This is my place on the web to store my study notes towards Cisco’s CCIE Lab exam in Routing and Switching. This site will detail my progress towards the ultimate Cisco Certification. After that I am going to attempt Voice but that will be next year! My name is Roger Perkin I am a Cisco Network Engineer working in Hampshire UK – I have been working with Cisco now for about 8 years and have achieved CCNP & CCSP, I passed the ccie written exam last year and decided that now is the time to finally pass the lab exam. For my CCIE Training I am using INE, I have all their products and am very happy with the material. For study notes I thought it best to setup this CCIE Blog – There are 2 main reasons.
1. Tidyness, my writing is not the best and if everything is typed it will be clear and easy for me to understand.
2. Organisation, after 3 months of studying I have piles of paper with notes scribbled everywhere and I need a way to have it all in one place.
My target to take the lab is June 2012. I am solely using INE’s products and have everything they have got. I have already been on one of their bootcamps and am currently putting in about 2 hours per day – which as I get close will have to increase! If you are looking for some Lab Exam tips and study resources I will be making regular posts on my progress at my CCIE Blog page.
For the latest up to date information always refer to the Cisco website:
There are currently 9 Lab exam testing centres. Information taken from www.cisco.com corect at 13/2/2012
www.cisco.com/web/learning/exam/locations.html
There are currently 8 different tracks – comparison link below
Tracks – this is a nice page comparing all the different tracks and technologies involved.
The Routing and Switching track remains the most popular, mainly due to the amount of training material available for it. However there is daily becoming more and more information available on the other tracks making them more accessible.
Once I have finished the R&S and I have had a small break I think I will be looking to doing either the Security or Voice Lab
One of the most visited Study resources online is GroupStudy.com this is a valuable community of like minded individuals looking to help each other.
The journey to the ultimate Cisco Certification is a long one, most candidates say they put in around 1000 hours on the command line and hours and hours of reading. This is not an exam you can pass by swatting up on a few practice questions. This is a real world exam testing your configuration and troubleshootting skills on Cisco hardware. Once you have completed it you will put yourself among an elite group of only about 30,000 engineers worldwide.
Brief History of Cisco
One of the biggest names in computer networking technology is Cisco Systems, Inc. Based in San Jose, California. Cisco designs, manufactures and sells computer networking equipment, employs upwards of 60,000 people around the globe, and had revenues that topped $43 Billion in 2011. Their devices are used daily by millions of businesses and individuals and their name is a household one thanks to their successful ‘Human Network’ advertising campaign.
Cisco Systems was founded by Sandy Lerner and Len Bosack, a married couple who also worked together at Stanford University. Their first product was a multi-protocol software program. Theirs was the first company to sell commercially successful routers supporting multiple network protocols and Cisco was one of the first to capitalize on the emerging service provider market. Recently Cisco has become a major provider of Voice over IP (VoIP) to enterprises and is moving into the home user market through its acquisitions of Scientific Atlanta and Linksys.
History
Cisco Systems inaugurated their Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert program in September of 1993. It was meant to identify individuals within their customer and partner organizations who could effectively diagnose and resolve the problems inherent in large and complex internetworks. The program recognizes and rewards the `best-in-class’ engineers who possess the technical knowledge and expert skills to troubleshoot internetworks. Further it was meant to create a special relationship between these experts and Cisco’s support team.
The program is the highest level of certification that Cisco provides and the testing, which consists of a written exam and a ‘hands-on’ lab exam, is among the toughest in the industry. In fact, fewer than 2% of engineers who hold any cisco certifications go on to pass the Lab Exam.
The Written exam consists of 100 questions that must be answered in under 2 hours. When the written part is passed the student then has 18 months to take the Lab portion of the Exam.
The Lab Exam is where most people have their problems. It is an eight hour hands-on exam designed to show that the candidate not only knows Internetworking theory, but can also demonstrate advanced hands on mastery. Most do not pass on the first try; however they have up to 3 years to pass a second time before they are then required to take the written test again. In fact a candidate may take the Lab Exam as many times as possible, spread out 30 days apart, in that 3 year time period. The biggest problem for some is the cost, which is currently (as of Feb 2012) $1500.00 per attempt and is offered only at ten Cisco lab exam locations worldwide. You can easily see how this would add up quickly with multiple attempts.
The first CCIE
Terrance Slattery was the very first person to pass the Exam in Cisco’s history. Mr. Slattery was a Cisco consultant in 1993 when he heard about the new exam and inquired to Brad Wright about participating. Mr. White was the program manager at the time and helped Mr. Slattery to arrange for the testing. Within 2 weeks he not only took and passed the written potion of the exam but also attended a Cisco troubleshooting class and then passed the hands on test over a 2 day period. For his herculean effort he was awarded Cisco CCIE #1026.
In an interview in 2009 Mr. Slattery was asked the question: What types of training do you use or recommend to someone just getting started on a certification?
His answer was that “No single source of training is sufficient for everyone. I recommend that you research the various programs and find a style that works for you. Join some of the online forums and study groups. Learn from other people. There are also a lot of good Blogs where people who are studying are sharing what they have learned. A benefit of working with others is that the relationships that you develop will become beneficial later in your career”.
Considering the source I would take his advice to heart. Good luck to all who are endeavoring to take and pass this most arduous of exams. The rewards are well worth the struggle.
This site is not sponsored, or affiliated with Cisco Systems
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