Greetings
CCIE Pursuit : Chris Jones
Greetings everyone! Let me start off by saying Happy New Year to everyone reading this. I hope you all had a good holiday. I'm pleased to be writing my first article for CCIE Flyer!
For my first article, I think I will start off by giving you a bit of background on myself, my experiences and my goals. I'm 27 and currently living in Pittsburg Kansas, USA. I was born and raised in Barrie Ontario Canada, and somehow I ended up down here (but am anxious to get back). I recently passed the CCIE Routing & Switching lab, and I'm now known as Chris Jones, CCIE# 25655. I've only been into networking for a few years and technology in general, only a little while longer than that. I never really got into it, until I went to what I call my "thirty-thousand dollar life decision", aka college. The diploma itself was worthless, but it got me interested in networking. I finished my CCNA just before I graduated, after studying for it independently.
My CCIE experience was exciting, frustrating at times, and pretty satisfying by the end of it. Quite the roller coaster ride, I have to say. I took the written exam in October 2008, and immediately started studying. I got distracted by Christmas and New Years, and didn't really pick up my books again until around May of 2009. I studied casually for the entire summer, went on vacation in August, and then really bore down with my studies. I labbed every single day in September, which was not fun at all. Work 8-4:30 and then labbed from 4:30-10pm every single weeknight. Add to that about 8-10 hours each Saturday, and a mock lab each Sunday. My Fiancée was not happy, but understood it had to be done.
My mock lab scores were not good, at all. However, a significant amount of the things I was getting wrong weren't a lack of understanding of the technologies, but were instead usually just a mistake. Things I had learned, but had simply forgotten. I actually went into my lab expecting it to be, as a colleague on IRC put it, a "recon mission". Just a way to test the waters so as to not be so nervous on the next attempt. There was no nervousness, even after I had sat down at my terminal. That is, until I flipped through my lab. I couldn't believe my eyes! The tasks were not at all what I had expected, and in a good way. That was when the nervousness set in, as I knew I may not get quite so lucky on the second attempt. I ended up having my IGP working by lunch, and was completely done with two hours to spare.
The night after my lab I refreshed my email countless times, only to realize once I was half-asleep that I had actually changed my profile to send to a different address. I opened the link, cursed the slow hotel wireless, logged in, and closed my eyes as the page loaded. When I opened them, I couldn't believe it. PASS. I was shocked, but at the same time it wasn't such a surprise, considering how simple the lab was.
Even before I passed my CCIE R&S lab, my eyes were set on the CCIE Service Provider. The main reason was because BGP and MPLS were really where my heart was (despite not knowing much about them at that point). It was just too late to switch tracks. So now CCIE Service Provider is my focus. I have a few other goals for 2010: CCNA Voice, CCNA Wireless, CCDA, CCDP, and JNCIE-M. I know it's a lot, but I think it's do-able.
Thank you to all who have supported me during my quest for the CCIE: Friends, family, and colleagues on both IRC and Twitter!