Amp's CCIE Quest On a quest for the digits…

IPX CCIE Voice Advanced Boot Camp Wrap-Up

Ok so I have been away for quite some time from the blogging world. Between the new job and greater responsibility, I have been trying to increase my studying for the CCIE Voice exam.

I am on day 6 of my 10 day IPexpert CCIE Voice End-to-End Boot Camp. I will try and summarize the experience in as much detail as I can possible remember. These boot camps are NOT for the faint/weak/soft at heart.

During the 1st week it is expected that you have gone through, at a minimum, all of the VOD's, the walk-throughs, and all of the vol. 1 labs. If you have not done that, then make that a priority. Speaking of priority; learning the technologies and the intricacies of each and every blueprint technology is a must. Do not move on to a technology until you have mastered the one before it. If you have to study infrastructure until you think your name is CDP or LLDP, then do it. If you have to eat, sleep, and spit gateways and gatekeepers then do it. Make LEARNING the technologies your highest priority.

Anyway, back to the boot camp wrap up. Each student is given their own pod of equipment to work on that will only be used by that student for the entire duration of the boot camp. You are also given a lecture book and a lab book. The lectures are fast paced, hence my advice to watch the VODs and the walk-throughs multiple times before coming, with a lab requirement for each section. The instructor would review the section, answer any questions that we may have, but most importantly point out some "gotchas" that could quite possibly ruin your day. Take good notes on those gotchas, because once they bite you, trust me it hurts really bad.

There isn't too much else I can say about week one. Everything you need to know is already in the IPexpert Voice BLS. Take the time to effectively and efficiently study the BLS. I found myself having trouble with Gateways here at the boot camp, so I came in on Saturday, watched the Gateways VOD again, watched Vik go through the walk-through and I did vol. 1 lab 4 over and over and over again for 8 hours. And guess what? It helped! My point is do what you have to do to understand the material to the point where you will not be stopped by it.

If I can offer any advice it is to:
1. Make a decision to pursue this journey with all that you have.
2. Make a commitment to it. Create a study plan and schedule and hold yourself accountable to it.
3. Find someone to study with, no matter what you have to do, find someone to study with. This also helps with the accountability.
4. Every single day study something. Even if you can't get on a rack and configure stuff, read a document. Listen to an audio class. Watch a video. Use notepad and configure your gateways, translation-rules, etc.
5. Learn the debugs. Capture the debugs when the calls are working and when they aren't working. Save them in separate text files and use a document comparing tool and compare the difference.
6. Never take for granted the stuff that you believe you know. Meaning, don't get cocky.
7. Develop your exam day strategy early on and use it every time you lab. Why? So that it becomes 2nd nature and you don't waste time in the lab fumbling around with it.
8. Be honest with yourself about what your weak areas are and work on strengthening them. Ask for help. I have found that people genuinely want to see you pass this exam.
9. Keep it simple.
10. Remember that variety is the spice of life. Change up the labs to test your knowledge of the technologies. If a lab says to use MGCP, use H.323 instead. If it says to do this, then do that, etc.

Well that's all for now. I have to get back to strengthening my weak areas.

“Scenarios From An Expert”

Well in today's episode of "Scenarios from an Expert" I am going to talk about what it's like to work around "Experts", CCIE Voice "Experts" to be exact.

As most of you know (well the 3 of you that actually read the blog), I have moved on from my former employer and I am now working for a different company. This company is a Cisco Gold Partner with a Master Unified Communications Partner designation as well from Cisco. Once again I am surrounded by those people; what people you ask? Those people! Yep you guessed it, CCIE's! 2 CCIE Voice guys and 1 CCIE R&S guy who is also studying for his CCIE Voice.

At my last gig, my cube was in "CCIE Alley". There were 4 cubes in my area and 3 of the 4 cubes were occupied by those people. Yep CCIE's.

Well I did something here on the new job that I am wondering if it was a bright idea. I asked one of the CCIE Voice guys to "HELP" me come up with scenarios to try and work through. Why am I rethinking that idea you ask? Well every day that I see these guys I am riddled with off the wall trick questions that are designed to make me believe that rookie hazing really does exist.

"Hey rook, u have two sites, SiteA and SiteB. They're region settings are configured for g.729. Which site needs the transcoder?"

Hmmm, what transcoder? There must be more to the question like, there's a conference bridge in the mix or something like that. So what does the rook say?

"Based upon the brevity of the question, you do not need a transcoder."

Yaayyy score one for the rookie.

Oops spoke too fast. After a "yep you're right" and a slick grin I get..."now during your lab session this weekend figure this out!"

This phone has this and that phone has that and they are registered to this but when this happens they need to keep doing this, oh and make sure that works too along with this, oh and before I forget, if this works with that this way, how does it work with this if that is not working?

Congrats…

I wanted to send an official congratulations shout out to two of my buddies, Matthew Berry (he passed his CCIE Voice on 8-16-10 on his 1st attempt) and Daniel White for passing his 2nd CCIE in less than a year; he passed his CCIE Service Provider on 8-13-10.

I have to admit, both of these guys have been instrumental in helping me to stay motivated to get my 5 digits.

Congrats fellas, you guys earned it.

Let the countdown begin!!!

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).

Why I Respect CCIE’s…

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.

Step #1.

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.

Starting over…

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

In the beginning…

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....