Is anybody here a CCIE, or planning to attempt it?

[quickcrx702]

It seems there are quite a few geeky people on this forum, mainly programmers.  I plan on making a second attempt at the CCIE lab later this year.  Just curious if there are any fellow router jockeys here. 

[JustCallMeCrash]

Not a CCIE just yet, but I just finished the CCNA courses, so I'll be doing that cert test in a couple weeks.  I hear the CCIE is difficult as hell, but the money makes up for it.  Isn't that a $1400 test?

[RougeR]

imma do CCNA soon, just done network+ and A+, but i know more on my owm

[baldgye]

I originally trained in CCNA but was drinking instead of studying and so failed to pass it lol

[quickcrx702]

Not a CCIE just yet, but I just finished the CCNA courses, so I'll be doing that cert test in a couple weeks.  I hear the CCIE is difficult as hell, but the money makes up for it.  Isn't that a $1400 test?

Yes it's a $1400 test, and it's only offered at Cisco, so you also have to consider travel expenses.  You also have to pass the written qualification to be eligible, which I think was $350 or so.  I obviously think it will be worth it, and not because of the money, but more for the prestige.  Unless they are also a CCIE which most people aren't, NOBODY would waste time trying to argue with you when they are obviously wrong, so you can avoid a lot of the pass the buck "it's not my problem it's something on your end" mentality so common in our industry.  I've got more than a decade of networking experience, so one of my pet peeves is having guys that just started a year ago try to argue about things they don't know about.  Also, a lot of certs in our industry lose value since people cheat and use brain dumps, but this simply isn't possible on the CCIE lab.  There are no multiple guess/choice questions on the lab, they give you a bunch of tasks and you have to get them done any way possible.  Since I have my own consulting company, I'm not going to pay myself more for getting the cert LOL.  However, it would allow me to consult for enterprise customers that usually have their own IT staff, but not necessarily expert level staff.  The difference between knowledge at CCNA vs CCIE, is like the difference between reading about climbing mountains vs climbing Mount Everest, so yes it is indeed difficult.

[quickcrx702]

Also, if you are just getting started, GNS3 is a great study tool if you don't have access to physical racks and can't afford to buy your own.  It's basically VMWare for Cisco IOS images, it allows you to run IOS on virtual hardware.  This way when you read something, you can lab it up to see how it works, not just take the book's word.  Unfortunately once you get past the CCNP level, you need to either rent rack space or buy your own because you start running into things that GNS3 can't handle.

[JustCallMeCrash]

How do you feel about the Cisco Packet Tracer program?  I've liked doing my labs in that for these 4 classes.

[quickcrx702]

To be honest I've never used packet tracer.  I hear it's pretty useless after CCNA level because it's just a simulator, and doesn't use full IOS images, so you can only practice certain features.  I started off using physical hardware because it was the only option back in 2001, then dynamips, then GNS3, and now back to physical hardware(rack rentals).  By the time I found out about packet tracer, I was way past the CCNA level, so I wouldn't be able to get much use out of it.  It does sound kind of cool though.  Cisco actually has something called IOU, which allows you to test pretty much anything, but you have to be an engineer employed by Cisco to get your hands on it, so unfortunately I haven't been able to test that either.  There are bootleg copies out there, but I'm always nervous about downloading illegal versions of software.  You never know if somebody put a trojan or some other bad stuff.

[digi]

CCNP here but I commend you for attempting the CCIE, I heard the written is not bad but the lab is rough, 8 hours or something.

[quickcrx702]

The written isn't that bad.  Even if you don't really know your stuff well enough, you can still do well since it's mostly a multiple choice exam.  The lab on the other hand is beastly.  Last time I took the lab, I knew every technology on the blueprint very well.  Unfortunately, they give you about 16 hours worth of tasks to do in an 8 hour period, so knowing how to do stuff isn't enough, you have to be able to come up with complex solutions without even having to think about it.  The fact that they give you access to the doccd in the lab is a joke, there is ZERO time to look at it given the amount of stuff you have to do.  My strategy this time is to do as many workbooks from the CCIE boot camp vendors as possible, then attend boot multiple boot camps to get feedback and advice on time management.  I already signed up for CCBootcamp advanced lab and mock lab boot camps in August.  Apparently the instructor is a triple CCIE, so I'm expecting to learn quite a bit about lab strategy and maybe some shortcuts.  One example of a useful shortcut I learned is the conversion from AF to DSCP, AFxy=(8*x)+(2*y) which takes WAY LESS time than doing in binary.  Example:
AF 13 = (8*1) + (2*3)
AF 13 = 8+6
AF13 = DSCP 14

Vs           
             
             +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
             |   PRECEDENCE    |          TOS          |     |
             +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
                128      64     32    16       8       4       2        1
                  4        2        1      2       1

AF(Precedence, Drop Pref)
So AF11 would be:
001 -> precedence
01 - -> drop pref
0 ----> this bit always set to 0

bit ->           0     0    1    0  1   0
bit value -> 32   16   8   4   2   1
=DSCP 10

Obviously I can do the math for the first one in my head, but the second one I have to waste a few minutes putting it on paper since it's not as straight forward.