Kim's Ninja Way to CCIE

I failed my first attempt. I took the test Nov 19, 2012. A week before the test I getting mix emotions. I don’t know if I was ready until I passed the test. I think I did everything I could to prepare for the test. Studying 8 hours every weekend and 4 hours monday to friday. It would’ve been really nice to pass but at the same time, I didn’t want to get my hopes up just to get crushed. Either way, the date was set. My mentality was I am going to attempt again and again until I passed.  I dont care how much money I spend. The goal is to pass and get that number.

I got there a day early. I drove to my hotel and went straight to the Cisco test site. I didn’t want to get lost the next day. I was nervous! I went to bed early around 9pm. I was waking up every hour thinking that I would be late for the test. Woke up around 630, ate break fast, took a shower, and drove to the test site. I don’t remember what time I got there but it was 30mins earlier than the test time.

I met a few guys. 2 attempting for CCIE voice (1 guy is double ccie RS and SP) and 4 attempting for CCIE RS. One of the CCIE voice said it was his 2nd attempt. Another guys on RS said it was his 2nd attempt. 3 guys came from a 10 days INE boot camp. One guy said he came from Denmark, another guys from Missouri, and another guy from Arizona (i think).

A proctor came out and told us the rules.

• Food goes the refrigerator
• You can bring drinks
• No talking about the test – You failed the test if you bring it up
• Turn off your cell and leave it in the middle of the table. You will only turn it on after the test.

Also, the room has multiple cameras in all direction and LOTS OF microphones hanging at the ceiling to make sure we don’t cheat.

2hrs of TSHOOT pass by. I knew I failed the test. I ran out of time. You won’t believe how fast is 2hrs with 10 tickets.

Lunch time and we have to follow the proctor. She guided us to the canteen. She also sat with us on lunch time. She didn’t want anybody to separate while eating. I guess because she didn’t want anybody to talk about the test.

Lunch is done and we went back to the test site. Continue with the config. 6hrs later we were done. I think everyone failed that day. Usually, I hear stories that there will be one guy that passed the test but his done earlier. Nobody was done early on that day. Also, they have the same look in their eyes just as me. The look of stunned. The look of “I think I failed”.

I think nothing is impossible. I’m not afraid to take the test again. It’s just a matter of money.  Who cares about money right? lol We are all rich anyway that’s why we are going for this test.

Total money from my OWN POCKET that went to drain $3,300 = hotel cost, work time off, food, gas, & lab cost.

I am back to studying. I will never stop trying. I plan to take the test in 6 months.

I stopped updating the site because I’ve been studying non stop.

So what did I learn?

1. You will never know that you are ready until you take the test. I don’t care how much you studied. As long as you don’t take the test and get the results then you don’t know if you are ready.
2. Calm down! Its hard to do that when taking a test. Nervousness will affect your typing skills and thinking.
3. Balls of steel. It takes balls of steel to pay $1500 per test, pay hotel fees, travel, study hundreds of hours, attempt and hope for the best. It doesn’t stop from there… It takes balls of titanium to attempt it again after failing.
4. I want it even more after I failed. It takes a lot of sacrifice to pass. Only the people that studied/attempted/failed/passed could understand this.
5. You will lose every ego you have after failing. I believe Cisco created this test to make sure I failed.

Back to labbing. Stay hungry Network Playah!

Narbik’s CCIE RS Bootcamp Review

DAY 1

I drove 1hr and 45mins away from my house to the boot camp. I could have gotten a hotel and stayed at Glendale on Sunday but I thought it would be a waste of money. Anyhow, I got to the facility 30mins early. I slept at my car for 30mins and went up to the facility. I’ve met different kinds of people. Guys work for AT&T, Cisco, Oil companies, Marines, Cruise ships, ISP’s, a CCIE (she let her CCIE expired), DOD employees, and etc. These guys came from different states like Washington DC, Maryland, New jersey, Arizona, Phoenix, Houston and etc. Some guys even have 12yrs experience in networking!

9:00am, Narbik’s arrives smiling. As soon as we settle down on our chairs, he told us to introduce ourselves and tell us our weaknesses. I told him that my weakness were MPLS & QOS. I think most of the people on the class were weak on MPLS and QOS. Narbik then tells us what the whole schedule of the week:
Day 1

Start 9:00am – 9:30pm
1 = 8hr assessment lab
Layer 2 – security
Frame relay

Day 2

Started 9:00am – 9:45pm
OSPF 6-7hrs
EIGRP – starts at 7pm
Out 8pm or 10pm

Day 3

Started 9:00am – 9:30pm
BGP
MPLS
L3 VPNs

Day 4
QOS – entire day (8hrs) lecture stops at 630pm
7:00pm – 9:00pm – Starts Troubleshooting (30 routers on the POD)

Configuring Lab – 10:00pm – 4:45-5:00am

Day 5 – Friday
Tunnels

Started 10:00am
Finished 1pm

He also told us about Micronics and his history from nothing to CCIE. He then mentioned Micronics is Cisco partnered. Yes, no shady business here!

Now I was thinking to myself, how am I going to survive on Day 4 ? Can I really function until 5am?

NOTE: Double click on the pictures to see it full size.

 Anyhow, Narbik told us to check our emails so we can access the Cisco 360 lab. He is giving us a 6hrs configuring lab so we can figure out our weaknesses. After that lab, I can truly say that I know all my weaknesses. Also, the pressure!!! The pressure when timer starts. The pressure of the unknown! What do you do when you don’t know what to expect? What is the question really asking? Some question was so vague. Futhermore, there were technologies that I know I can configure. Although, when I was labbing, I couldn’t remember how to configure it. I don’t know if I was panicking or pressured cause of the timer. Sadly, I didn’t finish the lab and there were things that I should have done this way or that way and I didn’t. There were also times that I was so tired on labbing that I paste the config on a different routers or switches.

After the assessment test, Narbik goes through covering security and frame relay. He writes down the commands line by line. This guy is like a wizard or should I call him Dr. Strange from DC comics. How can a person memorize line by line of the CLI and then explain how it works.  Also, he explains all the hidden commands of the IOS. I think its possible to do that IF and only IF you stop sleeping, memorize it, understand it really well and type it again and again. He also told us that before he tested commands on 5 different IOS version to make sure it works before he presents it. He shows us how IOS works not by the book but through the IOS. How the IOS talks to you. Its funny how there are a lot of books out there that have the wrong information and still get published.

If you ever go to Narbik’s boot camp, make sure you buy food for dinner at lunch time. Narbik will not stop if you don’t tell him to. He will go on and on. So I made sure I bought a foot long subway so I can eat half of it at my desk while he does the lecture. Also, before we left, Narbik gave us troubleshooting homework. I think it was 10 to 11 questions. He told us to log in to his racks before we sleep and then troubleshoot it. People might think this is overkill. I see it as , what would you do to learn more and how much can you sacrifice. Truth is, if you are having fun at the IOS then you wont feel that much tiredness.

I got to my hotel around 10pm. I was so tired. lol

DAY 2

Started 9:00am

Ended 9:45pm
Ospf 6-7hrs
EIGRP – starts at 7pm
Out 8pm or 10pm

Narbik covers OSPF line by line again. He then shows us how to manipulate OSPF and EIGRP.

DAY  3

Started 9:00am

Ended 9:30pm
Bgp
Mpls
L3 VPNs

We log in to our racks to do 2hrs of troubleshooting. Its crazy how 2hrs pass by like nothing. I fixed some tickets but ran out of time. You really have to type like a machine gun speed to finish all those tickets and you need the experience to spot the issue on the CLI.

29 CLI open:

Narbik covers BGP, MPLS and VPNs. I realize this time that I have a lot of weakness. I am learning more from him than any other guys that I spoke to. He definitely knows a lot and has years of experience on networks. He makes networking fun! He throws those jokes on why cisco made this technology so hard. Narbik’s voice is loud even though its late (I realize then around 7-8pm). I don’t know how he finds his strength. I don’t think he gets tired. I got to my hotel at 10pm and I was just beat!

Narbik’s quote:

It’s so easy that it’s hard!

My grandma can understand it.

Cisco has these green little guys that are pissed off on the world and only comes out at night that’s why these technologies are tough for you to understand.

DAY 4

QOS – entire day
Lecture stops at 630pm
7:00pm – 9:00pm – troubleshooting (30 routers on the POD)
Configuring Lab – 10pm -445-500am

Started 9:00am – 9:30pm

Narbik brought us to a restaurant for breakfast. I haven’t met any boot camp instructor that buys lunch for the whole class. If you do, then tell me! He even bought lunch on the retakes guys!!!

He also bought us pizza for dinner. This day was Q0S day. Before going to this bootcamp, I hated QoS. I think its so dry that’s why I would watch a video and then read a little. However, Narbik’s explain QoS like its not dry. He makes it so easy and fun! He also mentions his real world experience on big shot networks.

After QoS, we started logging in to cisco 360 for 2hrs of troubleshooting. Again, I ran out of time to troubleshoot. 2hrs is really not enough for troubleshooting 10-11 tickets for me. However, I really like troubleshooting!

After that we started configuring lab at almost 11pm until 5am. Around 2:00 am, I was so tired. I was pasting my configs to the wrong routers or switches again. I got done around 4:45am but I didn’t finish all the tickets.

DAY 5

Tunnels

Started 10:00am
Finished 1pm

Narbik bought us breakfast and then he covers tunneling. I only had 3hrs of sleep that night so I was really tired. This time flew by fast. He ends by giving us his phone number and email. We can directly call him if we have any technologies problem that we don’t understand. Also, he will skype with us if we cant understand the technology through phone calls. He also mentions that we can comeback for a boot camp even after we pass CCIE or we haven’t. He told us that we should go back every year.

Driving home, I realized that it was the first time I listened to the radio again. The whole week I forgot to listen to the radio because I was so tired and all I was thinking was the lab.

At the end, I understand more technologies.  I get to meet network engineers, network architects, and get to connect with them. I learned all my weaknesses. Like narbik said, if you don’t know your weakness then you wont be able to fix it. I learned that I want to become better than I am today. I always felt alone on studying CCIE. Guess what? I am not alone. There are a lot of people that are well off, have a better job, network engineers, or network architects and managers that are chasing the number. Furthermore, I would love to follow Narbik’s footsteps. He definitely influences my way of thinking on networking. Now every time I study, I will ask myself, how would Narbik approach this? What will Narbik do?

Who’s going to Narbik’s CCIE RS bootcamp on Sept 24-28, Burbank CA?

I was thinking of sharing the hotel room. I haven’t bought the hotel  room yet . I am paying for every expense on this bootcamp, it would be great to cut some costs. Please message me ASAP your email so we can talk. The bootcamp is next week!

-Kim

Its been awhile since I posted. Here’s an update on where I’m at. Bootcamp is on. I’m pumped up. I feel like everything is moving. I dont feel stuck like I always felt. I guess that’s how I feel after studying for CCIE RS lab for a year NOW! WOW! I cant believe its been a year!!! DAMN!!! Well, I cant wait to learn more from Narbik. I wish I can stay end to end 12 days bootcamp. However, I cant afford to spend 2 weeks of my vacation time and another $2,000 on my own pocket.

CCIE… I am COMING FOR YOU! WARrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Here’s a picture of confirmation:

Just in case you are wondering what Im doing if Im not posting? I am labbing!!! lol

Crazy work schedule. Its been really busy at work this past week. My co-workers were out for vacation and seminar so I had to cover their responsibilities. I cant keep up with my own CCIE study schedule. I get home and Im so tired. I only study 1-2hrs on a weekdays now. I study 6-8hrs on the weekends. Nothing to be proud of. Im disappointed about myself. Anyhow, the youtube video is being held back since I need all the hours for the CCIE labbing. Although, Im still planning to create a channel as soon as I passed. Im currently labbing away IPservices this week.

No labbing next week since I will be flying to another state. It will be a seminar from a CCIE for IPv6 seminar. Its pretty cool since they will cover IPV6 from beginning to end. I’m excited to learn more. I feel like a little kid getting a Christmas present! Lame, right?  Also, I will get to pick the brain of a CCIE on the class. Im hoping this will cover most of my IPv6 studies on my CCIE lab.

Back to labbing. Stay hungry my friends!

Sick video

If these guys are making it possible then whats my excuse?

Back to labbing!

LMAO

I promise you this. The guy you put down will probably end up being on top one day. You’ll only motivate them to be better, but for the wrong reasons. I wont go into details but putting me down motivates me to study harder and become better.

No vids yet. I’m still looking for a free time to make it and studying CCIE lab is holding me back. If you guys dont see any vids then I am using my free time panicking or studying for the lab. Dont worry, if it doesnt happen this month or year then it will surely happen as soon as I passed.

Btw, I’m going to Narbik’s bootcamp on sept 24 – 28.  I spoke to narbik’s wife and its a go. I told my boss that I will take those days as a vacation. Work doesn’t really support this so I have to use my vacation time , which is really sad. I guess if you want to be better then you will find a way to make it happen. All the expenses came from my pocket, from the bootcamp and the vacation time. Also, I have to save money for the expenses such as hotel + food + rack rental from narbik.  On the other hand, I am very excited to learn more from Narbik. I feel that I have my future in my hands. I feel good that I am doing the right thing for my career.

Stay hungry/ motivated my friends!

I am definitely burned out. I need a vacation!!! Although, there’s still a lot more to learn.

Anyhow, I’m going to open a youtube channel soon with my friend. This channel will be for all Network Geeks that wants to learn CCNA , CCNP and CCNP-Wireless. It will be theory and hands on of Routing, Switching, Security (Pen Testing in Wireless/ Securing), and Wireless.

This is us giving back or returning the favor to the internet that gave us so much FREE information. We will talk about different topics of the technologies from theory to labbing. How we study, our labbing tricks, and etc. Also, the whole process of configuring each technologies from creating adjacency, breaking it, fixing it, and verifying it.

I will appreciate it if you guys suggest anything you want me to talk about, whether its Cisco protocols or any questions you want to ask.

Back to labbing!!!

Great book! I finished this in 2 days. I recommend this book to everyone that is planning to take the CCIE lab.After reading this book, I will be more strict on my schedule and will aim higher than before. More studying. HA! I thought I was study hard but after reading their experienced, Im not even close to their level. Im disappointed at myself. I have a lot of work to do! I want my CCIE #!!! I WILL GET MY CCIE #!!!!!!!!

“Perseverance and unwavering commitment. Dont let anything get in your way even FAILURE” I saw this at Your CCIE Lab Success Strategy: The Non-Technical Guidebook.

Pretty strong words. Back to labbing for me. 3hrs of labbing tonight till friday. Ive been lagging on my labbing since I get tired. My body just gives up since I work on the day like everybody else. I really have to follow up my commitment.

Must not go out. Must lock myself in my room and lab until I passed.

I WILL become a CCIE!!!