Passed CCIE RS on first attempt in Brussels

Bio

I’m a seasoned IT professional with over 10yrs of diversified and well groomed experience in designing, implementing and managing state of the enterprise level complex network solutions to meet operational needs. Having done MSc (MIS) and BSc (Comp Eng), I started my career with a global banking giant and worked up my way to the role of Senior Network Analyst while working on various international assignments. Currently working as a Senior Network and Security Engineer in Ticketmaster. My career objective is to apply my technical knowledge and management skills to become an ace IT Professional while seeking opportunities to enhance my knowledge and breadth of expertise

Boom I passed

After 18 months of hard work, perseverance and countless hrs of practice I finally passed the CCIE RS Lab in Brussels on 18th April. !!First attempt!!

Firstly I am thankful to GOD ALMIGHTY for blessing me with the courage to prepare and pass this exam, to my family and friends for their support and prayers but mainly to my wife for her tremendous support and encouragement. She kept me motivated throughout this journey and without her support this dream would not come true.

I am also indebted to my study partners Fabio and Afsar who helped me whenever I felt down. Guys you’ll get there soon also!

Journey

My professional career spans over 10 yrs and like for most of the lads out there it also started off with Microsoft certifications. I always had a passion for IP Networking which later led me into the amazing world of Cisco.

In 2001 after doing my Computer Engineering degree from one of the premier engineering universities in Pakistan I joined a Global banking giant as a desktop support engineer and gradually worked myself up to end up at their Global NOC in London Head Office in 2003 to work as a Network Analyst.

This was a very challenging role working in a high tech environment with a number of Cisco geeks as my peers. I learned a lot while in this role and worked on various technologies such as Leased lines to ISDN, X.25/ATM to Frame Relay, complex L2 switching problems to dynamic routing and IP multicast issues. I passed CCNA exam in Sept 2007 and had to leave this job as was declared redundant in Nov 2007.

I joined Ticketmaster in early 2008 as a Network Engineer. Ticketmaster is one of the biggest online ticket seller in the world. It has a very diverse, large and reliable network infrastructure. I was involved in designing and implementation of large scale network projects. I finished my CCNP in Sept 2008 and was then recommended by my company to attend the INE Boot camp in Dec 08. It was an amazing experience and helped me learn a lot of new things. At the same boot camp I also met Brian Dennis and Brian Mcghan; what an inspiration these guys are!

Study approach

I started preparing for CCIE written around July/Aug 2009 and passed the written on 17th Oct a day before V4 was introduced. It took me a couple of months in building up my lab, used 4 x 3560s with GNS3 via break out switch and it just worked as good as it could get. Initially my aim was to take the lab exam in around 6-8 months but God had even better plans for us as my wife was expecting our first child and this was bigger than anything for us.

As you all would appreciate that it was difficult to take proper time out for self study in this situation but I was able to find 1-2 hrs after work and 4-5 hrs on weekends. Started with INE Vol1 before starting any section I used to watch INE Advanced Technologies CoD, read relevant materials and wouldn't move to next section until I fully understood the technology inside out.

I attended the INE boot camp in July of 2010 held at London which was taught by Anthony. Besides helping me in the technical areas the Lab strategy and Time Management skills taught proved to be one of the key factors in passing the lab.

It took me a while to complete Vol1 as I had to break my studies few times. On 2nd Oct 10 my wife gave birth to our beautiful daughter and I didn't study at all for the next 2-3 months after that. I started again in Dec and by year end I finished Vol1.

Stared vol2 in Jan 11 only completed 5-6 labs of difficulty level 6-7 as I was more worried about the TS section. I completed all vol2 TS and vol4 TS labs, also completed couple of vol3 labs. Whenever I found myself struggling on anything I would go back and review Vol1 and watch CoD for that section.

In the last month I focussed more on my weak areas and reviewed Vol1 extensively besides spending loads of time on INE racks doing vol2 TS and Vol4 again and again. A part from INE I also used couple of Narbik TS labs and Cisco 360 TS labs.

Materials used

INE Vol 1 – 4, INE Advanced Technologies CoD, INE Advanced Troubleshooting CoD, Scott Morris Audio Boot camp, Cisco 360 TS videos, Cisco 360 TS labs, Narbik TS labs, Number of Cisco press books but didn't read any from cover to cover, Cisco Docs and RFCs

Big Day

I was hearing a lot of horrible stories on different forums and realised that it’s more of a nerve game rather than the technicalities. Though a bit nervous I was beaming with confidence since had put a lot of hard work and dedication in studying for well over an year and this made me realize that I’ve tried my level best and couldn’t possibly be better prepared so why not to stay calm and enjoy the lab experience. I didn’t study much in the last few days and only spent few hrs a day going over my notes and spending most of the time with my family.

I arrived a day before the exam after some rest went for a walk and had a look around Cisco exam lab building. Spent rest of the evening relaxing in my room and went to bed early.

On the lab day I was joined by 4 other guys taking R&S sitting in the lobby before proctor arrived. For TS section my plan was not to spend over 10 mins on a single ticket. In TS section I spent first 5 mins in reading the guidelines and viewed all tickets. Started with tickets I thought would be easy to fix. I never looked at the clock but only when I realised that I’m going over 10mins on any ticket at that moment I left that ticket and moved on to the next one. That helped me save time in the end to revisit unsolved tickets and thus was able to complete all tickets before time.

In the config section I read guidelines, all tasks and viewed all diagrams. I didn't draw any diagram as they provided enough information. I was able to complete the config section quickly allowing me with ample time for verification.

The moment I finished the lab I knew that I nailed it but deep inside my heart I had a fear which everyone would have and I just kept myself quite and waited for the result. It was a super express service from Cisco I received my result within 1.5 wow!. I refresh the screen thousands time in disbelief and checked my CCIE status numerous times before telling anyone.

It has been one of the most wonderful and rewarding experience of my life. After taking some rest and spending some quality time with my family I'm planning to start CCIE Security.

Thank you all,
Saulat Ali
CCIE RS #28676

by: Saulat Ali: CCIE RS #28676