Staying sharp in other ares?

shodown

How do most of you guys stay sharp in other areas of networking IE Routing/Switching and so on.  I still setup static routes, Vlans and so on, but I use to be pretty good at OSPF/BGP working as a WAN engineer.  I've been removed from that for quite a time, but when those type of problems come around I'm like a dear in the headlight.  So I'm wondering what type of statagies do you use to stay sharp in other areas.  I can answer most interview type questions, but I would be lost these days trying to solve a problem wtih BGP, Prefix-list and route maps.  

ciscovoiceguru

I've gotten pretty rusty with my routing/switching, apart from QoS.  I think it depends on what you do for your job.  I work for a very large Cisco partner so I end up doing 95% UC work and 5% R/S.  I know of others who are closer to a 50/50 split.

I suppose you could build a home lab and geek it out.  Either that, or pursue more certifications.  The older you get, though, and the more kids you have, I think people tend to find what they enjoy and dig deep instead of shooting for breadth.

My $0.02.

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Matthew Berry  |  +1.612.567.CCIE (2243)

Web: http://ciscovoiceguru.com
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On Jul 19, 2012, at 3:26 PM, shodown wrote:

How do most of you guys stay sharp in other areas of networking IE Routing/Switching and so on. I still setup static routes, Vlans and so on, but I use to be pretty good at OSPF/BGP working as a WAN engineer. I've been removed from that for quite a time, but when those type of problems come around I'm like a dear in the headlight. So I'm wondering what type of statagies do you use to stay sharp in other areas. I can answer most interview type questions, but I would be lost these days trying to solve a problem wtih BGP, Prefix-list and route maps.


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drkat

I as well work for a partner. We're not HUGE so most of my day consists of 70% R&S and 30% UC stuff... when it flips I'll let ya know..