CCIE Routing and Switching

Studying

I passed my CCIE Routing and Switching lab on January 27th, 2009 – gaining the all important number in the process. I had passed the written in September 2007 but practical studies were slow to get going, it wasn’t until Sept 2008 that I took my first stab at the lab. Although I wasn’t expecting to pass first time, it’s still a little deflating to fail after so much effort’s been put in. I got 62% overall on that attempt.

My second attempt was in November 2008 and I came out confident of a pass – I was pretty damn sure but I hadn’t done a score-count at the end. My score report showed I had strong knowledge in IGPs, BGP, MCAST and QoS but I lacked in spanning-tree, security and IOS features. I pondered the third attempt and booked it for the new year.

I spent three weeks at Christmas away from home, work and study. On my return I set about a steady revision of my weak areas:- re-reading STP technologies, security features and brainstorming all of the individual topics on whiteboard. Working through both 8-hour workbooks and individual technology exercises. My approach to this lab had to be different – in doing workbooks and exercise labs I found the biggest problem was missing detail in the questions. I would skim-read questions, get a rough idea of what was required and configure it straight off. In this final attempt, my tact was to make sure I checked the meaning of every word used and the context. Wording is everything and as they say “the devil is in the detail“.

The Lab

The Final Lab- Everyone seems to do a write-up of that final day, so here’s mine in quick-detail:

The lab officially started at 0804. As with previous labs, I started by reading the front page and checking all my devices were working and preconfigured. I copied the initial configurations from all the devices and saved them to the desktop. Now for my notes and first-read. I always spend about 45mins making notes and diagrams – reading each question briefly and identifying those I’m not sure on, while jotting the answers to those I can do without thinking. Once I was happy with my notes, I got started on the configuration. By 11am I’d completed the Switching, FR, IGP and IPv6 sections. At this point I made a tactical decision – instead of starting BGP or multicast, I would instead use the hour until lunch to verify what I had done so far.

Lunch was promptly at 1150 and we were back in our seats by about half-12. The proctor marked up a finishing time of 1647. Two-thirty in the afternoon rolled in and I had completed all of the sections. I went on to spend about an hour+half re-reading each question, checking for any detail I had missed, tweaking some answers and verifying the results. I then spent half an hour quickly re-verifying while creating a list of all the questions, their points and ticking them if I was absolutely sure I had them sussed. I counted 15 points which I was either unsure due to the question’s wording or had configured from the DocCD but had no prior experience of.

At 2207 that night, while watching a film with my house mates the email arrived informing me that my score report was ready. It wasn’t until the morning that I actually knew my number, but the relief and delight were there when I saw the word ‘PASSED’ next to my attempt..

Passing

After thought: After three attempts and over 12months of early mornings, long weekends and lots of reading, I’ve come to the conclusion that the CCIE is not just an industrial certification, it’s also a recognition of the desire and inner motivation to succeed against the odds. You sacrifice a lot in studying for the CCIE, and the number given represents patience and endurance.

Useful Websites

For study materials I’ve used sets from Net Master Class and Internetwork Expert. These study materials include both videos, practice labs and mock/graded examinations (specifically from NMC). The following is a list of websites I’ve found useful during my studies:

• CCIE Routing and Switching – Lab Blueprint – any candidate studying without this should be shot!
• GroupStudy.com – Collective forum for fellow students of CCIE exams.
• Packet Life – Cheatsheets – simplified technology sheets.
• CCIE Candidate – a blog dedicated to and written by CCIE students

Whiteboard Brainstorming

Whiteboard Brainstorming – I often find it quite useful to brain-storm individual topics and try and place as much detail as I can onto a whiteboard, sometimes filling in the blanks with a little reading: