Finally
got my ccie #. No, I didn't buy it off of ebay, I actually passed the R/S lab
:) It was a very humbling experience to
say the least, even for someone like me who has been through this ordeal before.
My last failed attempt was in 2008 and
at the time I thought I was closing the ccie book for “good” as it was very
demoralizing to have failed multiple times. Well, all I can say now is that it
was a big mistake on my part to give up when I did as the lab was a lot easier
at that time compared to what it is now. In any case, late last year one of my
friends who works for Cisco started talking about taking the lab and kept
telling me that I need to give it another shot as well. I didn’t really pay
much attention to him until he called me one day in March and told me that he passed
his ccie lab. Not sure what came over me but I decided that I will give it
another shot. I went all out and studied as much as I possibly could with heavy
emphasis on the troubleshooting section.
I took
the lab on a Saturday as that was the last day before my written exam would
expire. The proctor was pretty cool but a bit hyper. He lined us up and gave an
almost 15 minute lecture about the lab rules and then let us loose. I jumped
right into the troubleshooting section (nervous as heck) and after two hours I thought I had lost the
troubleshooting battle as I was unable to resolve a 3 point ticket and doubtful
about another 2 point ticket. Going into
the configuration section I was a lot calmer but still disappointed because I
wasn’t sure if I passed the troubleshooting section. I finished the lab about
an hour and fifteen minutes ahead of time and only spent about 10 minutes
verifying. I left thinking that I failed the lab yet again. The flight from RTP
back to Houston had to be one of the longest and the most uncomfortable flight
I have had. As soon as I landed, I checked my email and saw that the score the
lab score is available. I was so depressed that I didn’t even bother checking
the score and just drove back home from the airport. It was almost midnight
when I got home and walked in quietly as I didn’t want to wake up the little
ones. I apologized to my wife for taking all the time away from the family and
studying but still not passing. She told me not to worry about it and to just
relax and perhaps I will get it the next time around. About twenty minutes after
I got home, my wife goes, “well, why don’t you check your score to see if you
at least did better than the last time”. I asked her to login instead as I didn’t
have the heart to see myself, she logs in and after a few seconds she goes, “oh
I think you passed” and I’m thinking she is probably looking at my written exam
score. And then she goes on to read my CCIE number, I felt as if I was dreaming
but when I heard her screaming and the kids woke up, I realized that it was for
real. I checked it again and again and a few more times. My wife even went as
far as taking the pictures of the screen just in case something gets changed. I
was so excited that I couldn’t sleep but finally had to as I was extremely
exhausted. When I woke up, I logged in and verified yet again to make sure that
my ccie # didn’t disappear overnight…..it was still there.
One thing
I have noticed is that I have more pressure at work now because everyone just expects
me to know everything there is to know because I’m a CCIE. It’s a good thing
that others look up to you but it can also be a pain because you have to be
able to pick up new technologies on the fly and provide solutions. For now, I’m
just taking it easy and enjoying my number, but I know that pretty soon I will
be bored and perhaps start thinking about another ie….datacenter…maybe :)
