Today I Became CCIE #63515

The journey I began over a year ago has finally come to an end and today I became CCIE #63515. The journey was not traveled alone. I would like to first and foremost thank my loving wife for her support and understanding. Thank you to Haden McWhorter, Dan Bachrach, Jason Weinstein, Eric Lester, Elliott Franklin, Ryan Mollenkopf and many others who gave me an opportunity to sharpen my skills on live networks and learn the things you won't find in any book or study guide. Thank you to Brian McGahan and the INE team for the outstanding content and practice labs. Thank you to Narbik Kocharians for the well written and easy to understand books you have written. I really wanted to attend one of your boot camps but I just couldn't make it work. I may try to get to one next year to learn the new topics. (If you guys are ever in Nashville, look me up!) And to Josh Lombard, you may not remember it but when I got my CCNP you asked if I was going to pursue the CCIE. At the time I was unsure and told you I didn't know. To which you responded, "You can do it!" Well it turns out you were right. Thank you for the words of encouragement.

To those of you who are thinking of, or are already on, the journey, I wish you the best of luck. Some words of advice, know what you are getting into. This journey takes time, and unfortunately money. The written and lab alone are $450 and $1,600 respectively. That does not include travel to the lab site. It takes time and a lot of it. Study, lab, read, study, Google commands you don't know, read, lab, lab, lab, lab, lab, lab, lab, lab, lab, lab, lab, lab, lab, lab, lab. Lay out a realistic plan and stick to it. When I started I though I would just wing it and follow a lose study plan I had in my head. That turned out to be a terrible idea. Put things in a spreadsheet or calendar and keep to it. If you don't, before you know it you will be weeks behind. Schedule your written test and/or lab and work backwards from there. And most of all, if you have a significant other or anyone you care about in your day to day life, be sure to explain to them the amount of time it will take. I did not do a good job of this on the front end as I should have. You will thank yourself for it down the road. While you are studying, actually learn what the commands you are typing are doing and not just that you need to enter X command to accomplish Y task. After all, the purpose of the certification is probably to get a better job, work with bigger and better networks, or to do more at your current job. If you can't really apply the knowledge you won't get too far. You may get in the door but you probably won't stay long. Also learn when and why you would use certain commands or configs. For example, the BGP next-hop-self command. You may know what it does but do you know when and when not to use it? When would you use OSPF over EIGRP over BGP over ISIS? Remember, BGP is not a routing protocol, it's an application that relies on IGP for transport. (Unless you are directly connected of course) Understand the different technologies so you will be prepared for any situation you may encounter. No lab can prepare you for every situation you will ever see over a lifetime. You are just filling up a tool box with tools for use. If you need to cut a 2x4, you don't grab the screwdriver. Don't just cram and then flush all the knowledge after the exam(s) are over. Take it slow and steady so you retain the knowledge.

As far as the lab goes, the objective are clearly stated and the topologies are well drawn out for you. I would count on 15-50 devices in your topology. You will have dual 24" monitors to work with. Putty what is there for accessing the CLI. One annoying thing is that Putty is always on top. So if you drag the topology window over near the Putty terminal, it will hide behind the Putty window. I did find that you can right click on the Putty session and click the Always on top selection and it would not do this anymore. Kind of annoying that's the default. You have access to the documentation, notepad, and a calculator. When you get there, they will get your lunch order. They have several sandwiches you can choose from from Jason's Deli. Officially you get up to 2.5 hours for troubleshooting, 30 minutes for diag, and up to 5.5 hours for config. If you finish troubleshooting before the 2.5 hours, you can take up to 30 minutes and add it to the config section. What they don't tell you is that the config section is not officially timed. Meaning, if you finish troubleshooting in 30 minutes (If you actually did that would be extremely fishy but let's say you did...) you can go directly to diag which you have to use the full 30 minutes. You are now an hour in and you would have the rest of the time to finish the config section. The proctor will tell you when the lab ends. We only got 15 minutes for lunch and we were out of there at 4:45. I took my lab in Richardson, TX which is right outside of Dallas. I flew in on Saturday so I could have all day on Sunday to settle in and do some last minute reviewing for my Monday lab. I find traveling can be stressful so it was good to get settled. The lab is no cakewalk, but I found the INE labs to be a bit more challenging. I'm not saying you can just study the INE labs and pass the CCIE lab by any means. Don't just learn everything on the blueprint, master it and then some. As the new curriculum comes out next February, I'm sure much of the above will change.

I'm glad the journey is finally over. I can now get back to some sense of a normal life. I'm sure my wife will love that also. I don't have it in me to pursue anymore CCIEs. One is enough for me. :-) However, being in the IT field we never stop learning and exploring new technologies. If we do, we become obsolete and not as valuable. So keep learning, keep reaching, always keep bettering yourselves!

I am CCIE #63515!

Adam Morton