dismissive or condescending, I don't tolerate it real well right now .
-lid

((((Virtual Hugs)))))

Been there, felt like that. Was ready to murder the world a couple times in there

I think from the months of 8/2015 - 11/2015, my vocabulary dropped down to consisting 95% of four-letter words

joelsfood

No worries lostindaylight, we've definitely all been there.

I do think there's a difference in the actual labs, as RS has it's troubleshooting in a straightforward way, in it's own section, etc, whereas the DC lab has the troubleshooting wherever the fiends over there in SJ (or wherever Mr Burns and his cohorts are) feel like throwing it in. Makes me value, but hate, troubleshooting skills more.

DPG

What ratio of reading to labbing seems to be the most efficient when pursuing the CCIE? I probably was around 90/10 in favor of labbing for the CCENT/CCNA/CCNP/CCIP. It definitely didn't help with the trivia portion of the exams but the sims were no problem. The most reading that I did was for the QOS exam which was extremely boring.

gorebrush

LID,

Don't make the mistake of doing "too much". It is possible to overdo it. Getting little sleep, annoying your spouse does NOT bode well for your lab day. Make sure to get enough rest to stay focussed.

lostindaylight

gorebrush wrote: »

LID,

Don't make the mistake of doing "too much". It is possible to overdo it. Getting little sleep, annoying your spouse does NOT bode well for your lab day. Make sure to get enough rest to stay focussed.

Hi gorebush.

Oh, I always annoy her. She just misses me is all. I take time out for her every week, go have a bite to eat and do something fun.

I was trying for a more balanced approach for several months, and I simply was not getting enough labbing time in. Fact, not opinion. I've settled into a schedule that gives me the hours, but it does push the limits of what's sustainable. I'm a bit older and I work out so I need about 6 hours of sleep, that's my magic number.

-lid

joelsfood

DPG, it really depends on your level of experience with the various technologies, and where you are at in the process. I would say prior to written, you'll definitely want to read more,w hereas once you pass written and start preparing for your lab, you definitely need to shift your priority towards labbing, to make sure that what you know from reading you can actually DO.

What th ratios are that work are different for everyone.

gorebrush

lostindaylight wrote: »

Hi gorebush.

Oh, I always annoy her. She just misses me is all. I take time out for her every week, go have a bite to eat and do something fun.

I was trying for a more balanced approach for several months, and I simply was not getting enough labbing time in. Fact, not opinion. I've settled into a schedule that gives me the hours, but it does push the limits of what's sustainable. I'm a bit older and I work out so I need about 6 hours of sleep, that's my magic number.

-lid

Sounds good - only you know what your limits are

Iristheangel

@LID - I have ZERO doubt you are going to be getting your digits very soon. I've been in Hangouts and other chatrooms with you and you're at the level I hope to be at with R&S in the next year or two. I definitely admire your persistence and the fact that you'll keep pushing til you get those digits. Bring it home!

hurricane1091

I don't doubt at all that at a minimum it takes 1000 hours to pass the CCIE RS, which is daunting. I don't know that I'll ever attempt it and I probably shouldn't even think about it until I pass the CCNP route portion next month (really shouldn't start seriously considering until after the switch portion). I know my reading pace is no where near the pace that is needed if I'm actually going to get the 6 or so books people recommend on here but my labbing dedication is there and I have 20 routers and switches available to me. Part of me says I'd be an idiot not to try - my boss designed the entire network and can answer any question. We're doing great QoS stuff, I've already re-designed our DMVPN/NHRP environment and am actively working on that project, we're running iBGP and eBGP, L3MPLS, PVST, etc - you get the idea lol. So all the hard things that most people do not get to see/do early on in their careers is right in front of me. There's obviously stuff we're not doing but there's just a ton we are.

Anyone that gets the CCIE deserves respect for that commitment. The one guy I was in a google hangout with for the CCNP started the CCIE so I'll watch how that plays out for him. I think for me personally it's going to come down to how well I pass the CCNP. I'm preparing for it like I'm guessing I would need to for the CCIE just to mentally prepare for the one-day possibility. If I knock this out of the park, I'll probably get rejuvenated. If I get my ass handed to me and it turns out I need to work twice as hard as I am, I might shy away lol.

joelsfood

CCIE is definitely a huge commitment. I suspect I've worked harder and longer on the CCIE for the last two years than I did worked in four years getting my BS.

And that's without any digits to show for it

lostindaylight

DPG wrote: »

What ratio of reading to labbing seems to be the most efficient when pursuing the CCIE? I probably was around 90/10 in favor of labbing for the CCENT/CCNA/CCNP/CCIP. It definitely didn't help with the trivia portion of the exams but the sims were no problem. The most reading that I did was for the QOS exam which was extremely boring.

Hi DPG.

That's an interesting question because of the way you qualified it - "efficient". I think to a certain extent the best mix of books/labbing/videos/instuctor led training is specific to the individual and what they best respond to.

Having said that, In a more general sense, It seems to start out mostly reading with a relatively small about of labbing, and over time, it gradually shifts until you're mostly labbing, scanning through notes to refresh memory, or doing fill-in reading on topics you might be a bit fuzzy on.

I will say I am enjoying the labbing a lot right now. After so much time spent diving into the minutiae of all the little things, it feels like a big payoff to be able to pull it all together and exercise that knowledge. Like a musician training for years, doing scales and simple exercises, learning theory and bunch of boring stuff, and suddenly, you can play the music and it comes flowing out of your fingers.

DPG

lostindaylight wrote: »

Hi DPG.

That's an interesting question because of the way you qualified it - "efficient". I think to a certain extent the best mix of books/labbing/videos/instuctor led training is specific to the individual and what they best respond to.

The reason I mention efficiency is due to the insane amount of time that some candidates take to get those numbers. The stats are all over the place from those that can brute-force it within a year to others that still don't have the certification afters many years and numerous lab attempts.

AwesomeGarrett

I believe it's part of the journey to find out how you learn best. Once you find the missing pieces to this puzzle, things start falling into place. It's almost like a magic!

I hear spaced repetition works great also.

lostindaylight

DPG wrote: »

The reason I mention efficiency is due to the insane amount of time that some candidates take to get those numbers. The stats are all over the place from those that can brute-force it within a year to others that still don't have the certification afters many years and numerous lab attempts.

I think to large degree that can be put down to consistency. Let me unpack that for a moment.

For R&S, which is the only track I have studied, the blueprint is so big that your chief opponent is the ability to retain the information. You're fighting a battle of decaying memory. that means you've got to loop though the blueprint repeatedly and often enough to beat the decay factor.

Life can get in the way, things happen. But once you start, I think its best to plan on grinding it out until it's done, and that includes being prepared to follow up with multiple attempts.

Bests,

-lid.

bender000

DPG wrote: »

The reason I mention efficiency is due to the insane amount of time that some candidates take to get those numbers. The stats are all over the place from those that can brute-force it within a year to others that still don't have the certification afters many years and numerous lab attempts.

People have different starting points and different exposure.

To give a few examples, one guy may be in a L3/escalation TAC role and gets thrown new problems in new environments that they haven't seen before on a regular basis - their TS skills are likely going to wipe the floor. Another guy might be in VAR and constantly building/deploying and getting config chops on a wide variety of the syllabus. Senior level SP experience means the MPLS-VPN portion is relatively simple. etc.

The most disadvantaged candidate is actually the most common - the garden variety in house engineer who's only really got production XP on what they've deployed in house. The more environments you've been in, the more technologies you've touched and the more scenarios you've been exposed to.

Bardlebee

Bender is correct in my opinion. The more jobs you have had in enterprise and other various spaces the more diverse you can become and be able to tackle certain topics. For instance, if you had to deal with QoS in the past in one job, you're well ahead of many other people in QoS starting naked with it, such as myself.

Stuff like HSRP and other things I've touched like OSPF I do very well in, and its because I've seen it. Those that take years to do the CCIE in my opinion has more to do with time in real life to study... life gets in the way. Kids are born, new jobs are found and other situations make it to where you can't do 4-6 hours a night every night. But I think if you're fairly garden variety engineer, you could knock out the CCIE in 18 months of hardcore studying/labbing. Which from what I hear tends to be the norm.

lostindaylight

Bardlebee wrote: »

Those that take years to do the CCIE in my opinion has more to do with time in real life to study... life gets in the way. Kids are born, new jobs are found and other situations make it to where you can't do 4-6 hours a night every night.

Yup. If you stop studying for a three or four or six months because of life stuff, its wishful thinking to believe you're going to pick up where you left off.

One thing that I have seen a lot of (myself included), is people fail the lab, and they intend to take a brief recovery break, but it ends up stretching out into something much longer. It's easy to make excuses and say life got in the way, I said it, but I was probably rationalizing a little bit.

In any case, It's a double whammy of the time you spent not studying, and the time it takes to get back to at least the level you were at when you made your previous attempt, which still isn't good enough or you probably would have passed.

going for the lab will make anyone a much better engineer and create opportunities. Even if you don't pass right away, the improved skills and the fact that you're even trying it will open doors.

Bests,

-lid

bender000

lostindaylight wrote: »

going for the lab will make anyone a much better engineer and create opportunities. Even if you don't pass right away, the improved skills and the fact that you're even trying it will open doors.

Exactly. Think about it: are you any better an engineer the minute before you walk into the lab, vs the minute you get the certified status flash up on the CCIE portal. Absolutely no difference.
What about a guy who passed it by 1% vs the guy who failed it by 1%. Absolutely no difference.

Its the journey that makes it valuable. The exam is just so employers have a means of verifying you went on that journey. Unfortunately, people being people, just fixate on the title, I guess it is what it is.

lostindaylight

T-minus two months and change.

TS skills have improved quite a bit. There is in fact a finite number of ways you can break a particular thing, and faults tend to fall into certain categories (broken control plane, broken data plane, protocol interaction/compatibility, and filtering). Exposure and reps teaches you how to attack something and zero in efficiently.

I've done all of the INE TS labs, and started working through the Micronics TS workbook over the weekend. I've been bouncing back and forth between full scale labs and TS labs and that seems to be getting the job done.

Cautiously optimistic.

Best regards,

-lid.

nicemikki

I just passed CCNA last couple weeks ago. Looking for a new opportunity to learn new thing. I am going to skip CCNP because it is a long test compare to CCIE. I know it is not recommend but oh well..CCIE is more challenge

Mow

@nicemikki You're in for a rough road.

joelsfood

To put it mildly. But keep us updated

nopixel

Hi CCIEs and wannabees, I'm new to this sub-forum. I've started my CCIE Collab journey this month. I'm still compiling my study strategy for this not-as-popular track. I'm currently in a TAC escalation role, but this is as much of a personal challenge for me as it is a career goal. Looking forward to seeing you all around in the coming months.

gorebrush

Welcome aboard. You will find many current CCIE's and CCIE wannabe's around here. Get your own thread posted up and keep us posted on the progress. We'll all chip in from time to time. There was one person actively going after Collab, (shodown, IIRC) but not seen any posts for a while.

lostindaylight

No longer a wannabe, passed the route/switch lab last Friday.

For those who are on the journey: keep the faith, embrace the grind, and always be labbing. Things will work out.

-lid

rdrum

Congrats on the pass lid! Definitely a major accomplishment.....

Anyone have tips on finding an effective study group? I've done self studies for all my certifications to date, but the amount of information on those was far less than the CCIE. Been working on my CCIE Security (off and on) for the last 13 months or so. I think I read someone in this particular post mention taking time off. One of my time spans was almost 3 months. Even for just fundamental knowledge, it took a toll. My written is next week, but I still plan to target the lab towards the latter part of 2016/early 2017.

Mow

Congratulations!

joelsfood

Congratulations, lostindaylight!

lostindaylight

Thx Joelsfood, Rdrum, and Mow!