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Hey all.
I am fortunate enough to work on what I believe to be one of the largest networks in the world (I won't say exactly how many routers and switches, but it's way more than 50,000). Needless to say, the network covers just about anything (MPLS, BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, IS-IS, MSDP...) on just about any type of router or switch. Almost every single day, I'm on a router engineering some crazy project. It's truly an awesome job.
Anyway, one of my Cisco contacts who is a CCIE said I could pass the exam if I put time into it. I'm wondering how valid this approach would be. I'm confident about my abilities, but I don't want to be cocky about this -- I don't have a single certification. I've been working with networks for about 3 years now.
The way I look at it, if I take the written exam and horrendously fail it, it was only $300 wasted (Actually, it wouldn't really be wasted, I should be able to pass the CCNA at that point haha). If I pass the exam, then I know I have my work cut out for me for the lab exam. I'm willing to put in an extreme amount of work to get this done.
My Cisco contact gave me these books (all Cisco Press) which I plan to read in the following order:
Cisco LAN Switching
Routing TCP/IP Volume 1 2nd Edition
Routing TCP/IP Volume 2
Internet Routing Architecture 2nd Edition
CCIE R&S Exam Certification Guide 3rd Edition
Also, I've got access to any hardware I want. My isolated CCIE pod consists of 8 7206s, 3 cat7604s(w/sup720-3bxl), 5 cat6500s(w/sup32), 2 3845s, 2 cat4948s, 2 cat3750s. I have a professional traffic generator appliance that's capable of BGP and OSPF peering. All interfaces are either gig or tengig, and all consoles connect back to a commserver. Since I have access to hardware like this, I feel obligated to seize the opportunity.
Currently, I'm almost done with LAN Switching and am about to move on to Routing Vol1. So what do you guys think? Am I out of my mind or is this feasible? If anyone else wants to prepare with me (preferably if you live in the NYC area), shoot me a PM.
I am fortunate enough to work on what I believe to be one of the largest networks in the world (I won't say exactly how many routers and switches, but it's way more than 50,000). Needless to say, the network covers just about anything (MPLS, BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, IS-IS, MSDP...) on just about any type of router or switch. Almost every single day, I'm on a router engineering some crazy project. It's truly an awesome job.
Anyway, one of my Cisco contacts who is a CCIE said I could pass the exam if I put time into it. I'm wondering how valid this approach would be. I'm confident about my abilities, but I don't want to be cocky about this -- I don't have a single certification. I've been working with networks for about 3 years now.
The way I look at it, if I take the written exam and horrendously fail it, it was only $300 wasted (Actually, it wouldn't really be wasted, I should be able to pass the CCNA at that point haha). If I pass the exam, then I know I have my work cut out for me for the lab exam. I'm willing to put in an extreme amount of work to get this done.
My Cisco contact gave me these books (all Cisco Press) which I plan to read in the following order:
Cisco LAN Switching
Routing TCP/IP Volume 1 2nd Edition
Routing TCP/IP Volume 2
Internet Routing Architecture 2nd Edition
CCIE R&S Exam Certification Guide 3rd Edition
Also, I've got access to any hardware I want. My isolated CCIE pod consists of 8 7206s, 3 cat7604s(w/sup720-3bxl), 5 cat6500s(w/sup32), 2 3845s, 2 cat4948s, 2 cat3750s. I have a professional traffic generator appliance that's capable of BGP and OSPF peering. All interfaces are either gig or tengig, and all consoles connect back to a commserver. Since I have access to hardware like this, I feel obligated to seize the opportunity.
Currently, I'm almost done with LAN Switching and am about to move on to Routing Vol1. So what do you guys think? Am I out of my mind or is this feasible? If anyone else wants to prepare with me (preferably if you live in the NYC area), shoot me a PM.
I just finished my CCNA today a good month before my goal date. Now it's on to the Security concentration and on to CCSP. I'm going for CCIE Security. You have to set goals/milestones especially IMHO, for the IE exam.