December 22, 2009 – 7:56 am
Well.. life is back on track. I replaced Windows with Linux, recovered all the databases and we’re back to where we wanted to be. Now.. back to some studying…
I had someone ask the other day if I was getting ready for the lab. The quick answer is yes. The longer answer involves waiting for the current version of the test to settle a bit. Some more studying. I’m hoping to get some Cisco Press books this Christmas and maybe even get my new reading glasses after that so I can dive in and look studious. Actually, I’m looking forward to gaining familiarity specifically with multicast and MPLS. I kinda know enough about MPLS to understand what I hear if someone talks MPLS. But I don’t really know configurations and troubleshooting and some of the more in-depth areas. So.. that’ll be a learning curve. And that’s cool.
Oh.. and in case there’s anyone who actually reads this blog… have a very Merry Christmas and a safe (but fun) New Year!
August 15, 2009 – 6:45 am
There’s been a lot of turmoil going on that’s sucked up a lot of time from my studies. Job changes. Family vacations. Health care reform. Paula leaving American Idol.
I’m almost done with the Cisco QoS book, which was very helpful. It’s been a while since I’ve done a lab so I started busting them out again. Oof. Very rusty. Not as bad as when I first started, but I’ve definitely forgotten some syntax. So.. I’ve been hammering through them. My scores are significantly higher now and I just have to stay sharp. I haven’t been timing them because I just haven’t really had 8 straight hours to sit down and lab. Today’s project is finishing another lab and babysitting my infant nephew.. who I’m pretty sure can’t come to RTP with me.
Let’s get back to a hot topic. Testing. I’m really not sure I’m going to. As much as I’d love to get my numbers, it was always about being a better engineer. I saw a post the other day from a gentleman who took the lab, passed it with blazing colors.. and FAILED. What?? Yup.. failed. He requested a re-read and Cisco said, “nope.. you don’t qualify for a re-read”. Well, through a lot of persistence (now that he was ticked off about blowing a bunch of money and being told.. apparently arbitrarily. that he failed).. he got his re-read and passed. (Big congrads, by the way!) But here’s the question… did his answers suddenly become right? We’re not talking about him being border-lined and open to interpretation. They told him ‘no.. you failed’. Several times. Being the passive-aggressive that I am, I would have walked away with the failure. (Complained about it forever… but accepted it nonetheless) Perhaps re-reads are a profit center??
So, I’m becoming very disillusioned with the thought of testing. It just seems arvitrary and flawed. Of course, the ‘know thyself’ side of me has to ask if I’m not just scared of the test anyway. To be honest.. perhaps. Although I know at least one numbered CCIE who agrees that the process is hosed. Still.. there are a lot of people passing. Many on the first try. Hmm. I wonder if it works the other way.. how many people fail and are accidentally passed? “No.. I’m sure I failed that test. I want a re-read!”
Enough musing for now. The nephew is sleeping and I have a few minutes to roll out some BGP. Time to smack that AS.
Like the lab itself isn’t enough of a challenge, now that Cisco has implemented the open ended questions… and put SO much weight on them.. I just don’t know. I’m fairly confident that I can go pass the lab. But the question part of it seems hit or miss. Some pass, some don’t. And it doesn’t matter if you max the configuration part. Miss the questions and the rest of it means nothing. And, thanks to NDA, I have no idea what questions I’ll get or even what kind of questions. In theory, if you know the technologies, you’ll have no problem. But that’s a pretty broad statement. All the technologies? Inside and out? Including terminology? Doesn’t that equate to memorizing all the books? I just don’t know. So the Cisco lab has moved from a calculated test that I can overcome to a crap shoot. Maybe I’ll get questions I can answer. Maybe I won’t. Not really sure I want to toss $1400 plus the trip and hotel into that. I’m not a gambler at all. And now that the lab has been reduced to the toss of a coin….
So what are the options? Quit? I could although I hate quitting. Does that mean I’d stop learning? Absolutely not. I still want to be a hot shot and numbers don’t change that. They validate it. But they don’t determine whether I know my stuff or not. Take the lab anyway and hope you’re ready? Probably. But if I fail on the open ended questions, I’ll probably not go back… which means I tossed $1400+ to the wind. I’d rather use that money for more books and other things.
I don’t know. Maybe this is another emotional slump. I need to make a decision in the next month or so. If I’m going to do it, I’d like to take the shot by mid September. The timer’s going and I’m not sure which wire I’m going to cut.
P.S. I was just out looking at some of the discussions about these questions. I was reading one post where people were like “you need to stop whining about the questions. You should know everything. You call yourself an expert” and my personal fave.. “how’d you pass the written. you must have cheated”. Well, to set the record straight for at least one guy (me).. I didn’t cheat and I did pretty well at the written. But you’d have to be a moron to not recognize the difference between a multiple choice question and an essay question. If the question is “Name a feature of BGP that.. etc.. etc… etc” and the answers are “A) remote control.. B) purple… C) peer groups.. or D) lettuce”… well.. there ya go. I guess cheating is a problem that’s going to screw someone. Whether it’s an employer who hires someone who doesn’t have a clue (or can’t figure out that the answer is C without a cheat sheet).. or Cisco as they try and protect the value of the cert. Unfortunately, the people feeling the pain now are the people trying to certify (most of which are doing it legitimately). And the problem with “you should know it all” is that it’s random. Are there really a lot of real CCIE’s who can explain in detail how the bit bucket works for policing? What are the formulas for dual rate policing calculated? I’m sure there are some people who can step up.. but I bet that most would have to look it up. And maybe that’s the answer to the open ended questions. Allow documentation access like the rest of the lab. That would make me happy. I mean, if you’re supposed to know everything, why allow documentation at all? Am I going to whine about the questions? You bet. Until I pass them, they scare the snot out of me in a lab that was already grueling enough. Peace.
Well, my week didn’t turn out at all like I planned. I got some good reading done on the ample plane ride but I was “on” from the time I hit the ground for about 3 days. I had about 3 hours available each day, which I opted to use for sleep. It was crazy. Grueling. In the end, the job was done and I went home with a lot of overtime on the books.
But I didn’t finish my book, nor did I get any labs done. Ugh.. I hate how life gets in the way of things I want to do sometimes. But.. I finished another chapter this morning (Chapter 6) before work and.. maybe.. if things go well and I catch a little free time… I can start a lab today.
On a slightly different note, I’ve noticed how, even though I’m becoming an “expert”, I still don’t know anything. It usually works out that every other week or so, someone comes to me with some problem looking for advice from the great and wise Cisco sage. “I put netflow on one vlan and I’m seeing my stats for all my traffic but on another vlan in a virtual router, I’m only seeing partial traffic unless I have the room temperature at exactly 72 deg. between the hours of 1pm and 2:37 pm (eastern) during a high tide. Any idea?” Well, of course, they came to me because I’m the expert, right? “Uh. Huh. That’s an odd one. No, no idea off hand. But since I’m an expert and you expect a better answer from me than ‘I dunno’, I’ll have to look into it.” No one seems to come to me with, “I have a 0.0.0.0 in my frame map” or “My BGP is leaking private AS space. How do I shut that off?”
So, I’ve realized that getting CCIE is really only the cover charge. The entry fee. And on the other side of that door, there’s enough to keep me learning for the length of a lifetime career.
I’m pretty excited. I’m shipping off to a remote exotic location for work and that’s going to include flight time… or as I like to call it.. reading time. And when I say exotic, I don’t mean the exciting places you see in travel brochures. I mean places where you can do lots of reading. (And if anyone’s thinking it.. especially my friends.. no.. I’m not going to prison.. or rehab)
So my mission for this week is to finish reading the QoS book, which has been REALLY good. And maybe kill a lab or two. That might be a little tough because I’m only going to have my laptop. I think I can actually hear it groan when my lab is fully configured. But I’ll try.
Time to quit playing around and get this thing done.
