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

Turgon

jamesp1983 wrote: »

Merry Christmas

Same to you! Refuel over Christmas as 2012 will ask a lot of you and you will test the patience of those close to you during the year ahead. In January, beat up on the written preparations and take the test. If you get destroyed resit in 4 weeks time after revisiting the Boson tests and books, focussing on what gave you trouble on the day.

Then 1000 lab hours in 2012.

jamesp1983

Turgon wrote: »

Same to you! Refuel over Christmas as 2012 will ask a lot of you and you will test the patience of those close to you during the year ahead. In January, beat up on the written preparations and take the test. If you get destroyed resit in 4 weeks time after revisiting the Boson tests and books, focussing on what gave you trouble on the day.

Then 1000 lab hours in 2012.

Thank you! I do feel refreshed after having a few days off. Time to get moving.

jamesp1983

I've been practice testing, reading, and watching videos all day. I've been trying to beat up EIGRP a lot and feel like I have an even better understanding of it. I also downloaded all 16 of INE's new Written course. I might watch those periodically.

Turgon

jamesp1983 wrote: »

I've been practice testing, reading, and watching videos all day. I've been trying to beat up EIGRP a lot and feel like I have an even better understanding of it. I also downloaded all 16 of INE's new Written course. I might watch those periodically.

You need to know when to adjust delay, and what value to give it. Blogs are poor on explaining this. K values, which no one understands.

jamesp1983

Turgon wrote: »

You need to know when to adjust delay, and what value to give it. Blogs are poor on explaining this. K values, which no one understands.

I've been spending time on these topics exactly.

jamesp1983

I spent yesterday reading/labbing/practice testing, and then watched INE videos for an hour to round out my EIGRP studies.

jamesp1983

Just got an 879 on Practice Test A of the Boson Netsim. I also read about OSPF/took notes for about 3 hours this morning. I am starting to feel pretty confident in my prep for the Written. I've gotten 9 out of about 10 questions of the day I've done through Netmaster's Written product correct. Multicast and QoS are definitely my weakest subjects, but I think those can be remedied via more labbing and reviewing of my notes.

jamesp1983

I'm feeling pretty confident now. I just did Exam B and got a 700. I got some stupid ones wrong (not reading question correctly), but I am realizing now that I am able to reason my way through the possible answers better than I could a few months ago. That tells me I am retaining and understanding what I've been studying/labbing.

I understand now what people mean when they say the more they learn, the more they realize they don't know.

jamesp1983

Read for about 2 hours this morning, then did a Boson test. I did Exam C for the first time and received an 838. I think I'm ready. I am going to abuse Boson for the next 2 weeks and take it in about 2.5 weeks. I started building a "CCIE Notes" word doc about 2 weeks ago. I have about 19 pages of notes so far, but that doesn't include Mnemosyne, nor my handwritten notes which consist of rougly 3 notebooks. I have already seen great benefit in having this word doc.

jamesp1983

I just booked my Written. I am not going to give the exact date, but I will say that it is before the end of January. Crunch time!

Turgon

jamesp1983 wrote: »

I just booked my Written. I am not going to give the exact date, but I will say that it is before the end of January. Crunch time!

You will be fine. You know just scrolling down this thread an ad to ccie reallabs appeared..on TE..Oh the irony of it.

jamesp1983

Thanks. The nerves have started. Really? That's awful.

alan2308

Good luck!

reaper81

You'll do fine. Go out and own that test.

Turgon

jamesp1983 wrote: »

Thanks. The nerves have started. Really? That's awful.

Just take it. Im 3 and 5 on the written in my life according to American Football parlance. So that's 3 passes and 5 fails.
Each time I failed, honestly I wasn't sufficiently prepared to pass this exam, but when I was I did!

Just take the exam and pay attention to those questions..spend no more than 2 minutes on each and move along. If you pass, great, if you fail you will know what to bone up on.

Post script - Odom book, + Odom test engine + Boson tests isn't enough to pass..there are some curveballs in this exam but if you use these resources hard and fail, you will pass second shot or at least third.

Good luck. Pass the written and then the real work begins..1000 hours of grueling lab prep..trust me, you will be reading theory during that journey! A truly awful quest for those without the stomach for it..the CCIE is a 'ring my bell' Navy Seal thing. It's no wonder companies take money from people who want to short circuit the process and **** the written and lab. Lamers..not elite. Pointless however as 2012 is a simply bad place to be if you have a CCIE number and really don't have the goods.

Take the pain. Be a Seal. Or SAS in my country.

Sirsamon

He who dares

TesseracT

jamesp1983 wrote: »

I just booked my Written. I am not going to give the exact date, but I will say that it is before the end of January. Crunch time!

Good luck dude! I'll wait for your results before booking mine

Thinking end of Feb/March at the moment

jamesp1983

reaper81 wrote: »

You'll do fine. Go out and own that test.

Thanks man. I'm going to start really boning up on my weak spots and I think I'll feel a lot better.

jamesp1983

TesseracT wrote: »

Good luck dude! I'll wait for your results before booking mine Thinking end of Feb/March at the moment

Thanks! It should be fun! Good luck on yours!

jamesp1983

alan2308 wrote: »

Good luck!

Thank you!

Turgon

Sirsamon wrote: »

He who dares

hehehe..something like that. But what we do is a hell of a lot less risky! Certainly a lot of candidates this year. Good luck to everyone!

jamesp1983

Got a good amount of studying done this past weekend. All of the birthdays and holidays are done for awhile so I should definitely be able to cover a lot of ground over the next couple of weekends.

jamesp1983

Took a mock exam in Boson last night and scored a 950. I'm pretty happy with that. I'm contemplating pushing up my test date. My new notepad doc is 26 pages long. I haven't even added switching notes to it. That's just for routing protocols. I have to dig out the 3 notebooks of notes I made at the start of my CCIE journey and condense them after the written.

jamesp1983

Wow, I was able to get a decent amount of study time at work over the past couple of weeks, but that has come to an end. I am in 6 hour long meetings discussing a merger of my employer and a company that is literally 20x's our size. A lot of planning, visios, config evals, etc. I am still going to stick to my date for the written.

Turgon

jamesp1983 wrote: »

Wow, I was able to get a decent amount of study time at work over the past couple of weeks, but that has come to an end. I am in 6 hour long meetings discussing a merger of my employer and a company that is literally 20x's our size. A lot of planning, visios, config evals, etc. I am still going to stick to my date for the written.

Sounds like a busy year ahead at work. Get that written finished and then plan on spending evenings and weekends doing lab practice. For those who's schedules make a 1 year end to end CCIE impractical, I find that the first year is all important. Grind out as many practice hours as you can in year 1, it's the foundation for a future lab pass. The reason we have so many prospects this year is because they really put in the hours through 2011.

jamesp1983

Its certainly going to be. Everyone is behind me 100% at work so that helps (as well as at home). I'm planning on not making any plans for anything this year so that I can hopefully schedule a lab attempt before end of 2012. I'm trying to stay ahead of projects at work so that the number of late nights is minized. I have been reading and testing. I came up with a schedule for my last 2 weeks prior to taking the Written and it involves reviewing weak spots and hammering away on Boson.

Turgon

jamesp1983 wrote: »

Its certainly going to be. Everyone is behind me 100% at work so that helps (as well as at home). I'm planning on not making any plans for anything this year so that I can hopefully schedule a lab attempt before end of 2012. I'm trying to stay ahead of projects at work so that the number of late nights is minized. I have been reading and testing. I came up with a schedule for my last 2 weeks prior to taking the Written and it involves reviewing weak spots and hammering away on Boson.

I think you need to get that written test passed. Shoot for 1 - 2 attempts over the next 8 weeks and get it cleared. Work will get insanely busy. With a written pass you have 18 months to sit the lab and a sense of accomplishment. It's not an easy test to pass for those of us who dont use ****.

ahepburn

Well today I have officially decided that it is time to pursue first goal on my new years resolution list; 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 VOD written bootcamp along with the Cisco Press self-pace study guideversion 4.0. The intent is to study for 24-30 hours a week, and sit the written exam in May of this year! and start labbing inin june..... for which I intend to purchase either the ipexperts CCIE training or the INE... do anyone have any suggestion on which vendor si should go with for the LAB, and if I need any additional studying material for the written?

Roguetadhg

Turgon wrote: »

I think you need to get that written test passed. Shoot for 1 - 2 attempts over the next 8 weeks and get it cleared. Work will get insanely busy. With a written pass you have 18 months to sit the lab and a sense of accomplishment. It's not an easy test to pass for those of us who dont use ****.

I like you Turgon. Just for the last sentence you stated. I guess your avatar helps. Who is she anyways?

TLeTourneau

ahepburn wrote: »

Well today I have officially decided that it is time to pursue first goal on my new years resolution list; 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 VOD written bootcamp along with the Cisco Press self-pace study guideversion 4.0. The intent is to study for 24-30 hours a week, and sit the written exam in May of this year! and start labbing inin june..... for which I intend to purchase either the ipexperts CCIE training or the INE... do anyone have any suggestion on which vendor si should go with for the LAB, and if I need any additional studying material for the written?

Just my opinion but I think you should start your own thread. Jamesp1983 started this thread to track his progress.