Its been quite a while since I’ve had time to post on my blog, so many things have happened lately and a lot has changed in my life. As a result my CCIE lab prep has gone through somewhat of a rut.
Firstly I think many people go through a short period after completing their CCIE written exam where they are unsure of what exactly their next step should be. Fair enough I guess my “short” period may have lasted longer than others, but I now have a plan and as of Monday I will be starting to work on my lab prep again. I will spend the next month in refresh-mode, going over the OECG, reading Cisco Documentation and maybe reading a book or two from the recommended reading list. After that I will officially start The Internetwork Expert End-to-End Routing & Switching Program and/or The IPexpert Self-Study Blended Learning Solution. Ideally I would like to work through both vendors programs as I believe it would expose me to as many obscure and interesting scenarios as possible and thus increase the probability of me passing my lab on the first attempt. The only issue with working through both vendors learning solutions is cost, at about 5k USD for both, its pretty steep.
Speaking of steep, this week I started my new job at a Tier-1 Internet Service Provider here in South Africa. Its an excellent opportunity to not only further my career but to learn more about routing, switching, security and so much more. Though having never worked for a large ISP, its going to be a steep learning curve getting used to the way certain things are done. I’ve really enjoyed my first week and I’m certain that I will enjoy working for such an innovative company. It’s great being able to go to work in the morning, knowing that you’re going to hear nothing but discussions regarding routing, switching and coffee. How will this new position effect my Lab prep? Well I plan on getting to work at 5:30 each morning, I will then get 2 hours study in before starting work. Ideally I would like to study more, but I think that for the next few months, while I’m having to study other work related technologies/applications, etc 2 hours is a fair amount for weekdays. Saturdays and Sundays will then become my Lab days, this is when I will be working through my workbooks, spending as much time as possible studying on these two days.
All round, I think that getting my CCIE has become harder, as starting a new job is bound to take up loads of my free time, but I am motivated to pass my lab and get my CCIE. I know what I want, and I have a plan detailing how I will go about getting it. I just need to remember something I realized when I was studying for my first ever industry cert (Comptia Linux+)… Its not about a lot of hard work all at once, its about a little bit of work every single day.
Just a random message to anyone reading this… Work hard, become great at what you do and success will follow. 
