Darby on Joe Astorino
by Darby Weaver
I read a request on Cisco's site asking for any information about IPExpert's Bootcamps. Well as luck would have it, I was due to go to one of IPExpert's Bootcamps and did this past week. I'm in the airport awaiting my flight back to Orlando right now in Ohio.
Anyway here are my disclaimers:
1. I won the BLS (Blended Learning Solution) Package last year for CCIE Voice by doing some posting after I saw a tweet from IPExpert offering a free BLS Package which included: 2 Weeks of Class - 1 Week Prep with Labs and 1 - Week with 4 Labs (Mock Lab Experience), also CCIE Audio, CCIE Workbooks 1, 2, and 3, and FREE updates to the product line.
I switched my Voice for RS, since I am still not CCIE RS just yet.
2. My company paid for my expenses since I won the classes and I'm an employee.
3. My views are my own. I have a lot of good things to say and a few things I noted that could use some review or improvement but mostly I'm just telling my own story. I was not paid or influenced by anyone of course... and if I were I'd tell you that too. :)
So I wrote my Day 1 and Day 2 Experiences/Observations the morning after each day.
I wrote the final for Day 3-5 just this afternoon at the Steak and Shake across from their facility in Ohio - why? Because Days 3-5 kept me so busy I had little time for sleep much less time for writing to tell people about it.
Anyway: Expect not to see the "Sandman" for a week and you can count the Z's since you really won't be seeing that many of them.
I had to reschedule my 2nd week of mock labs till October due to my projects at work that I'm working on.
Here it goes:
The IPExpert CCIE 5-Day Bootcamp Experience by Darby Weaver.
Day 1: Monday
Instructor: Joe Astorino
Company Owner: Wayne Lawson
Well what can I tell you we started late by about an hour for access to the class. Our lab books were carried by our instructor with him into class. The other instructor who is usually in-house at 9am was in Amsterdam so his wife dropped off the keys... The workbooks arrived a bit later around lunch time. I even found a small little extra something in a sandwich later in the day that I had not expected. I got to talk to the caterer.
Overall day 1 had all the overture of being dull and boring. To look at the instructor at first site, it was a bit depressing... Here was Joe, Joe is younger (probably right at 30), this is his 3rd class as an instructor, Joe's a bit over 6 foot tall, not overly exciting features, his voice is Midwestern normal, he's not monotone like some just a normal guy. Joe's the guy you'd pass on the street or maybe live next door to. The guy down the cube or something. Normal and seemingly quiet.
Now I've been taught by some of the best in world: Bruce Caslow, Heinz Ulm, Narbik Kocharians, Johnny Bass, Bob Sinclair, and studies remotely or via video from Brian Dennis, Brian McGahan, Scott Morris, David Hucaby, Chris Bryany, Jeremy Cioara, Anthony Sequeria, and from materials created by some of the greats like Val Pavlichenko... to name a few.
Now here I presented with Joe Astorino from Michigan. Ouch! It looks like a long.... day. I even remember Narbik's words thinking about this "kid" teaching the CCIE for IPExpert. Anyway, I figured I'd give him a fair chance, he'd need it. I've taught some MCSE courses, been to the Train the Trainer, and I've had to survive scrutiny myself of classes filled with students who seek to be impressed... Hmm...The shoe was now on the other foot.
Well let me tell you about the materials.
Clear and concise and very complete. Some cover a lot of topics and spend a lot of time doing so. Some cover a little and spend a lot of time hammering over minute issues and spending the day... into the week drilling strategy....
Well Joe did that and did it once for about the first hour and maybe into the second hour. He was running a little late... at that. He was keenly aware of the fact. It did not shake his composure, he was cool and calculated. He knew his time. We are a smaller class of 5 and not the last class of 12 two weeks prior, 3 of whom went to the lab last week. 1 had failed already and Joe was awaiting the news from 2 others. He made use of the smaller class to fill the time gap. Later in the day we would hear of the 1 who passed and the third is unknown as of yet. He's proud to have helped someone make the cut immediately after taking his class. He's strangely confident.
So as the day wears on... not boring, but light, we are told of strategy documentation, long hours, style, and tools, a few good to know things and some stuff I'd just call FAQ but things that get asked about mostly everything and Joe shows us his version of drawing a diagram... simple quick and then gets to the business of describing his legend or what things mean on the diagram...
F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C....
So... I'm like ok... I'd just about given up on diagrams... the only one I really half-way liked was the 4 switch box from Cisco Live that Johnny Bass showed us there...
Now here comes Joe and he's got the diagram that looks like mine and I'd tell you what he told me... but I'd prefer you hear it from Joe... anyway it's the diagram I'd use.
Why? It's simple and it makes sense. It fits all your protocols and interfaces on one sheet and makes sense. Easy to follow things like redistribution points and of course you can use colors and it was easy to diagram out all of under 60 seconds or so... minus the time it takes one to validate the data to be entered. Voila!!! Simple and elegant.... from Joe Astorino.
So who is Joe Astorino? Who made Joe? Joe is Wayne Lawson's Frankenstein, he speaks in awe of Jared and Tyson and so I figured they are his trainers and mentors.
Joe Astorino is you - the average CCIE Candidate, who, when following a complete program of study (IPExpert) rigorously for about 10 months with about 4 hours a night of study and hands-on practice, lots of reading, etc. passed his lab on the 1st round. That's Joe Astorino. No shortcuts and no cheating. Labs, Docs, CLI... and sheer practice... good recipe for a CCIE Frankenstein... kinda like Bruce Jenner's "Wheaties" from the 1970's Olympics or something like that...
No need for many vendors to get confused and dazed by how great and mysterious some are. Just one program and one program that worked for him. As I read the workbook last night I totally understand why.
Yes, Joe had to pass the OEQ. Joe said it took him only 10 minutes to do the 4 questions from Hell itself.
Wait... I just said IPExpert had a complete program of study didn't I? Yep. I did. I should know, I've bought the rest and actually been given others. I won this class and the entire Blended Learning Solution from IPExpert about a year ago from IPExpert on one of the Twitter Scavenger Hunts offered by Wayne Lawson and Mike Down as I recall.
Anyway I opted for Voice but they let me switch to RS a few months ago and here I sit now.
IPExpert is not promising labs they don't have - IPExpert has the labs and they are complete. Let's see... 18 in Volume II workbooks and 10 more in Volume III workbooks (5 are fully gradable at Proctorlabs.com). 3 More Labs in the Instructor Lead Training (2 are fully gradable at Proctorlabs.com). Proctorlabs had 5 more complete labs on I was given access to that are right on the money. Proctor Labs - 2800's and 3800 series routers with 3560's and 3550's - easily the best and fastest racks with the most modern access systems in the industry. They do rock!!! And for less... better if you get a discount.
Ok - So IPExpert does not have "Vaporware" ("Hey I've got my new version 10 labs..." or my workbooks... or tracks... that some vendors make claims for and never really show up with the goods for... well maybe some day... just not today, yesterday, or last year when the claim was made... etc... you get the point).
Ok - So IPexpert does not have the Dream Team like some others... 360 claims a loose confederacy of some 30+ world-renowned instructors... and others have the multi-CCIE's names of the Internet... Wait IPExpert does have a bit of an all star cast with the likes of Jared, Tyson, the inestimable Vik Mahli and Mark Snow (THE CCIE VOICE DREAM TEAM - others brands fear and tremble at the names... I recall Narbik taking a hike through networkers by some of the 360 Vendors to incite fear and chaos just by walking with Vik... Hah! Hilarious... the sheer power of human fear)... Yes... And now... Rick Mur, the 22 year old prodigy who's aiming for a 3rd CCIE just joined the team too... So yes they have the CCIE Dream Team of the 21st Century... my bad...
Ok - IPExpert does employ guys like Narbik and Tarun.
Ok - IPExpert has actually delivered Audio for each track, video for each track, and well everything they offer is ALWAYS COMPLETE when OFFERED. With little exception throughout the DECADE.
Who else can say that? I think CCBootcamp alone comes close - Brad pays for complete products from his CCNP's and CCIE's who work for him on his product lines... unfortunately Brad does not offer the complete array of products... he does offer the 360.
Narbik offers a workbook and mostly everything else is on the way. The first video was presented this past week or so.
Heinz offers a class and a lot of labs that are quite custom. He's a one man show and he's pretty set doing his thing.
InternetworkExert comes close. Lots of products... Lots of Names... Long list of CCIE's too... Not all ever get completed (VERY UNFORTUNATE) and one can easily get caught buying product updates for products that get dropped (Audio RS CCIE... Video COD... stopped at 7 or 8) and history has a way of repeating itself. They have Brian Dennis (CCIE 5x) and Petr Lapukhov (CCIE 4x) both CCIE Voice Masters who completed the CCIE voice Track quickly and easily but they don't have a complete CCIE Voice Program (Despite it being forecasted to the most in demand after CCIE RS)... Hey guys I don't understand it either... 2 of the best brains in the business and both passed it and made it look easy and no program to help the paying public... I'm not sure why... Who can say. Brian McGahan, Scott, and Anthony said that Brian is now teaching CCNP... so no Voice from him (??? - maybe a surprise is in store?) and Petr is the resident Blogger/Researcher from InternetworkExpert so I guess no Voice track from him...(but he did post looking for a CCIE Voice to hire... I guess they still need one?) Maybe one day... if they can hire a CCIE Voice to create the content... but they have two CCIE Voice guys who did it pretty quickly in-house... maybe they didn't keep notes or something... who knows... The program is growing and can only get better.
No worries... IPExpert has the 2 Premier CCIE's in the business teaching CCIE Voice - Vik Mahli and Mark Snow and not hardly a single week goes by where 1+ CCIE Voice Candidates do not pass the CCIE Lab, and Wayne posts some 5+ new CCIE's a week - usually from his classes in one or more tracks... Voice looks like it is always there... "Old Reliable..."
Staggering! As Narbik might say... "Unbelievable!!!"... Well believe it. I see why.
One of my classmates took the CCIE Voice and and passed with IPExpert and he's back for RS. I was in class with him at Cisco Live with Cisco too. Strange coincidence but true....
Back to Joe and his class.
Let me tell you...
Joe does not know everything... Nope.
But he knows where to look. Yes... he does. He only had to make that dive maybe 4 or 5 times and we pressed for some arcane stuff... and examples... Joe DELIVERED the goods.... Excellent!
We covered Layer 2 Technologies today... And we covered them pretty completely... I had the CCIE V3.0 Outline in front of me and we did it and then some and then I also had the Documentation Site in front of me and we covered it in detail.
I have to admit being harder on Joe and IPExpert's Program... it has a lot to live up to... and so I had my bull's eye aimed right between the eyes... I'm pretty keen by now too on a lot of topics... particularly Layer 2 topics...
As a veteran CCIE Bootcamp of many Bootcamps by now - you have to know I ask questions, so did my class mates: one is a CCIE voice, one has one lab under his belt, and another is a Verizon Backbone practicing guru with 2 trips to the lab under his belt, and only one newbie in the class... No walk in the park for Joe Astorino.... and you'd think he was armed like Rambo with an M50 Machine Gun and Bowie Knife walking through New York's Central Park... No mercy!
Joe took all our punches and threw back some too.
NICE!!!
The boy next door... this guy is like little Anakin Skywalker... simple and seemingly docile but fiercely powerful and ultimately knowledgeable... in the ways of the CLI...
Yes he does use slides as aids... and he uses pre-configured examples to make his point, and the CLI for verification of any question, and then of course... he has the documentation... and he's an expert ... no doubt.
And the coolest part...
Forget the chalk-talk...
If Joe was unsure in the face of us hard-timers... Joe dropped to the CLI and did a "SHOW-ME... I'm from Missouri Prove-It on the spot..." each and every time like no one's business.
Joe is prepared - yep - Joe brought diagrams for everyone and sent us gif/vsd's to view up close to ensure we could follow along... hard to do on the whiteboard if you are in the back...
He figured that out and dealt with it.
If we had questions... You know we did about... everything... well Joe was not hampered by this, not intimidated either... Joe just said... what does the Documentation say... and then he explained it. Simple as that. It was that simple.
Joe walked the walk... everyone says "use the Documentation" and few show you how step by step and live how to do it... Joe just does it. It was how he learned to love the lab and how he passed. It is a natural thing for him. It's not always for every candidate.
Others do show once in a while too... Joe shows definitively. You've seen others videos... or been to their courses... you know what I mean... Joe is refreshing... like Spring Clean.
I'm more of a veteran so I got this by now but I could have used it early on.
If we questioned him... and we did...
Joe demonstrated live...
Lots of people can tell you what they know - great practitioners...
Can all of them convey this to you when you leave?
Joe does this.
Joe is so... normal... He's not Scott Morris or Narbik Kocharians...
Joe is you and me... and he's kicking ass and taking names...
Joe is a guy who says honestly "I only had enough money for one program of study" and so he opted for IPExpert. His gamble and his 10 months of study and hard work paid off in spades...
Joe is the real deal. The real McCoy.
Joe is not skirting the NDA or recommending some illicit materials overtly or discreetly... nope.
Joe is telling you... "I got the books, I did the reading, I did the labs, I spent 10 hours on this or 12 hours on that... I lab’d it, I broke out the documentation... or I found it here or there..., etc."...
Joe did the work and it shows... I think we call this "Experience from the trenches"... Joe is one of us...
Joe did not pass his CCIE 10 year ago either... NOPE! He passed only a few months ago....
Joe lived the OEQ! Joe is you and me...
Joe is the guy I speak to in many of the forums I visit day in and day out. Joe is the guy from any country and every country.
Joe is the guy who works hard to get this stuff. Joe is inspirational. Joe... in you and hopefully me... when I pass my own lab soon thanks to Joe...
Yesterday morning in the hall I remember Joe commenting that our laptop bags kinda looked alike (both were Swiss) and I was thinking... where to hide the bones... I mean they sent a sheep to deal with Lions... Carl and I were already talking and he's got his digits after a few hard earned attempts and I've been to the lab 5 times and many classes... and we get "kid Joe"...
Then Joe builds us a light saber.... in front of our very eyes.
Joe takes the lab apart... and puts it back again...
Things like... No I'm not going to tell you - Hey if I went to everyone else's camps and failed on my dime when I went to the lab...
The least you can do is take a chance and let Joe show you what I'm talking about.
Let's put it this way... if your configs... SEEM to work with some SHOW command and DON"T WORK... and you failed the lab... or better yet don't want to FAIL the LAB...
Better come see "Doc" aka Joe Astorino... And let Joe help you build your light saber...
When you go to the cave... you have all you bring with you and you don't have what you forgot to bring.
Maybe I'm just older and wiser now and Scott Morris would tell me this that after a while we become more aware... that's true too.
But guys... if you want to build a lab step by step...
Joe is teaching it. And when anyone questions or worse..."THINKS" something... he's not too proud to test it then and there on the spot and VERIFY and put that DEMON to rest.
Joe is a WOLF in Sheep's clothing... and Joe is hungry...
This is Joe's 3rd class as a CCIE Instructor and dude... Joe is walking the walk... and talking the talk! Kinda reminds me of Walking Tall... the old school movie... Ouch! That's a big bat.
Anyway get ready for my Day 2 Report...
I was too busy yesterday to write... today is my 6am wakeup report. I got some labs to finish before 9am...
Later guys...
1. Explain all day and demonstrate.
2. Lab all night into the morning.
3. Teach... Yes - Narbik would call this actual "teaching".
4. Then do what you were taught... Lab on Friday.
5. 1 Week - 3 Labs... tough week. Heinz delivers a similar product and style in say... 3 weeks.
6. Tough Lab - like NMC/360 day 5 lab... hearsay so far - Let ya know...
Day 2
"Remember it's about how the instructor makes you feel aka empowerment/inspirational/motivational kind of feelings" . I think this an important attribute of an instructor. Joe's got it.
Great Day!
Powerful stuff. We did find an error in the workbook... it happens. Not bad though two scorching hot days of Fire and Brimstone and one error... not too bad... for new materials.. Kudos to the team at IPExpert for their efforts.
Let's see... Joe got pelted from the left and the right and the onslaught was truly a sight to behold... I'd love to get a job candidate who could field as many correct answers as Joe did today. Yes we hit him rather brutal, it is ok, he could take it and dish it out. No B.S. just R&S. Some humor... mostly just work. A refreshing trait about Joe, if he is not 100% sure or if you think you are 100% sure... he gives it the test of the CLI or the Documentation and he leaves you no room for doubt. Only one or two times did he have to say I'll get back to you... and the bastard got back to you by the next break and asked for more... every time, 100%. He delivers!!! No stone unturned. He is a sponge and a water hose!
I remember people referring to a CCIE Bootcamp "Like drinking water from a Firehose". Joe is the Firehose and he does not seem to have an off switch... knowledge flows like molten lava and you are bound to get burned... No stone unturned...
He never ever loses his cool. He always gives each sense of doubt a double-check. Not in a challenging way... in a sort of soothing way.
One of the guys looked a little irritable and later in the day I spoke to Joe he said he felt it. Nah! He was a battle-hardened VoIP Veteran and he knew he has some shortfalls and some hurdles to overcome... nothing to do with the instructor... I caught him in the hall and asked him how things were going... and he told me that he thought Joe was doing great as did the other student (an ISP veteran) and both agreed they wished they knew some of the things that Joe was spewing forth so glibly and confidently...
He's young, only 27... but damn he's masterful... He confided to me that he spent a lot of time working with Jared (IPExpert's Master Wizard Triple CCIE from the Land Down Under) and had in fact been recommended for the initial job with IPExpert by Jared. Jared passed three CCIE's on the first run and Joe took his mentor to heart... and now he's quite the swordsman with the CLI...
Truly a bit of a Jedi.
Does he know everything... about the CLI... No... not yet. Does he know more than the bulk of the class - no doubt in my mind. He's a sharp wit and strangely... modest... yes... that is a very good term for it.
Now here's what I find weird... I've trained with some of the best. Never have I ever felt the urge to consult or really ask any of these Masters of the Arcane a question... not really... nope... maybe once and I did not get a reply that time... so never bothered again... I guess they are busy...
Funny thing I bonded a bit with Joe last night and I've had an issue that I found to be a twizzler... and so I shared the concept with Joe and we proceeded to lab it up after everyone had gone home... and I liked the boy's style... simple and charming. Smooth like... "Tennessee Whiskey"... Easy to swallow and mellow on pallet.
I've read where others have had similar experiences with some of the trainers over the years, many times in fact... me, I never really felt that kind of a bond with my instructors...
Joe makes a student feel like every single issue is precious and important. Something to be savored and every experience must absolutely be tested to its final conclusion...
I gave him a chance to do this last night and he did it... sort of a test if you will... he did not falter...
You should have seen him... his eyes lit up like a school-kid... he wanted a napkin to start... I found some paper to draw a diagram... he drew what I depicted... just like he was taking a lab himself.
I gave him the issue and the conditions of that set the stage... he bit like my little Yorkie does on something she's grown fond of... hint: she never lets go... Neither did Joe... he had the scent of blood... and the boy was a hound... He never let up and within maybe 3-5 minutes we tested the conditions of the configuration asked a few questions of each other to verify what we saw... and to our mutual amazement we both saw the same things... and agreed....
Whew!!! I've needed that sanity check for 1-2 years now.... and finally got it... my own personal puzzle if you will and Joe, the Master Jedi... proved I was not mistaken with my original train of thought...
Now let me tell you... that is what an instructor/mentor is all about in my world...
It genuinely reminded me of how my dad and I used to go out back in the woods back in Bama and he'd painstakingly show me how to "squeeze the trigger"... eventually I'd gotten rather good at that sort of thing and very steady... I could hit a bottle's cap into the air and then hit it just one more time before it hit the ground... (I used to enjoy the accolades from my cousins when I did it... kinda felt like Errol Flynn playing Robin Hood and shooting the 2nd arrow through the 1st arrow). I got the idea from the guys in our hunting club who used to shoot cans in the air and then one more time before they hit the ground... I'd say that's the last time I recall feeling truly trained for perfection by a Master Artisan of the Art... and then comes along... Joe Astorino.
Joe has that sort of texture, taste, and feel. He's definitely genuine... No doubt about it.
Anyone remember Rocky? And the movie "Eye of the Tiger"... Well Joe has that hunger, that need for speed, that... "Eye of the Tiger"... His goal is making CCIE's and loving every minute of sharing the knowledge...
I guess you'll see that interesting quandary we worked through somewhere as he said he wanted to document it and share it a bit. Kinda like a White-Hat Hacker finding a little hole in a program... sorta neat if you are a bit of a Geek.
Imagine being there when Narbik, Heinz, Caslow, Morris or Dennis was starting out... and well you'll get the picture...
Except he's got the 10+ years of development time and he's FRESH FROM THE FIGHT... Yep, remember he just passed the lab with the OEQ... and he knows what it takes to get a person from A to Z in light speed... well he did it in 10 months...
Umm... his students are already passing... maybe he did not teach them from start... but there are a lot of people responsible for any given CCIE's success... He was the capstone for some of these folks.
Well people... allow me to introduce Joe Astorino... I was almost going to say Tomorrow's Master CCIE/Jedi... but he's here today and... He is a Master of the Art. He's not playing second to anyone... He's standing on his own two feet.
Hmm... Yep... I keep thinking of the song... Juke Box Hero for some reason.
Cool, calculating, and thorough... and he's fresh from the fight...
Compared to most CCIE's who took the lab 5-10+ years ago when 50-75% of the modern day topics did not exist... or were less than expertly understood compared to today... that is awesome!
Maybe it's the "Stars in His Eyes"?
I'm going to tell you again... I really did not expect this from Joe... Wayne's got a lot of explaining to do... I guess I did not read enough of his posts or something...
To be fair, he's got a few things to get to know a little better but so far you can count them on one hand or so... that is not bad in any book.
Better book early, he's Narbik's up and coming rival.
About the camp:
Lecture, whiteboard aka "Chalk Talk" by day... ad lab all night. It's 3:42am (I had a problem at work I had to throw some elbow grease into for about 3 hours earlier tonight. I've got about 1-2 hour to go before I finish my labs tonight)...
No sleep for the wicked. The class is running from about 9am-7pm daily and we are all getting a lot of interactive questions out of Joe. It's a small class, he owns it. I think every student is participating like I don't think I've ever seen a whole class do before. Well I guess it's a more seasoned bunch. All of us have been around the block and we have questions about the damnedest things and our instructor is like a sniper... picking them off one by one. It's a class to be in. I have to say I've gotten more work and more issues worked out in this class than any class I've taken to date. Funny as it seems it's true. Narbik is always mentioning that instructors should teach the material and not lecture from whiteboard and here I see Joe who has clearly mastered both.
I guess he's fresh from a lot of his own labs and it truly shows. He's got his work, his examples, and he shares them easily and he the thing that is most important is this:
He does not just cover a topic and move on. No!!!
He covers a topic. He searches his students... like one of them stole his watch or something... and then he demostrates, or engages the students thoroughly - taking all questions, great or small and working out the tender details.
WOW!!!
I'm in my hotel room looking at my eyes getting a bit bloody read as I write this and I've got my own workbook open labbing things out and then verifying them - carefully looking for minute details to engage this instructor who very truly cares to ensure that every student is getting what they paid their hard earned money for.
Hah!!! He told me someone commented on the ILT Workbooks and said they did not have many or any configs in them... He smiled... He said... that's what the instructor is for. Interesting concept. I told him others have full workbooks laden with examples very simply written... and he seemed to find that an odd concept... and again said... then what does the instructor do?
Again the guy is fresh and he did say righfully that IPExpert's Workbooks are several inches thick and measuring some thousands of pages, their Videos are more than anyone elses filled with dicsussions, lectures and examples, and they have the best Audio Series that many have learned with for some time now successfully.
One thing about IPExpert - there is no "Vaporware". If they are selling it, it is because they have it. And their upgrades are umm... I-N-C-L-U-D-E-D... Wow! That speaks volumes.
Their racks are state of the art, 2800's, 3800's, 3560's, and 3550's and they are on-time.
Yes, he reminded me with a sheepish grin... "Our updates are included"...
Can't do much with that one.
Here's something worth repeating:
A person may forget what you told them, they may forget what you did for them, but a person will never forget how you made them feel.
A person feels like he's welcome in this class and the customer is appreciated greatly, it shows.
Whew!!! 4:02am and one workbook down...
Now on to the IGP's... I had to play make-up due to losing 3 hours tonight.
ODR is cream puff... does that even count?
Ok -
A little hindsight... so... where was I...
Well Monday and Tuesday were pretty much taking the "Roller Coaster" up the hill and I must say watching Joe perform a couple of nuance type things that pretty much every one else just kinda "glossed over" and fully explaining the hidden issue with VTP was both enlightening and refreshing...
And I have to say Howard will not have to remind that the R&S is a troubleshooting exam - even our own self-inflicted wounds...
IPExpert was earning the name on Day 1 and Day 2...
And then Day 3 kicked into gear and we were all going downhill and fast... Non-stop Forwarding an we were all getting splashed and drenched in the "Firehouse of Knowledge"...
Multicast was pretty much the same explanation that Caslow gave, that Narbik gave, and that Cisco Live aka Networkers covers... detail for detail... A few nuances were illustrated in some "extra" detail.
Lots of stuff.
QoS was worked out. We had a resident highly-paid, and highly respected CCIE Voice in class who earns his pennies on the subject and I've done quite a bit with it this year... and then we had two more guys who knew it pretty well too.
So it was no wonder we all kinda looked at the FRTS formula slide a little funny... Anyway... Joe is a trooper, took things in stride, and calmly worked out the details and all of us either followed along or did the same... the slide is to be revised as a result.
Joe handled himself like a veteran trainer. Well the fact that he's a Cisco “Braniac” too made things quite a bit easier...
I love the way he handles people doubts... His never ending answer was... well let's throw it on a rack and let's see... and then he would proceed to illustrate the issue...
Sometimes the student was correct and sometimes there was an IOS snafu or bug and EVERYTIME we all got any clouds we had removed completely - one way or the other.
Apparently the whole class LOVED Joe and his unique style of "Stand and Deliver".
He kept things on track the entire time. Usually guys like me are prone to discuss other things... didn't really happen during this class. Nope. He does command a class room with a quiet confidence. Really kewl.
He let people share experiences with various routing issues and other war-stories. No NDA violations but plenty of raw experience during breaks and after hours during meals.
BTW - IPExpert serves meals and has plenty of caffeine - none of us knew or cared to make coffee and most of us just got it from downstairs or brought it in from the local Starbucks...
Temperature in class was about right - I always bring a sweater just in case and only needed it a couple of times later in the evenings...
Now Narbik keeps classes from about 9am to 9pm every night religiously and sometimes takes it to the Witching Hour if the students need it...
Narbik II aka Joe Astorino does about the same - I don't think any of us made it past maybe 10pm or 11pm at the class... and that was me and Joe one night. One classmate kept coming in earlier maybe 8am or so I think...
BGP is awesome...
Friday is the "Hell Day"...
Give up any hope for sleep... the lab takes a lot of time and concentration... Not designed for 8 hours by any means... it is designed to burn-in some concepts...
Anyway 3 of stayed till midnight on that one...
This is an area where some of the other boot camps either don't have at all (Narbik) or don't allow enough time to fully enjoy and get the maximum "bang for the buck" like "NMC or the Cisco 360"...
Narbik does not offer full labs in his class - all technologies so we never do multi-protocol stuff and I thought that was awesome by itself...
Until I saw this redistribution nightmare and put things in total perpsective... There is a MAJOR point (pardon the pun) that may get LOST in TRANSLATION... Read my little riddle again if you missed it.
And NMC aka Cisco 360 will come up short cause they plan the lab around it being completed by about 2-3pm in time for a 1-2 hour review... before people prepare to leave town... So a student might get about 5 hours for a lab that requires easily twice that... and then the students get graded on that by Checkit.
The IPexpert Lab is riddled with riddles... and then you get one for the road too...
In all the IPExpert gives three full labs to be enjoyed during this lab experience...
Heinz gives three such labs over 3 weeks... (2 and a take home)...
IPExpert covers all technologies over 4 days and does so "expertly"...
And then challenges you on Day-5.
Expect to get tired to the point of exhaustion and expect to challenged to the point of enlightenment.
A great experience I really wish I had done at the beginning or near the beginning of my "Journey to Be A CCIE"...
Thanks Wayne, Joe, Mike, Cat, and the whole team...
FYI - I checked with my mates and they were highly pleased by this experience and some cobwebs were cleaned off too...
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It was a great experience and Joe made it better. He's a rising star - keep your eyes on guy. He's simple and clear. Best thing I can tell you is that he absolutely loves the technology and never misses an opportunity to perform a "Truth by CLI".
Ok - I'm submitting this to Eman for the CCIE Flyer and it will be in a few forums around the net in a few minutes for reference.
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