The trip begins...

So after almost nine years in the networking arena, I've decided to go for my CCIE R&S certification. For those of you who don't know, this is the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert, Routing & Switching certification. This is Cisco's top certification for Routing & Switching and one of the industries top certifications. It involves a long written test, and an 8 hour hands-on practical lab at one of Cisco's lab testing facilities.

For those of you who have known me a long time, I once "joked" that someday I would be a CCIE. Never did I believe that I would actually attempt this, esepecially at such a (relatively) young age.

I already hold several certifications including MCP, A+, Net+, MCSA, CCNA and CCNP, so certification testing was not a new thing to me. The CCIE written examination was one of the toughest written exams to take. It included over 100 questions over a wide range of topics. On top of taking and passing the test, I had to worry about Cisco's "forensics analysis" which included how quickly you answered each question, how many times you changed an answer, and if you returned to a previous question, among other factors.

After about three months of studying, using the Cisco Official Exam Certifcation guide (which I highly recommend), I decided to take the test. The test is every bit about answering questions, as it is completing the test in the allotted amount of time. That being said, I passed the test with about 10 minutes to spare and a score of 910. After passing the exam, you are told your score needs to validated by Cisco. This takes about 48 hours. You can view you results online and I was elated to see that not only did I pass, but my score was validated.

So I am starting this blog a little late in the process being that I have already passed the written. I've created to blog not only to help others, but to keep notes as I go along to help myself pass the exam.

I've chosen Internetwork Experts CCIE Labs using Dynamips. I'll get in to that at another day.

I've been following someone else on their track to their CCIE R&S Cert... http://www.cciecandidate.com

Check it out as it is very useful and insightful.