I became CCIE# 46173

Valter January 10, 2015 News, Word from the author 2 Comments

THIS IS THE STORY ON HOW I BECAME CCIE# 46173

To be honest, when I look back, I do not really know the main reason behind
going through all this trouble, but I can tell you the story about how I did it. Its
mostly a thriller, and some drama towards the end. I will give you an overview of
the whole process including the materials used, videos watched, books read and
struggles that I went through.
I think that is the right thing to do. This article is for all of you out there who are still
trying to study for this exam and need some suggestions. One of the most
important things for me was to gather others candidate experience and suggestions
in making a good study plan and get the info about the books and stuff. This is also
a perfect occasion to brag about passing the damn thing and write a bit about
myself. On technology blog, this is a rare opportunity when is alright to write a self
reflection.

WHATS IMPORTANT AND WHAT IS NOT

IMPORTANT

I must say that the most important thing at the very beginning of the preparation
process is having a good study plan. This is a crucial thing that you need to do if you
wish not getting off the track after a while and simply giving up the study. It
happened to me a couple of times. After a month of reading those books and
watching videos you forget where you were in the blueprint and, without a strict
plan, you dont know how to proceed. You find yourself a month later realising that
you unintentionally gave up and didnt study for last few weeks. Then, its time to
start all over again.
Without a plan written on a paper, planer, calendar, your thoughts get all messy
because of the blueprint being so huge. It easy to give up when you think about all
the things you need to go through. For most people, the preparation will take about
a year or so, if you already have an average CCNP knowledge. Its not possible to
have a detailed 12 month study plan in your head. You should have your plan on a
piece of paper and it will be a perfect reference point in future tough moments.
Buy yourself a moleskine planner that fits your pocket and have it with you all the
time. Sometime is good to have a piece of paper where you can write down
your comments or commands that you finally comprehend in the way that it fits
your mind. You will see that, although you understand it clearly, few days later, that

explanation in your own couple of words could help you recall the damn thing.
You simply cannot remember everything in that moment! Its strange, but its also
possible to forget about things that you previously understood.
Learning and making labs, following your plan is the best thing you can do. It is not
bad to change the plan frequently as long as you stick to it. You shouldnt have
more than two days in a row without at least few hours of work.
Every lab you make, put the topics that you didnt comprehend inside your notepad.
Later that day, or tomorrow, get the videos and books about those topics and
refresh your knowledge.
The next thing thats important is to getting as much of other peoples experiences
with CCIE studies and the very exam. Try not to listen to the people with all the
negative connotations about the exam because is very likely that they didnt study
or attempted the CCIE lab. They will intimidate you with irrelevant stories about
their friends friends friends friend who didnt pass the exam for 6 times i a row.
Try to get the experience directly from real CCIEs, that can be very helpful. I met
some guys at the lab exam who didnt know that there is only one monitor, or that
there will get a terminal without tabs, or that there is only a US layout keyboard. Not
knowing there things can slow you down significantly. They failed the exam because
they lost much time and concentration. You really dont want to invest your time in
trying to find out where are all the special characters on the US keyboard. Do that
before the exam.

MAYBE IMPORTANT MAYBE NOT

This is only my personal experience which can differ from yours. During CCIE
Routing and Switching lab exam with v5 blueprint there was no time in TS nor in
CONFIG section for drawing diagrams on paper as suggested by many mentors.
These topologies are so much bigger than those of the v4 exam version, so
there was really no time for me to spend time on drawing.
As this is only my opinion, it doesnt mean you shouldnt draw diagrams while
practicing your labs at home or in real lab if you think that you have enough time. It
is very important to draw the topology every time you are labbing at home. Both L2
and L3 diagrams need to be done before getting to config as they will help you to
get the whole picture about the question being asked. You will get better
by thinking about real situations.

NOT IMPORTANT

People telling you scary stories about fellows who passed CCIE after sixth attempt
are not important. Very few people get the CCIE cert, but on other side majority of
people go to take this exam with not enough knowledge to pass it. After the exam
they will probably say that it was impossible to pass it and tell you all the scary stuff
to justify themselves. Its a normal peoples behaviour, just ignore it. There is also a
lot of people with enough money to take the first attempt only to get more
feedback, as they can afford it. They will get a 1600$ feedback about how it looks
like and what are the sections they need to study more. These labs attempt
shouldnt be counted as a real attempt. I actually did one of those, thus
unintentionally, (:

THATS IT

As you know, I cannot tell you anything more specific. The lab
exam is fair, without any hidden tricks and it is not too complicated, so dont panic.
When you see the INE labs, or Cisco 360 labs, they will prepare you for all sort of
crazy stuff. They are sometimes really more complicated than the real deal. Thats
okay, you will really learn technologies on an expert level with INE or IPExpert too as
they are made to get you ready for real life not only exams.
I cannot go into more details but I hope it was helpful either way and that you will
also succeed in you endeavours to get this crazy thing done.
And one last thing, I wish you good luck on the exam day. Sometimes, thats always
extra helpful.

I became CCIE# 46173

Valter January 10, 2015 News, Word from the author 2 Comments

THIS IS THE STORY ON HOW I BECAME CCIE# 46173

To be honest, when I look back, I do not really know the main reason behind
going through all this trouble, but I can tell you the story about how I did it. Its
mostly a thriller, and some drama towards the end. I will give you an overview of
the whole process including the materials used, videos watched, books read and
struggles that I went through.
I think that is the right thing to do. This article is for all of you out there who are still
trying to study for this exam and need some suggestions. One of the most
important things for me was to gather others candidate experience and suggestions
in making a good study plan and get the info about the books and stuff. This is also
a perfect occasion to brag about passing the damn thing and write a bit about
myself. On technology blog, this is a rare opportunity when is alright to write a self
reflection.

ABOUT GETTING THOSE CISCO CERTS

(may contain Pathetic in traces, skip if allergic)

Ok, this is about my past. CCNA in 2010, CCNP in 2011 just before I started writing
my thesis for the MA. After finishing University I continued giving classes, for a year
or so, for Cisco Academy in CCNA. After that, I had a year of waiting and blog/CV
writing before the real job came along. I became a System Engineer at a company
named SPAN which was probably the best position that I could get at that moment,
considering my obvious lack of experience. On the other side, I was so enthusiastic
and happy that I managed to learn all that is important in just a few months. After
that, it was all about discovering new stuff about computers and networking every
day. It was amazing how little a CCNP fellow with no working experience really
knows about networking and computers altogether. It was like, aha, there are more
ways to make your NAT going, or oh, on this shitty firewall you make a static
default route not a default gateway. Small things, but, in the beginning, without
precious help from my colleagues and all the suggestions they gave me, it would be
a much more stressful and painful process. In this way it was a kind of fun all the
time. Ok, ok, once, with a specific model of firewall, it was not fun at all, but that is
just another story that I am trying to leave behind and forget (:

Since in SPAN, I found how much more there is out there. I got some MS certs as we
strongly rely on MS technologies in SPAN. Also, I got also some CheckPoint and few
more CCNAs but nothing too special here.
I always wanted to get CCIE, I mean, as a networking guy, shouldnt I? It was a thing
for serious people, for real experts, you know, with beige pants and thick
eyeglasses, always serious. I seemed to much for me at that moment. I still enjoy a
good night at a dance club, ok, not too often though. It was a thing on my list of
challenges, this CCIE, but maybe in a few years.
Then, Then I changed my mind. After a year in SPAN on 5th of June 2013 I
bought INE Workbook 1 and started reading a little. It was far from real learning but
I have taken it as a start of the process. I bought CCIE Official Certification Guide v4
and Mr Dolyes Routing TCP/IP Bible. And a few months later, I got INE Workbook 2
with those serious labs inside. The wish was born and there was nothing that
could stop me from getting the CCIE. Few beers here and there did not speed up
the process, but I was fairly satisfied with my time management.
I was in April of 2014 when I really started. My firm agreed to finance my attempt to
get the number. They even got me INE All Access Pass. All those videos about Cisco
technology were mine!
It was all about video watching for first few months, more that 150 videos of
Advance Technology Class. I think there were more that 100 hours of videos only in
that section. I watched the whole Advance Technology Class. After every video
session I tried reading as much as possible about the topic in order to get more info
which would get stuck inside of my head. If something was too confusing, I always
went back and used some of my old Jeremy Cioara Nuggets. They were so well
prepared that you could easily just listen to them while running for 4 miles (7 km)
and get the whole picture of how technology works. After Jeremy, the thing you
should do is get back to INE video and simply catch up with all the details that
Jeremy did not mention. I used Jeremys nuggets while preparing for CCNP. Back
then, I commuted every day for three hours altogether to get to Cisco classes and
back home. It had plenty of time to spent with those nuggets. In this last year, stuff
like that was always in my earphones while on bike or while walking. (If you saw me
on the street and I didnt say hi, Im sorry, it was probably because of STP inside my
ears, or at least a PackedPushers podcast to relax a bit)
Ok, lets keep going. The summer 2014, was a lab summer. It was June and it was
time to get to those labs. No sea, no sun, nor swimming a bit. Ok, ok, I did have
some fun but I told to myself to forget about this summer and focus on learning.

Hopefully, the next one will be more enjoyable. After a few weekends in the office
trying to get the labs done in 8 hours, you start speaking to yourself, and I mean a
lot. At least I did, I was the only person I could speak to. It was me with an Empty
office and 20 putty consoles on my monitor as well as a brand new US layout
keyboard to get used to. Maybe I started getting weird. I thought to myself: I surely
not the first networking guy thats weird, right? It was fine. I spent an average of
25 hours a week on Cisco preps.
From May till November I tried to solve all 20 INE labs from Workbook 2 not so
successfully so I had to try to solve all the labs one more time 4 hours every day
after work and 8 hours on weekend. One day a weekend I was resting.
I used GNS3 to run Configuration labs. You have surely noticed that I published
some of topologies here on my blog. I used INE rack time for Troubleshooting labs,
10 of them from Workbook 2. After I solved those 20 labs for two times, I bought 10
more labs with 100 rack hours from Cisco 360. I also enrolled into beta testing of
new Cisco360 R&S v5 labs so I also got few assessment labs for free. Those
Cisco360 beta labs were the most helpful labs I did for CCIE R&S version 5. I
think they are now available for purchase. Those first 10 labs are more v4 alike and,
thus, not to good for v5 blueprint lab candidates.
So, It toked me from April 2014 until November 2014 to get through those labs and
it wasnt until November 28 2014 when I failed my first attempt in Brussels. Yes, It
was a stressful and shitty feeling to have failed after all this trouble. I knew exactly
what I configured wrong. It was simply to late to get it the other way around then.
After the second attempt which was few days ago, things were looking better. I
passed the exam and now have the CCIE which is really a great thing.

THATS IT

As you know, I cannot tell you anything more specific. The lab
exam is fair, without any hidden tricks and it is not too complicated, so dont panic.
When you see the INE labs, or Cisco 360 labs, they will prepare you for all sort of
crazy stuff. They are sometimes really more complicated than the real deal. Thats
okay, you will really learn technologies on an expert level with INE or IPExpert too as
they are made to get you ready for real life not only exams.
I cannot go into more details but I hope it was helpful either way and that you will
also succeed in you endeavours to get this crazy thing done.
And one last thing, I wish you good luck on the exam day. Sometimes, thats always
extra helpful.

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2 Comments
1.

Uwe

MARCH 6, 2015

Valter,
congrats for making it to the CCIE. You have my respect (also for your nice blog).
Thanks as well for the GNS3 stuff regarding the full blown lab based on INE material.
I think I should be able to figure out the bits and pieces to rebuild it on CSR.
I recently started thinking about the CCIE stuff when I came to the INE website. I am
working as a network engineer since more that 15 years now, but never had the
time to really study for certification Now, since Ive got two new colleagues it
looks much better. Its no longer me alone to be responsible for 800+ enterprise
class network devices across Germany, but three of us. Gives me some more spare
time
Keep your blog running!
Greetings from Germany
Uwe
Reply

Valter

MARCH 7, 2015

Thanks Uwe!
Great to have readers like you, gives me even bigger pleasure to write
I wish you a enjoyable journey towards the certification!
Reply

I became CCIE# 46173

Valter January 10, 2015 News, Word from the author 2 Comments

THIS IS THE STORY ON HOW I BECAME CCIE# 46173

To be honest, when I look back, I do not really know the main reason behind
going through all this trouble, but I can tell you the story about how I did it. Its
mostly a thriller, and some drama towards the end. I will give you an overview of
the whole process including the materials used, videos watched, books read and
struggles that I went through.
I think that is the right thing to do. This article is for all of you out there who are still
trying to study for this exam and need some suggestions. One of the most
important things for me was to gather others candidate experience and suggestions
in making a good study plan and get the info about the books and stuff. This is also
a perfect occasion to brag about passing the damn thing and write a bit about
myself. On technology blog, this is a rare opportunity when is alright to write a self
reflection.

TIME MANAGEMENT IN THE PROCESS

Nothing without the plan. I have a notepad for these things. Its not really a techie
approach but it works best for me.
I did some labs on workdays and one 6-8 hour lab every Saturday or Sunday. Each
weekday I spent about 18 hours to study, three to four hours a day for three days in
a row to complete one INE 8 hour lab. Its normal, I guess, that at the beginning
those labs take more time to solve. To he honest, some of them, like lab 4
took about 18 hours with a lot of errors in my config. Its a nice pace, one lab
during workdays + theory and one during the weekend, you can easily get through
8 labs in a month.
All the remaining time I was spent on theory that I didnt really get right on the
previous lab. I went to the office at weekends to get away from refrigerator with
beers, TV or anything fun. It is amazing how much boring stuff starts to
get appealing after three hours of working on the lab not even mentioning that
there were 5 hours more to go. Every Monday, I had a notebook full of topics I
needed to revise.
In the revision process which I did on Monday, I went through technologies that I
didnt configure well when on the last lab through weekend. I went through those
technologies with INE Workbook 1 and additionally used books from the list below.

STATS
I love stats, not that it means something, knowing is fun!
An average of 25 hour a week for 8 months is about 800 hours of labs. If you count
the theory part I did before April and INE videos on the go, it could easily rise to
something about 1500 hours altogether. Thats the preparation time you need to
invest in order to get the CCIE.

THATS IT

As you know, I cannot tell you anything more specific. The lab
exam is fair, without any hidden tricks and it is not too complicated, so dont panic.
When you see the INE labs, or Cisco 360 labs, they will prepare you for all sort of
crazy stuff. They are sometimes really more complicated than the real deal. Thats
okay, you will really learn technologies on an expert level with INE or IPExpert too as
they are made to get you ready for real life not only exams.
I cannot go into more details but I hope it was helpful either way and that you will
also succeed in you endeavours to get this crazy thing done.
And one last thing, I wish you good luck on the exam day. Sometimes, thats always
extra helpful.

SHARE:

Email

LinkedIn1

Twitter7

Feedly

Google

Pocket

Reddit

StumbleUpon

Facebook

Tumblr

Pinterest

Print

LIKE THIS:
Loading...

2 Comments
1.

Uwe

MARCH 6, 2015

Valter,
congrats for making it to the CCIE. You have my respect (also for your nice blog).
Thanks as well for the GNS3 stuff regarding the full blown lab based on INE material.
I think I should be able to figure out the bits and pieces to rebuild it on CSR.
I recently started thinking about the CCIE stuff when I came to the INE website. I am
working as a network engineer since more that 15 years now, but never had the
time to really study for certification Now, since Ive got two new colleagues it
looks much better. Its no longer me alone to be responsible for 800+ enterprise
class network devices across Germany, but three of us. Gives me some more spare
time
Keep your blog running!
Greetings from Germany
Uwe
Reply

Valter

MARCH 7, 2015

Thanks Uwe!
Great to have readers like you, gives me even bigger pleasure to write
I wish you a enjoyable journey towards the certification!
Reply