It is finally time for me to write my own success story. I
cant believe how long it has been and how overwhelming it has been, I really
hope you all find my story to be quite unique in some sense or the other.
So to give you a little background on myself. My name is
Hadi Esper, I am Lebanese, and 23 years old. I have been studying for my CCIE
ever since I touched my first CCNA book (2.5 years ago). I guess my journey is
somehow accelerated, you’ll learn why in a few minutes.
I must start with one thing first. I have taken the time to
write this post mostly because I feel like I owe it to the INE team and all
other members of the INE forums, without your support, I could have never
reached where I did. I must also confess, over the whole preparation period, I
have been a “taker” and not a “giver”. I would say I was a taker from the
forums because I never had time to log on and answer any else’s questions, I
only logged on when I had trouble and needed help. So from now on, I promise to
make my contribution to the forums as a thank you to everyone who helped me
even when I was difficult or in-experienced sometimes. I have also been a huge “taker” from the sales
team, whom I always asked for discounts and discounts.. well mostly because
preparation was a little difficult for me financially. So you ask how I am
going to give back? Hehehe.. well.. I still have 516 tokens in my account, and if
the INE team is okay with it, I would be happy to donate them to someone who is
currently preparing for the lab and is basically in my shoes (the past me). To be
honest, I don’t know who or how to choose.. I was thinking of making some kind
of competition, but I don’t want to make it difficult for anyone.. I just want
to make someones life just a tiny bit easier.. so experts.. feel free to
suggest a decision criteria ..
Alright, so now is the part where I explain how I prepared
for my CCIE.. I started my preparation back when I was in university. I am a
graduate of the electrical and computer engineering school (July 2008). I started
my preparation around January 2008, that’s when I bought a very comprehensive
book “CCNA study Guide” by todd lammle. Now one thing I want to stress to any
candidate.. when you are preparing for the CCNA, your goal should not be to
pass the CCNA exam.. your goal should be to gain CCIE level knowledge part of
which happens to be CCNA, CCNP or whatever.. so what I am saying is, even if
your studying a CCNA book, do it like your studying for the CCIE. I remember
buying some useless router emulator for 150$ .. ow man do I regret that.. just
get GNS3.. and start practicing everything you learn in your CCNA and CCNP
books. When I took my CCNA exam .. which had some simulation questions, I was
at a CCNP level in configuring routing protocols and therefore the CCNA exam
simulations were a piece of cake.. and similarly with the CCNP, I had practiced
routing switching, qos .. etc.. so much.. that I felt I was above the CCNP
level before even taking the tests… why ? because you should be studying to get
the CCIE not to pass a CCNA/CCNP test…
Alright so back to my timeline.. I prepared for my CCNA
while I was still in university.. it was also a cool experience because I took
a graduate level lab at that time where we would spend about 6 hours a week
configuring cisco routers and a couple of linux servers.. after I graduated
college in 20 days, I was recruited by Cisco as part of a graduate training program
where I sat for official certified training (not INE at that time… but INe is
the best.. more later..hehehe).. I took ICND-1 and 2.. I passed my CCNA exam.. I
took BCMSN,BSCI,ONT,ISCW.. I passed all those tests as well… I passed the CCNA
from the first try .. mostly because I was so well prepared since I read the
todd lammle book page for page.. CCNP was a struggle .. especially that the
courses were so crammed.. each certification was a 9 hour a day for 5 days
course.. but during that whole CCNA/CCNP phase.. my life was all study.. I woke
up at 8 everyday .. took my class from 9-5.. then stayed at the offices to
study from 5pm to 11 or 12pm.. I did that for about 4 months straight.. and that’s
how I got to be a CCNP by November 2008.
After my CCNP began the journey of my CCIE that’s when I
discovered INE.. this is the material I used:
1-
All 4 CCNP cisco press books
2-
CCIE cisco press book
INE VOL 1,2,4 and open ended questions.
I started my first job with a Cisco gold partner in January 2009
as well.. my job is in pre-sales.. that’s basically like a Cisco SE .. mostly
design consultancy.. so yes as you can tell.. I have never ever.. even up till
today .. ever actually implemented a project on site!! All my actual
implementation experience was either the few switches I bought off ebay.. or
the racks I continuously rented from INE.
I did all the labs from INE vol2.. maybe except for 1.. and I
have been doing that from January 2009 until January 24 2010. Ow I forgot to
mention I first Lab failed attempt (November 23 2009) ugh I did so bad that
day.. I was just shocked with the format of the test.. my layer 2 wasn’t even
up until like 2 hours.. can you believe that!!!.. I definitely had a panic
attack that day.. I was so nervous my hands were shaking for most of the lab..
Anyways I went on a little there.. So the last year was
basically spending 1 day of the week doing a lab or half a lab.. and spending 2
days of my weekend from 9 am to 9 pm doing a lab.. It wasnt every week of the
year.. otherwise I shouldn’t gotten the CCIE in half the time.. but definitely countless
weekends.. especially the last 5 months from today.. I can swear on my life
that I don’t remember what the sun looks like in the weekend.. man have a
gained a lot of weight as well..!! anyways.. lets not embarrass me anymore.. I shall
be at the gym after I write this !!
So my advice to CCIE candidates:
1-INE is the best training resource in terms of workbooks..
you should be comfortable with all labs even at level 9. I reached a point
where I don’t even want to look at a level 5 or 6. Level nines always have this
complex redistribution scenario.. I LOVE IT!!. hehehe
2- INE racks are the best out there.. well .. maybe I shouldn’t
say this because I haven’t even tried any other racks.. but the truth is.. the
support is so good here.. I didn’t even want to bother looking for something
else.. the racks are always problem free.. and once you’ve worked with that
control panel.. ow the control panel.. I fell in love with that tool..
3- when you are in the CCIE lab.. read every single line of
instructions.. it is very very important that you are calm.. never make any assumptions
on your own and follow everything every step of the way.. for example.. lets
say the lab says that the following pre-configuration has been done for you:
1-
a- IPv8 addresses
2-
b- Layer 12 configuration
3-
c- HSRP version 3.2
And then they tell you that there is a problem with the
pre-configuration… don’t go looking for problems with anything else.. imagine
that you configured a,b, and c.. now verify each one just like you did in VOL2
of INE.. now what I explained is just in
principle.. but you should read every
single line in the lab … the instructions they give you are guidelines to carry
out the lab.. you must follow each and every one otherwise you will be
forgetting to do something in the lab.. or adding additional configs that will
make you loose points..
Okay I think ive written enough for now… I hope I didn’t bore
anyone.. thank all so much for your support… big thanks goes to my boss at work
who has been supportive with training ..
And the biggest thanks goes to my girlfriend for her continuous
love, care, and support during all the time I was stressed tired or busy.. its
time for me to make up for all the lost weekends now!!
Is the sky still blue during those weekends days btw?
All the Best to Everyone,
Hadi Esper
CCIE R&S # 25869