My CCIE Journey Has Officially Begun.

jamesp1983

I have decided that it is time to pursue the first goal I had when I entered IT, the CCIE. I know its going to be an EXTREME challenge, but I'm just pushing forward and trying to stay confident. I'm going to use this thread for tracking my progress throughout my CCIE journey. I purchased the INE Ultimate bundle last week and have been studying and labbing ever since. I'm still trying to figure out what the right balance of lab vs study is at this point, but I'm just reviewing all of the ATVOD material now (over 80 hours), to refresh myself. I'm open for any suggestions on how I should balance lab vs study time. I've been running Dynamips and working with my home switches while watching the videos as a way to get more hands on. I passed BCMSN, BSCI, and ISCW back in 2008, and wrapped up ONT in August of 2010. I have been working with the equipment at my job so that has kept me fresh on a lot of the info, but I'm still studying like I'm just starting out. I research topics in the videos that I don't really remember and that seems to be really helping. I will keep this updated as a motivator and also as a way to keep track of all that I have studied when it comes time for my final review. It feels great to finally get started on this path. My wife and I worked out a schedule and I'm going to try to hit 30-36 hours a week.

My resources:
-INE Virtual Lab
-The INE workbooks
-INE Written VOD
-Routing TCP/IP, vol I.
-Home lab (a few routers and some 3550s.)
-Cisco LAN Switching by Ken Clark
-Routing and Switching, Time of Convergence?
-My CCNP Library.
-Dynamips
-Cisco.com
-INE ATVOD 4.5

Should I buy Odom's exam guide? I think the Boson Exsim for CCIE will be the next addition.

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Comments

jamesp1983

Started reading the "Inside Cisco IOS Software Architecture" book. It looks to be a quick read at only around 200 pages. I want to wrap it up this week. I got about 30 pages done this morning. This weekend was lost due to family obligations.

jamesp1983

Doing some more labs and QoS reading.

jamesp1983

We wrapped up the move on Wednesday so full study mode back on! I took last night to help the wife decorate for Christmas, but I'm hoping to be able to start putting several hours a day/night into my studies. I usually study for about 2 hours a day at work when I can. My wife is going to pay for my Written for part of my Christmas gift so I'm hoping to get to book it next week. I don't think getting it done before Christmas is realistic due to the fact that life is about to get hectic with all of the holiday festivities. I'm probably going to book for mid January since the holidays will be over by that point and this VoIP project at work will be mostly complete. We are deploying phones now since the underlying network has been modified to accomodate the voice traffic. It was fun configuring QoS on this large of a network.

jamesp1983

"Inside Cisco IOS Software Architecture" has been a very interesting read so far. This book is for you if you want to know how the processes inside of a Cisco device take place at a very low level. If you are like me it helps to know this depth of information when you are learning how certain processes are initiated, maintained, and terminate. This book definitely aids the "think like the router" concept. Some of the information is review, but a lot of it certainly isn't. Hope everyone's studies are going well.

jamesp1983

NetMasterClass Question of the Day:

Written Exam Preparation Tool - Self Paced Products - NMC (CCIE Training Company)

jamesp1983

Has anyone looked at:
Amazon.com: CCIE Routing and Switching v4.0 Quick Reference (2nd Edition) eBook: Brad Ellis, Jacob Uecker, Steven Means: Kindle Store

jamesp1983

I just wrapped up "Inside Cisco IOS Software Architecture". It was an excellent read, but had some really old information in it. I am going to read Routing TCP/IP Vol I again, then Vol II. I also want to check out MPLS Fundamentals (or equivalent) and also Internet Routing Architectures by Halabi.

Turgon

jamesp1983 wrote: »

I just wrapped up "Inside Cisco IOS Software Architecture". It was an excellent read, but had some really old information in it. I am going to read Routing TCP/IP Vol I again, then Vol II. I also want to check out MPLS Fundamentals (or equivalent) and also Internet Routing Architectures by Halabi.

Have you passed the written yet? If not, I wouldn't read anymore books for a while now. Odom and Bosen practice tests everyday for two weeks, then sit the exam.

jamesp1983

Turgon wrote: »

Have you passed the written yet? If not, I wouldn't read anymore books for a while now. Odom and Bosen practice tests everyday for two weeks, then sit the exam.

Not yet.

Turgon

jamesp1983 wrote: »

Not yet.

My advice still stands. Hit the Odom and Bosen tests daily now for 2 weeks then take the exam. If you tank it before Christmas, study it over the holiday and retake mid January. Get the written done, put a few books away and then start the 1000 hours of lab prep using the workbooks. You will read plenty during that journey I can assure you!

jamesp1983

Turgon wrote: »

My advice still stands. Hit the Odom and Bosen tests daily now for 2 weeks then take the exam. If you tank it before Christmas, study it over the holiday and retake mid January. Get the written done, put a few books away and then start the 1000 hours of lab prep using the workbooks. You will read plenty during that journey I can assure you!

I guess I'm not sure what to expect so I am scared and reading everything I can get my hands on. I do need to just get in the test center and give it a shot (once I've exhausted Boson).

Turgon

jamesp1983 wrote: »

I guess I'm not sure what to expect so I am scared and reading everything I can get my hands on. I do need to just get in the test center and give it a shot (once I've exhausted Boson).

I have passed the written 3 times and failed it 5 times in my life and Im no slouch so dont worry. Everytime I failed it my preparation was off..everytime I passed it, my preparation was good. Just take the test. You will know what to recover on if you fail. I did.

You have put the miles in on written prep which is the important thing afterall. No ****. Hard reading. Trust me, whatever happens in the testing centre, even if it takes you 3 attempts to clear the theory test, the way you have gone about preparing for the theory is the important thing..it will help your lab prep..it has certainly helped mine!

Take the test.

jamesp1983

Turgon wrote: »

I have passed the written 3 times and failed it 5 times in my life and Im no slouch so dont worry. Everytime I failed it my preparation was off..everytime I passed it, my preparation was good. Just take the test. You will know what to recover on if you fail. I did.

You have put the miles in on written prep which is the important thing afterall. No ****. Hard reading. Trust me, whatever happens in the testing centre, even if it takes you 3 attempts to clear the theory test, the way you have gone about preparing for the theory is the important thing..it will help your lab prep..it has certainly helped mine!

Take the test.

Thanks man. You've been incredibly helpful! You are a really hard worker and have been inspiring to me. I will take the test as soon as I have the money. I want to go over my notes some and boost my confidence, but I want to get this moving. I slacked a little with the house move and this VoIP project, but I will ramp myself back up again.

I feel like guys who **** this exam are just lining themselves up to A.) fail the lab because they don't get the theory, B.) look like idiots at job interviews (I've had several interviews where if you were a paper warrior you would have been weeded out in the first phone interview) or when conversing with other CCIEs/network experts, C.) cheating themselves out of the sense of pride and accomplishment that will come with passing via their own study time and hard work. Considering the investment of time and money, all the sacrifices in your personal life, and what passing the CCIE means to me (written and lab) I find that I get really angry when I see threads about guys passing via **** and bragging about how "easy" it was. Of course it was easy you moron! You cheated!

jamesp1983

Multicast deep dive document that I just found:
Deep Dive into Multicast

TesseracT

schweet! Thanks for the multicast deep dive, I'm going through it at the moment. Has to be my most hated subject to study. I've never had to implement it and it just basically doesn't interest me. I've made a bunch of notes, read the cert guide and watched the INE videos but it still doesn't seem like it sinks in. If I leave it for a few days I forget the difference between a Querier and DR etc... My studies are cominsg along slowly as it seems like whenever I spend a week or two on 1 subject it pushes another out my head. I am finding that when I do refresh topics it comes back easier though. I wanted to have the written done by the end of the year but I have no chance... I need an actual study plan I think rather than just reading when I get a chance

Turgon

TesseracT wrote: »

schweet! Thanks for the multicast deep dive, I'm going through it at the moment. Has to be my most hated subject to study. I've never had to implement it and it just basically doesn't interest me. I've made a bunch of notes, read the cert guide and watched the INE videos but it still doesn't seem like it sinks in. If I leave it for a few days I forget the difference between a Querier and DR etc... My studies are cominsg along slowly as it seems like whenever I spend a week or two on 1 subject it pushes another out my head. I am finding that when I do refresh topics it comes back easier though. I wanted to have the written done by the end of the year but I have no chance... I need an actual study plan I think rather than just reading when I get a chance

You can overdo the reading. The mistake many candidates make is to divorce reading from lab prep. Your reading does not stop when you pass the written..

You should read one chapter per day from Odom and take the end of chapter test. Once you have read Odom, do the Odom and Bosen tests daily. Research the answers to questions using a range of books. The written is doable in three months with this approach. Then take the test. If you fail, read up on areas you suck on then take the test 4 - 6 weeks later after hammering the practice tests again.

reaper81

Turgon wrote: »

You can overdo the reading. The mistake many candidates make is to divorce reading from lab prep. Your reading does not stop when you pass the written..

You should read one chapter per day from Odom and take the end of chapter test. Once you have read Odom, do the Odom and Bosen tests daily. Research the answers to questions using a range of books. The written is doable in three months with this approach. Then take the test. If you fail, read up on areas you suck on then take the test 4 - 6 weeks later after hammering the practice tests again.

True words. You still need reading when preparing for lab. I read almost every day. Not that much from books any longer but blog post, Cisco Live presentations but the most important resource is the DOCCD.

jamesp1983

TesseracT wrote: »

schweet! Thanks for the multicast deep dive, I'm going through it at the moment. Has to be my most hated subject to study. I've never had to implement it and it just basically doesn't interest me. I've made a bunch of notes, read the cert guide and watched the INE videos but it still doesn't seem like it sinks in. If I leave it for a few days I forget the difference between a Querier and DR etc... My studies are cominsg along slowly as it seems like whenever I spend a week or two on 1 subject it pushes another out my head. I am finding that when I do refresh topics it comes back easier though. I wanted to have the written done by the end of the year but I have no chance... I need an actual study plan I think rather than just reading when I get a chance

Anytime! There is a lot to it. I agree with the refreshes beging a lot easier. The hardest part is initially wrapping your brain around the concept. Consistency seems to be the name of the game. Good luck man! Let's get this written knocked out so we can get on with the monster.

jamesp1983

Turgon wrote: »

You can overdo the reading. The mistake many candidates make is to divorce reading from lab prep. Your reading does not stop when you pass the written..

I think the over reading in a lot of cases is due to fear. I know it has been in mine.

jamesp1983

I've been beating up Boson and reading Routing TCP/IP as well. The multicast questions are what are beating me up the most. It feels good to be able to study consistently again. I got a 30 day review from my boss yesterday and he told me that I'm doing a great job. He said that I'm a self starter, definitely don't need any hand holding, and have already started to make an impact. Then he went on to say that he couldn't be happier with my performance thus far. I was happy to hear him say all that.

reaper81

jamesp1983 wrote: »

I've been beating up Boson and reading Routing TCP/IP as well. The multicast questions are what are beating me up the most. It feels good to be able to study consistently again. I got a 30 day review from my boss yesterday and he told me that I'm doing a great job. He said that I'm a self starter, definitely don't need any hand holding, and have already started to make an impact. Then he went on to say that he couldn't be happier with my performance thus far. I was happy to hear him say all that.

Great work James! Being successful at work is the most important and you are off to a really good start. Keep it up. It always feels good to get positive criticism.

jamesp1983

reaper81 wrote: »

Great work James! Being successful at work is the most important and you are off to a really good start. Keep it up. It always feels good to get positive criticism.

Thanks man. I need to knock out this written. It looks like your lab studies are going well. Good luck!

jamesp1983

I'm scoring 70-80s on the Boson tests. I am reading the articles on the questions I get wrong. I have been trying to digest every bit of material I can on my weakspots. I am amazed at the improvements that have been the result of additional study in my weak areas.

reaper81

jamesp1983 wrote: »

I'm scoring 70-80s on the Boson tests. I am reading the articles on the questions I get wrong. I have been trying to digest every bit of material I can in my weakspots. I am amazed at the improvements that have been the result of additional study in my weak areas.

Good job! If you have anything you want to discuss feel free to add my to IM.

jamesp1983

reaper81 wrote: »

Good job! If you have anything you want to discuss feel free to add my to IM.

Thanks man. I appreciate it. I will most likely take you up on the offer.

jamesp1983

I studied for about an hour yesterday, but didn't get anything done last night due to side work (large powershell project), and then a large outage at my employer's HQ. I'm hoping I can get a good amount done today.

jamesp1983

Well I finished one of my side projects and also wrapped up deploying QoS on all of our access layer switches between last night and this morning. I have been doing some QoS refreshing today.

jamesp1983

I've been laptopless for 3 weeks since the DC-in on my sony vaio decided to break apart. The parts finally arrived last night so I was able to put it back together. All of my notes and INE materials are on it so that will be a huge boost for my studies. I need to buy a backup computer so I won't be down again.

jamesp1983

I was just doing some of the troubleshooting exercises from the back of Chp6 in routing tcp/ip vol 1. Had to do some troubleshooting more of dynamips and incorrect IOS version than protocols.

jamesp1983

Merry Christmas