Amp's CCIE Quest

Ok so it’s been a little over a month since my last update. I’ve been grinding as usual. Finally things at work have slowed down as far as doing Juniper stuff but the downside is I have been working an astronomical amount of trouble tickets at work. I had a conversation with the boss today and expressed my desire to only be engaged on an as-needed basis so I can concentrate over the next few months on being as prepared as I possibly can for my lab.

I moved my boot camp date from March to June and my lab date from April 16 to June 25. I will take it the last day of my IPX boot camp.

I purchased the IPX Volume 1 Video-Walkthroughs by Vik Mahli (Thanks Mike D.) and let me tell you, it is quite impressive. I have also been taking very copious notes during my study sessions from the VOD, the Video-Walkthroughs, and my actual lab prep. Someone on  OSL said that they turned their notes into a book and that it helped them during their studies; I decided to try it and I have to admit that it in deed does help. That’s the primary reason I haven’t been blogging like I want to. At some point I will take what’s in the book/notes and post them here on the blog.

Speaking of blog check out Matthew Berry’s blog. He is also on the quest to becoming a voice CCIE.

I’m not sure if I sent a shout out to a buddy of mine that recently passed his R&S CCIE (1st attempt…friggin bastard) so I will do it now, Congrats to my pal Brian Luers. We both started at our current company about a month apart and have been pretty good friends since.

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything; but that’s been by design. I’ve been working on some pretty big moves. I’ll talk about all of that in a minute.

Since my last post we’ve had another dude on the team pass his R&S lab, congrats to Bryan Byrne, that dude is incredibly sharp.

Over the past month or two I’ve had to step up in the Juniper arena. I have two Juniper tests that I have to knock out before I can really get back to 100% of my efforts being back on Voice. I’ll be taking the JNCIA-ER & JNCIA-M exams this coming week.

167 days from today I will be taking my CCIE Voice lab (4-16-10). Since some folks have been asking I guess I’ll post a brief synopsis of my study plan. Just not right now. I will get that up by tomorrow. In the meantime send up good thoughts for a couple of my buddies that will be labbing soon.

James Key taking CCIE Voice in Dec.
Chris Snow taking CCIE SP in Feb. Chris has his R&S and Security CCIE’s (he passed both on his 1st attempt in each).

Ok so now the pressure is mounting. I sit in a corner surrounded by 3 CCIE’s (All R&S of course). Now the pressure is mounting to get this monkey oops I mean awesome cert off my back.

This time it was my colleague Dan White (Wooo Hooo) that passed his CCIE R&S Lab in guess what…….RECORD TIME… as well. He didn’t beat Dozier’s time of 1:15 but he came damn close for someone of his ability. Dan finished his lab at 1:47 and that was after ALL OF HIS CONFIGS WERE LOST, due to a power failure and a possible IOS bug AND a dead router due to the power failure!!!!

That dude is awesome!!!!! The pressure is on now!!!!!

When I set out on the journey to becoming a CCIE, I knew that it would be a tough and tremendous undertaking from a mental and technical standpoint. I had no idea, and thus never prepared myself for, it being such a strenuous emotional slap, punch, and kick in the face. Most of us that decide to pursue excellence via certifications do so because we not only want to advance in our career but also prove that we are the best according to standards set by an industry. In today’s climate, anyone can purchase supplements (which I DO NOT condone) that almost guarantee that you will pass any one of the Cisco Associate and Professional level certs, as well as, any one of the CCIE qualification exams. But it takes a special person to prepare for and pass the actual lab.

Let’s see, on my journey so far, almost a month in, I have been on an emotional roller coaster that I had no idea existed. No where on Cisco’s webpage did they mention that a candidate had to posess a high level of emotional fortitude in addition to the mental, technical, and maybe even physical strength that is needed to prepare for this exam, let alone pass. Yeah I know maybe somewhere in my mind I should have KNOWN that it would be such an emotional task, but guess what? Everyone that I have either personally known, or talked to have NEVER, not even ONE time said “Hey kid get your emotional makeup checked out before you start this”.

Those of us that like to solve problems and look forward to taking on and overcoming challenges usually don’t like to have a problem beat us. How many of you have stayed past your quitting time or came in early to attack a problem that was trying to show you up at work? I know this week alone I logged in from home during my off hours to check on a problem, I went in early and stayed late, and I even had terrible dreams of Unity, Exchange and MWI Resynch problems ganging up on me in an attempt to beat me to a pulp. You know what? I won, I fixed the problem. Hoo Rayyy for me right? WRONG, the CCIE is a different beast. Just when you think you have something whipped you turn the page and start on another section that not only kicks your butt but it undo’s what took you a lifetime to do previously.

Now add in the fact that you are taking away one of the only commodities that you can not replace, TIME, and the pressures begin to mount. I have to sacrifice time with my family which I try and convince myself that it’s them that I am doing this for. I work the Midnight shift, which means my family have to sleep all night without daddy, I barely sleep during the day (here comes the physical fatigue), I have committments to my community and church (so much for making the world a better place), and then I have a non-standard manmade test that is kicking my butt. It seems like my foundation is crumbling right in front of my eyes.

I am, was, and will always be a United States Marine, and I am as physically and mentally tough as they come, but this is beginning to be a bit much emotionally. It feels like my wife and I are losing our closeness, I feel so guilty when I tell my babies, daddy has to study I’ll play with you later and later doesn’t come, I feel like the more I think I know something the CCIE proves to me I know nothing.  Ladies and gentlemen, this is hard. I have no other way to put it. Just down right hard. The CCIE not tests your technical expertise and your Tiger Woods mental toughness, but it tests your emotions. If we’re being honest with ourselves, let alone each other, how many of us have actually mastered the art of being an emotional expert?

Well to answer my original thought of “Why I Respect CCIE’s”, it is not just because they have proven to be some of the elite in their field, they can not only leap complex problems in a single bound, but most importantly because they have weathered the emotional storm and roller coaster and made it. They didn’t let it get the best of them. Even without digits, they won what to me is the toughest battle that we’re all fighting, the fight for their emotional dignity.

I am off to take a shower, think, pray, and probably like most days recently, cry.

I have been on, I guess you can call it, whirlwind kind of ride the past few weeks. Since finishing up with my CCVP back toward the end of November I have been up and down about what to do next. I never wanted to embark upon the voice, or what we call it at work IPT, journey so that may be why it has been a little difficult for me to get my feet underneath me. I wanted to pursue the CCIE Service Provider but was told at the end of ’07, you need a professional level certification for your ’08 goal. I said ok cool, I’ll do the CCSP. They (Mgmt) said, ok great you’re going to do CCVP.

In hindsight, the CCVP was the better choice for a couple of reasons.

1.) Our group received money for training at Global Knowledge so I was able to attend all of the CCVP classes except for QoS and CIPT2.

2.) We have been bringing in a plethora of voice customers.

Ok, back to the point. After finishing up my CCVP to meet my objective for 2008, I figured hey I would not pursue anything for a while. I was content with that notion until one day at church my Pastor taught about being excellent and persuing excellence in everything we do. Once I saw the scriptures for myself I realized that I can’t proclaim to be a follower of Christ and not want to persue excellence in everything I do, if not for myself and my family at least for the glory of God’s Kingdom.

So I went to my management team and said, “I want to move to that next level. I want to come off of working Midnights and back on the day shift so I can work more issues, and I am going to work on the CCIE (R&S).” His response was “Great, coming back to days will be the best move for you; as soon as YOU find someone with voice experience to replace you on MIDS! Oh by the way, if I were you, I would definitely work on the CCIE, but for VOICE!”

I left that meeting feeling like, “Are you serious, CCIE Voice? How in the world am I going to do that with NO lab equipment, NO mentors, and definitely NO CCIE level experience (barely CCVP level) in Voice?” At least with the R&S track, I have 4 people that I am close too that have knocked that track out and can offer insight, advice, and even help on that journey. You know what I hear when I talk about voice, “NO WAY man, you’re on your own with that one. You’re the voice guy, not me.” I’ve ONLY been involved with this voice stuff since April when I took my 1st class. Being that I work at night, MOST of our voice issues happen during the day, which means I don’t get to see the issues at night. It wasn’t until Sept. or Oct. that I started getting voice calls at night, and not that many at that.

So here I am, 2:10am on Jan. 2, 2009 up because I’ve been paged on a voice issue that really isn’t an issue, wondering how do I pursue this great task. At least with the R&S track there are a million and one blogs with people that are either doing it or have done it and have some good insight on how and where to begin. Not so much on the voice side. When I first started this blog, I remembered hearing a quote that said “The journey of life begins with one step”.  I know that the journey towards CCIE Voice begins with one step as well; I just don’t know what that first step is or should be. ESPECIALLY being that the performance goal that I have been given is to sit the lab before the end of ’09.

I’m not sure if this is the place to start, but this is where I am going to start. Over the next week or so I am going to read the Enterprise QoS Solution SRND. I’m going to blog about it, that should help with hammering home what I learn. I’m going to talk about it, that should help with making sure I know what I’m talking about. Last but not least I am going to pray. Not about the SRND, but that I get access to a lab so that I will be able to study, learn, and master the individual technologies that will be covered on the lab. I do have rack time that I was blessed with, but I need to save those rack hours for when I am doing the full 8-hour mock labs or at the very least the 4-hour multi-protocol labs.

Well I am going to try and get some sleep, again. I hope to spend at least 4 hours in the morning reading and another 1 or 2 in the evening before I lay down for my nap before work.

Well I am starting this blog over fresh and new… Please be patient while I work some things out…

I am not 100% sure of how I got to this point, studying hours upon hours to reach a certification pinnacle that statistics have shown that only 3% of those that attempt it actually achieve it. Listening to a sermon from church a few nights ago definitely had something to do with it “The Spirit of Excellence to Produce Prosperity”. I was left feeling like if I am going to remain in the industry that I have been in for almost 13 years then why not begin the journey of excellence in pursuing my CCIE?

In talking to some people that have either already achieved that coveted CCIE number or those that are trying to obtain it now, it became clear that this journey could quite possibly be one of my toughest mental tests since graduating from Marine Corps boot camp 13 years ago.

Well I am game for the challenge, mentally, physically, technically, and most of all spiritually. I will chronicle my every step along the way so that others that are looking for inspiration can possibly draw some from my quest, I will also write in this blog to help keep me focused and steadfast along the way, and to also see the entire spectrum along the way, you know the beginning and the ending….