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.

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!!!!!

Congrats to all of our men and women that have served and are currently serving in our U.S. Military. After serving in the Marine Corps for 5 years I have a special place in my heart for all of our armed forces members, especially our MARINES!!! OOH RAH, Semper Fi!!!

I also want to send a congrats shout out to a friend and co-worker of mine, Scott Dozier, who passed his R&S lab on June 30, 2009 on his first attempt. I already knew that this dude was scary smart but this kat finished his lab by 1:15 and was punked by one of the proctors TWICE (LMAO) before leaving the facility. If anyone deserves his number it is Scott. Congrats Scott!!!

Well time to get ready for 4th of July festivities.

P.S. Wayne Lawson if you get a chance to read this, I just wanted to say Thank You for all the great work you guys are doing over at IPexpert and Semper Fi Devil Dog. I stepped on those yellow footprints on July 31, 1994 and ended my service on Feb. 28, 1999 (after a 7 month extension.) Anyway, thanks and congrats!!!

Ok I had been going back and forth with choosing which date to actually book for my lab. According to my employer I have to at least sit for the lab no later than 4th Quarter 2009. With that in mind I was planning on taking the lab in November,  November 23 to be exact. After thinking about where I am at with my subject knowledge, I quickly changed my mind and settled on December 21, 2009. Now here’s the deal. I will be attending IPexpert’s CCIE Voice boot camp out in San Jose, CA. They have two dates that I have been considering, October 19 - 30, 2009 and November 30 - December 11, 2009.

I know that these boot camps fill up rather quick so I said to myself, “Self, let’s be smart about  how we schedule these events!” So I came up with this solution. Schedule the boot camp for October 19 - 30, 2009, work my arse off to make sure I am ready for it by at least September or early October. If not, then reschedule the boot camp for November 30 - December 11, 2009 and keep my lab date of December 21. However, if I am ready for the boot camp and I do well during the boot camp in October, then reschedule my lab date for November.

All I have to do now is keep an eye out for good plane tickets, right now they’re $243 round-trip from Raleigh-Durham International (RDU) to San Jose (SJC). If you guys here of some good deals or websites that typically have good deals on plane tickets, let me know. Until next update, keep studying people…

It’s been a couple of days since I last wrote about getting back on the horse. I have had to recommit my mind, heart, and efforts to this journey. I’ve also had to refocus on a structured approach to my studies. I have somewhere around 136 days before I go to IPexperts boot camp in San Jose, CA, and about 169 days before I sit for the lab. I figure if I can get a MINIMUM of 5 hours of focused studying in per day everyday, that will put around 685 hours of studying by the time I go to boot camp.

IPexpert has a recommended  approach to using their BLS program; it’s broken down into 3 steps.

1. Video on Demand: Watch the video on demand series beginning with Chapter 1 and follow through with the Video on Demand Exercises for Chapter 1. Then work through the corresponding chapters in the Volume 1 Workbook.
2. Move on to Volume 1 Technology-Focused labs. Work through all 16 chapters. DO NOT leave one chapter for the next until you have successfully completed the exercises and you FULLY understand them.
3.  Move on to Volume 3 (Mock Labs). Work through each of the labs individually; and DO NOT move on to the next lab until you can complete the lab you are on in 6 hours.

So I have started all over with the BLS Video on Demand videos.

Infrastructure:

2.3 VLANs and Trunking

2.4 DHCP

2.5 VTP

UCM Basics:

 3.1 UCM Basics

5.0 Calling Search Spaces and Partitions

3.2 Calling Search Spaces and Partitions ( Exercise Walkthrough)

I am in the process of building a functional lab, as best I can anyway. The lab sessions with Proctor Labs are 8 hour sessions and so far for the month of June, all filled up until next Saturday (June 13, 2009). I need all of the hands on practice that I can possibly get. My plan in the mean time is to watch the videos, watch the corresponding exercise walkthrough, and read or reread about the sections in either the SRND or one of the many books that I have.

Tonight it’s all about Calling Search Spaces and Partitions. I will watch the videos a few times, take notes each time, and read the chapter about the Calling Search Spaces and Partitions in Cisco CallManager Fundamentals and the CUCM 7.x SRND.

Well that’s all for now people, time to press play.

OK, I know it has been almost 4 months since the last time I posted anything on here. I have to admit, I had fallen off the wagon pretty hard, and while I was on the ground from the fall I wallowed in the murkiness of uncertainty until yesterday, (May 27, 2009).

So what happened you might ask? Well for starters I was able to finally meet one of the mentors that I have adopted along this journey, James Key. He is in town to take and pass his lab on today (May 28, 2009). We met for an early dinner and talked like we have known each other for years. He is one of the most genuine persons that I know and I am fully persuaded that he will pass his lab this go around. As we sat and talked, my motivation for this journey began to rise again.

If the conversation with James wasn’t enough, he gets a call from a mutual friend who has been on this journey as well (Ayo aka Skybaba). Ayo sat for his voice lab a few days ago and finally received his results….PASS (CCIE # 24456). Not only is he a first time passer, but he did it in 6 months!!! After celebrating with James and Ayo I went home re-motivated and ready to finish what I started. 

My pastor has been teaching a series titled “Real Finishers Become Real Winners”. I have committed myself to finishing this journey. My lab is scheduled for November 23, 2009 and I have 179 days before my lab attempt. I will be going to IPexpert’s 2 week CCIE Voice Bootcamp from October 19 - 30, 2009 so that leaves me with  143 days to go through all of their BLS workbooks and become as proficient as I possibly can in the process.

I really feel like I am starting from the beginning and I know doing this in 6 months will be extremely challenging, but I also know that it is not impossible. Not because my buddy Ayo did it in 6 months, but because my God said that ALL things are possible if I trust him and believe. He also reminded me that I can do ALL things through Christ, who is going to replinish my strength along the way.

Well that’s all for now, I won’t promise that I will be posting something everyday, I can promise that I will make an attempt to post something everyday. I will most definitely promise (not to you, but to me) that I will study hard every friggin day.

After taking some time to think about a study strategy, I have come up with one that I plan on following (at least in the short term) to see how it works out for me. I believe that it is vitally important to know the technologies inside and out. So with that said, here we go.

• Watch, Review, and learn from the IPexpert BLS Video-on-Demand presentations.
• Study and attempt to master each section of the v3.0 Blueprint utilizing the BLS Material, SRNDs, Configuration Examples, Case Studies, Ciscopress Books, and Configuration Technotes.
• Focus on the technologies and the technology focused labs from the BLS, utilizing the same materials mentioned above to become proficient in the individual technologies. Also attempt to learn more than one way, if there is one, to implementing a technology(Concentrating on accuracy more than time).
• Move on to the”Multi-protocol Labs” from the BLS focusing “MORE” on time but still heavily on accuracy.
• Once I have become proficient with the Multi-protocol labs I will then move on to the “8-hr Mock Labs” utilizing Proctor Labs vRack rentals. My goal here is to simulate the lab as close as possible.

I told myself that I want to have any where between 600 and 800 hours of study (reading and practical) in before I attempt the lab in November. If I put in 20 hrs per week for the next 39 weeks that will put me at 780 hours the week of October 5, 2009. I plan on attending the bootcamp from October 12 - 23, 2009. At this point I don’t know what the hours of the bootcamp are so I will use low estimates like 8hrs/day for the 10 days of bootcamp. On the low end, by the end of bootcamp I should have at least 860 hours of study and practice.

I know this plan sounds a little aggressive but it is definitely manageable. I promised the wife a cruise for our anniversary, I suspect that sometime throughout the year I may have to fight a cold or the wife or kids may have to fend off a sickness or something, and I may just need a break from studying; this plan allows me to account for those situations.

This is a tentative schedule (while working nights):

Monday:

• 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm Read Documentation (SRNDs, Ciscopress Books, White Papers, Config Guides, etc.)
• 11:00 pm - 7:00 am (Find 2 -4 hours to read documentation and practice labs)

Tuesday:

• 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm Read Documentation (SRNDs, Ciscopress Books, White Papers, Config Guides, etc.)
• 11:00 pm - 7:00 am (Find 2 -4 hours to read documentation and practice labs)

Same thing for Wednsday and Thursday. Hopefully use Friday as a rest, relax, and relate day with family; maybe stealing an hour or two to do some reading.

Saturday (2nd and 4th Saturday):

•  8:00 am - 4:00 pm Lab Work

Right now all of this is tentative, but I am going to focus on maintaining this schedule as close and as much as possible.

10…9…8….7….6….5….4…3….2….1…..BLAST OFF!!