Cisco Certified Hell

So as much as I like the thought of “getting my numbers,” – I just can’t get back into it yet it seems. I’ve tried a few times, but for whatever reason, my mind isn’t working with me here. I don’t like having that feeling of something looming over me that I’m not actively working on. So instead of living what that feeling of “I should be doing xxxx to help move this along,” I’m switching paths…to the CCVP.

We recently brought up a satellite office on a call manager express set up, which will eventually tie into our main office when we roll it out later this year. We’re also migrating all of our (albeit only 3) remote offices to voice over IP, so I think that will help to keep me in good shape for the CCVP battery of tests.

While the CCIE R&S is generally just an expansion of the CCNP topics, I know very little about voice and related concepts. It will be nice learning completely new technologies, and not just revisiting stuff I already know somewhat, but need to learn in more depth. I’ve already ordered the CVOICE study guide and am working my way through that for now. So far, so good! It’s nice to be genuinely interested in the material again. Hopefully, I can pull this off by the end of the year…a little ambitious, but manageable I think. QoS may have its way with me though…we’ll see.

Ok, so I’ve slacked off long enough. Munchkin isn’t sleeping well, but I can’t use that as an excuse to put off restarting studying forever.

I’ve given myself until my birthday (in a few weeks) to not think about it…and then, it is time! Time to get back in the packet groove. I’ve got my tentative study plan laid out here for others to use if they’d like. Its not final yet, and there are some holes to be filled, but at least I have a defined set of tasks to accomplish.

So, in the words of Eminem: “Let’s get down to business, I don’t got no time to play around, what is this, must be a circus
in town, let’s shut the shit down on these clowns, can I get a witness, {hell yeah}”

Ah hem…sorry ‘ bout that. My social filter malfunctioned.

NOTE: After going back into the INE online classroom, I’ve found that the ATC COD has changed for the v4 exam. The spreadsheet referenced above may contain some of the older ATC COD videos, but I am updating them as I go through them.

So, it wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be…had I put in the proper preparation, I would’ve been fine.  I have no doubts that on my “real” attempt, I will pass with no problem. I personally thought the test was easier than the BSCI, but I suppose it’s not a fair comparison.

Multicast was one of the topics that was covered more heavily it seemed…I really need to dig into that pretty heavily. As several people have mentioned, a few of the questions popped up several times, just in various formats. As a rough estimate, I’d say that about 70% of the topics on the written blueprint were addressed, which isn’t too bad.

If I had to guess, I’m estimating a 600 or so, which isn’t bad considering the severe lack of preparation. Anyhow…time for a break to regroup, focus on the upcoming munchkin arrival, and relax a bit. I’ll be back in full force sometime soon.

As hard as it is for me to do this right now, I’m going t put my studies on hold until either late this year, or the beginning of 2010. I am taking the written beta just for the experience and to see what sort of topics are more likely to appear.  In no way am I expecting to pass.  If I do by some small chance pass, even better.

Without going into detail, I just don’t feel like I can dedicate the time I want to at the moment, but they’re all good reasons. I don’t want to do this half-assed, so this is my official time out. (Well, after Sept. 9th at least when I take the written).

I appreciate everyone’s comments and support so far, and look forward to getting back in the swing of things in a few months.

Gerren

Aside from enjoying what I do, here’s one of the reasons I’m putting myself through all of this:

From: http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/ccie/certified_ccies/worldwide.html#usa

Total of Worldwide CCIEs:		20003 (last updated 06/26/2009)
Total of Routing and Switching CCIEs:		17247
Total of Security CCIEs:		2328
Total of Service Provider CCIEs:		1414
Total of Storage Networking CCIEs:		145
Total of Voice CCIEs:		1039
Total of Wireless CCIEs:		6

/end snobbery

So, I’m a bit of a dork. I scored a Google voice number that ends with CCIE. I figured that while it doesn’t hold true right now, it will be a good “personal branding” tool in the (hopefully near) future.

This post has no significance to it other than to be able to look back in a few months/years and see where I began.

Starting Book Collection

After some good advice from a bunch of people over at ieoc.com, I’ve decided that the R&S path is the way to, rather than doing another P level certification. Maybe at some point while studying, I can tackle the BGP and QoS exams for the CCIP, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

For now though, I think the IE will have the best ROI in the long run as there is no immediate career need for another P cert. I’ll be documenting the journey here of course, but there’s a lot of planning to do up front.

So…on that note, I’m off to begin gathering resources for my journey! Looking forward to every minute of it. (Easy to say that now of course…)

As promised, here are my complete notes on the OECG for ONT. Good luck in your studies.

See here