Bryan Bartik CCIE #23707 Rands

"CCIE #23707

Obviously I cannot go into many details here, but I do want to share my story in hopes that others will benefit in some way. It is long, but will probably be my last for awhile :-)

First of all, CCIE has to be something you really want. There are many reasons to go for it: better job, more money, etc. That is fine, but underneath it all, you must have the desire to be a CCIE. I made many career choices and mistakes before getting somewhat settled in this industry, so don't ever think this task is too big for you. The industry needs people that have the desire.

I first heard of the CCIE exam about 6 years ago when I started out towards a networking degree. It was never in my mind that I would go for it. It was only for the Elite. My degree consisted of a couple Cisco classes, and that was enough for me at the time. Shortly after the degree, I was doing technical support for Nortel Networks and really starting to dig the L2 and L3 technologies. I mean I LOVED IT! THIS WAS MY BAG! Nortel did not have much rep (or a declining one at least) in the industry and I decided to focus on Cisco networking. I got my CCNA near the end of my tenure there.

The desire to be CCIE started after I was CCNA, when I started going for CCNP. I peaked ahead at the CCIE blueprint and thought to myself, "this is stuff that I can handle, and stuff that I want to learn." I knew CCNP was not required, but I took that path because I knew it would be good preperation towards that goal. It took me one year to get my CCNP and the day I passed my last exam I was already making notes on the blueprint and scouring the Internet for lab tips :-)

I started my blog a few months later because I really had no focus as to what I was doing. I didn't have any workbooks or anything, I just had the written guide, dynamips and my 3550/3560 switches. I played around with my own labs and blogged ideas. Mike Down at IPexpert found my blog and gave me good deal for some rack time and for the Blended Learning Solution. This was the turning moment as now I felt I had a real path to follow. I passed the written shortly after (about 6 months in) and then joined groupstudy and the onlinestudylist.

Around this time, so many people were passing, I felt like time was slipping away! I decided the best thing to do was ignore all the stories and rumors and focus on my own path.

I did all the volume 1, 2 and 3 labs in order. Took me about 6 months doing a couple every weekend, sometimes 3 or 4. Actually I jumped ahead to Volume 3 at times because they were graded and I wanted to see how I was doing along the way. Any issues or new technologies I ran into, I would break down to small scenarios and lab them and blog about them.

On my way to work I would listen to the audio bootcamp. I probably listened to each track twice. After Volume 3 I bought an IE mock lab and did both Assessor labs. If not anything else, these gave me confidence in my last month of preperation. I did well on all of them and the things I missed were mainly because I did not follow the questions properly. I spent my final week watching the VODs with Scott Morris. I watched ALL the videos in the final weekend, probably about 25 hours or more :-)

The day of a lab I had huge headache. I popped some excedrin and some tylenol and refused any caffeine for fear of worsening it. I got to the lab a little early and there ended up being about 10 people there, 4 for R&S. My mind was a wreck, I felt like crap. The one thing that kept me going was my belief in my preperation. I knew what I had to do. If it's one thing you will learn about taking the CCIE lab exam, it is to trust your preperation.

The procotor explained the deal with the open ended questions (to curb cheating) and to be honest, they were very simple. No tricks. He said one or two lines should be enough but you have 30 minutes and no documentation. I finished them in a few minutes with the only bottleneck being my slow typing skills.

I started reading the lab. It was almost 1 hour before I logged into a router. I kept a level head throughout. I heard stories of people saying they were so confident when they left, but the still failed. I understood them now but I did not want to be that way. I could see how this lab could defeat me. After 5 hours I was done, but I stayed until the end verifying everything 1, 2 or 3 times. Pinging everything, saving all the time.

One hour I left, I finally broke for a Mountain Dew! Boy did I need that. I was finding minor issues still 30 minutes left in the exam, I fixed a few but I really had to talk myself into relying on my configurations and instincts. I could see several ways of doing things and I had to pick one. I really think I saved at least 10 points in the last couple hours of verification. Do not leave early!

I watched a movie after the lab with my Dad who was in town that weekend. I got home at 10 or so and checked my email. The score report was ready. I was SHAKING. I had to re-type my ID and crap a few times to get it right. First thing I saw was "submit critique" or something like that. Then I saw "Congratulations..." or something. I didn't believe it. Then I saw "PASS"...I still didn't believe it. Then I saw #23707. It was official.

What a relief. It was wonderful journey and I learned so much. I met a lot of great people that I never expected to meet. I look through my blog archives and see how dumb I was! Just another noob, a little wannabe Cisco networker, a tiny little soul on the path to who knows where, a CCIE to be :-) "

Robert Nowosadzki CCIE # 23743

"At last it is my turn to write this email. I passed R/S on March 5th in San Jose on my fourth attempt. I won't go into detail about my studies, but hopefully someone will find some of this info useful. So what was different about this time? I was more relaxed, and double checked everything twice. I did not try to rush thru the lab, instead I made sure all my configs were mistake free, and only found one small error on my recheck. I took almost the full 30 minutes to answer the open ended questions, read the whole lab, and drew all my diagrams before even touching the keyboard. The open ended questions are not that bad, and I do agree with Cisco that if you studied for your lab properly you should not have any problems with them.

I want to thank Anthony Sequeira from Internetwork Expert for putting me back on the right track after my last failed attempt. Anthony you are a great mentor and keep up the good work.

Good luck to all the candidates who are taking the lab in the near future, and the best advice I can give you is not to stress out. Just follow your plan, stay calm, and you will do great.

Robert Nowosadzki
CCIE # 23743"

Pavel R&S

"Hello,

I just wanted to say thank you all for the great questions, answers and advice I got from this forum. I remember the day when I first posted in groupstudy - http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=121109&t=121109 and would like to say a big thanks especially to Joseph Brunner and Jun Kim. Also big thanks to my brother, Brian McGahan, Brian Dennis, Scott Morris, Petr Lapukhov, Himawan Nugroho, Scott Vermillion and others.
I passed the R&S lab in Brussels in the beginning of February, this year, on my first attempt. It took me 2-2.5 years to prepare (9-10 months for the written, and the rest for the lab). I used mainly Cisco Press books, blogs, IE's CoD, workbook volume 1 and 2, IE's forums, IPExpert's v9 workbook and forums, Netmaster's Catalyst QoS VoD, ASET labs and last but not least - GroupStudy. I didn't have my own home rack, used dynamips, PEC and some 2960s I had access to in the academy I used to teach courses. Now I've got to pass the matriculation exams after high school and then I'm starting my preparation for the SP track.
Once again, thanks everyone for the great posts.

Pavel"

Timothy Chin CCIE #23866

"I passed my R&S Lab on Mar 17. I would like to thank this group and its
members as this is a great group if you are studying for the exam because of
the wealth of information and the help other members give. I would especially
like to thank Scott Morris, Jared Scrivener, Scott Vermillion, Narbik
Kocharians and Anthony Sequeira for their very knowledgable posts which
answered alot of my questions when I could find the answers anywhere else.
Narbik, Thank you for your excellent bootcamp and workbooks. I would like to
also thank InternetworkExpert for their excellent materials as well. These
materials helped me do it all. Thanks guys!

Timothy Chin
CCIE #23866"

Henry Ugwuadu CCIE#23824 (R&S)

"Hello All,

I have waited for the opportunity to write this email. I passed my
CCIE R&S Lab yesterday in Lagos (Mobile Lab). The journey started in
Dec 2006 when I passed the written test. I managed to combine my
studies with tight work schedule as an IT staff in a bank. I had my
first attempt in April 2008 at San Jose. Midway into the exam I knew I
would fail. I could not have the strength to continue with the rest of
the exam. I came back to Nigeria angry with myself.

I went back to work swearing that I would not take the lab again.
Thanks to my friend Daniel who encouraged me to take some time off
studies and then give it a shot again. I decided to go back but I
needed time to prepare. Each time I remembered the distance I covered
traveling from Nigeria to San Jose California I shuddered.

I made up my mind finally in August 2008 to attempt the lab again.
This time around I paid more attention on the areas I felt I did not
do very well the last time. Then came the mobile lab. I booked and
worked tirelessly to make sure I pass it this time. I took the lab
Yesterday. After the Open Ended, I went through the whole questions
line by line. By lunch time I had reachabilty to all my routers and
was done with IGP and BGP.

I ate very little at lunch time because I kept thinking of the
remaining questions. I went back and was done 2 hours before time. I
went through my solutions from the beginning. I knew at that point
that I will pass. The proctor was good "Only when you ask he right
way".

For the materials, I used InternetworkExpert Labs, Core Workbook, COD,
God!! That is a wonderful material and Narbiks. I wish to thank the
Groupstudy, I read and archived loads of emails. You guys are great. I
wish to thank Daniel. Most importantly, I wish to thank my wonderful
WIFE for her patience and understanding. She threw her weight behind
me all the way. I can play with my children once again.

My advice is: Know the Technology and Do as many labs as possible
especially InternetworkExpert 7,8,9,10,11 and back.


Henry Ugwuadu
CCIE#23824 (R&S)"

Brandon Carroll CCIE # 23837 (Security)

Here is the first one .. i was truly moved by his video of materials :) .. you can catch him at his official site

http://www.globalconfig.net/

"I know most of you have heard already, but if not, I passed the CCIE Security exam in RTP on March 13th, 2009. I wanted to take a moment to recap my journey.

I have been a Cisco Instructor for 8 years now. I have been teaching the CCSP track since it’s inception, and taught various courses of the CSS-1 prior to that. Although I was a CCSP, I didn’t take the CCIE Security Written exam until March 21, 2007. I passed with an 85 on my first attempt. I used the CCBootcamp written exam guide to prepare for that, along with my existing knowledge as a CCSP/Instructor.

Studying for the lab is a whole new ball game. It’s weird because there is a total difference between knowing the book material that Cisco tests you on for the Professional level certifications, and being able to teach it, and knowing the material that is on the CCIE lab exam and being able to implement it. Don’t get me wrong, I knew the material, and the concept of why things were happening were easy to me. What was difficult is putting it all together. When you teach an ASA class, IPS class, or any other security class for that matter, it doesn’t cover how all these things work together. Thats where the CCIE will get you!

Anyhow, I know people are wondering what material I used in preparing for the lab exam. I made a video to show you, mainly because I think the spread of material is impressive. Please do not get mad at me for killing a tree. In the future I’ll use PDFs. Also, forgive me for the quality of the video. I am to cheap to buy an HD camera. I made the video at 6-am so don’t expect much.

http://www.youtube.com/v/diV-TL39qJ8&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1

So, assuming you watched that video and know what I used to prepare, I’ll give you the run down of the lab.

First time was in San Jose. I was overwhelmed. I had a decent understanding but no strategy. I ran out of time and had maybe 50 points.

Second time was in San Jose as well. It went better than the first but still there were some grey areas for me and even though I took the InternetworkExpert Online Bootcamp and used Brian’s strategy I still was missing something.

The Third, and Final attempt was in RTP, North Carolina. There is no particular reason I switch to RTP. It’s not closer to me by any means. I live in Seattle. But I wanted something fresh. I stayed at the Wingate hotel which was great. The bed was comfortable and the rate was fair. I flew in the night before the exam. I arrived at the hotel at 9pm, took half of a sleeping pill (Melatonin) and crashed. I woke up refreshed and ready to go.

The hotel had a continental breakfast and I didn’t eat much but forced myself to eat a little. I stopped at Starbucks on the way, and headed over to the Cisco office. Now when you get there you should know that the building will remain dark until right around 7am. There is nobody there to meet you in the lobby. Someone from Cisco was taking the lab as well and they let me in the lobby using their badge. At about 7:10 the proctor came out. He was very nice and much more chatty than Tom (nice guy) in San Jose.

We were led back to the room and from there its your standard lab exam stuff. We broke at about 11 for lunch. I say about 11 because they cater in lunch and there wasn’t a set time. You still only get 30 minutes for lunch. I ate a bit and tried to work out some issues in my head.

I finished about 45 minutes early but left 15 minutes before the Proctor called it a day. That includes my clean up and so on. I didn’t use the last 45 minutes to do any extra verifications because I didn’t want to break anything. Then I went to dinner at the Angus Barn. I had Alaskan King Crab Claws, a 24oz New York Strip and an Oatmeal Stout. Pass or fail I was going to enjoy that meal.

The wait was excruciating. I didn’t get my results until about 8:30 on Sunday night, so if you are planning on taking the lab on Friday you should be aware of that.

Now that its over I am enjoying the fact that I don’t have a deadline staring me in the face, but I still love the technology and want to learn more. I think the next track that I am going to pursue is the CCIE voice, but I have the CCVP in between that I have to get up to Instructor level on. I already have the IPexpert CCIE Voice BLS and plan on renting from Proctor Labs.

The big kicker for me was the bootcamp at ipexpert and the labs i did after that. Without the information I gained from IPexperts Jared Scrivener I dont think I would have passed. Im not going to give away all of his tricks because thats what he gets paid to do. But Seriously, Jared- You are the man!.

Also I can’t say enough about the support that I received from Ted Wagner at Ascolta. He really stood behind me even though there were other things he probably wanted me working on.

Wayne Lawson at IPexpert was another key player in my success along with Matt Brooks, Neil Apolzan, and Drew LaPla.

I can’t forget to mention Mike Down. Before Mike started pinging me online I only owned the IPexpert Volume 4.1 and the Proctor Guide, and I wasn’t really looking at using IPexpert.

One last person I have to mention is my wife. She was patient with me even though the family would take a hit from time to time while I was studying. The CCIE is not easy on a family but the accomplishment and the job security afterwards was the payoff I was looking for. I think I got it. Time will tell. At least I have her if the other stuff doesn’t pan out.

Thats about it for this rant. I’m going to keep blogging about topics that come up in my classes as well as through the contact form. When I start to study for the Voice IE I’ll try to blog it all here as well. In the mean time I am going to spend some time posting on Network World for the CCNA Wireless candidates and catching up on my sleep/socializing/theocratic activities/yard work/home improvement projects/reading/DVR/family videos/familiy photos/email/projects at work/fitness/weight loss/rss feeds/staring into space/day dreaming/playing darts with tyrel/texting my daughter/emailing my mom/calling my grandma/netflix/and enjoying whatever comes my way."

Hello

Hello everyone ..

This blog lists out various ccie success stories found on the internet and their way of studying it ..

if this stories belongs to one of you and you dont want them to be blogged mail or message me and i would be glad to remove them asap ..

I dont think it would hurt any one posting their success stories here but if it hurts or disturbs my heartful apologies and i will be more than willing to remove them asap

Best regards
Rakesh