So, You Want To Be a CCIE?, Part 1
Get on the right path to Cisco's highest-level cert in this two-part primer by the columnist of TCP Q&A.
by Scott Morris
6/28/2005 --
Editor's note: To read part two of this two-part series, go here.
Whereas desire alone can sometimes get you a certification, wanting to be a
CCIE requires ambition and determination to endure a long and arduous trek across
difficult technical terrain. After all, it’s one of the most sought-after
certifications in the industry. As a matter of fact, more people want to be
a CCIE than want to be the president of the United States, according to some
surveys (obscure as they are). In my own poll, four out of five said they would
rather be a CCIE than president!
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So, what is it about the CCIE that makes it so special? Well, other than the
fact that it ranks on top of CertCities’ 10
Hottest Certifications list year after year, it represents the pinnacle
of technical achievement in many ways. In all of my travels around the world
teaching CCIE boot camps, the students I’ve met had a variety of reasons
for pursuing the CCIE certification. However, the most common raison d’etre
seems to be that it’s a personal goal, a mark of achievement.
As has been the case for over 10 years now, the CCIE is not a simple thing
to attain! Some say they make it harder year after year. Though Cisco says this
is not true, I think it just seems that way due to the growing number of technologies
you have to learn about. The program has grown significantly over the years,
but many things are still the same.
When you set out on the path towards CCIE, you need to realize a few things:
- The written exam is about theory and technical tidbits; the lab exam is
about making it happen and configuring the devices.
- It is not a reality-based exam.
- It requires that you have no social life during your studies.
- It will test everything you thought you knew about technologies and then
some.
What does it really take to attain the CCIE? A good understanding of things,
a mind crammed full of networking trivia, and a little bit of luck! Above all,
you can’t have a fear of failure. The pass rate of the CCIE lab on the
first attempt is said to be less than 10 percent. On average, it takes people
three to four attempts to pass the lab. So, even though the odds are against
you passing it in one go, approach it with a positive mindset—think of
each attempt as a practice run.
CCIE Tracks
There are several paths to the CCIE, depending on the area you want to specialize
in:
- Routing and Switching
- Security
- Service Provider
- Voice
- Storage Networking
Which CCIE Track is Best?
The $64,000 question. Or, at least the $1,250+ question! Do you remember your
parents and teachers asking you what you wanted to be when you grow up? Well,
things haven’t changed. Ask yourself what you would like to do.
Don’t tell me whichever track nets you the most money. Money is all relative
anyway. The expected compensation for any of these CCIE tracks will vary based
on where you’re located, what type of organization you’re working
for, what your experience level is (you know, real-world stuff) and many other
factors. So, consider all the tracks to be roughly equal in pay.
Whatever you choose to do with your life, I’ve always believed in two
golden rules: Have fun. Make money. (Not necessarily in that order.) As long
as you’re on track to accomplish both, then life is good. In this high-end
technical arena you really need to enjoy whatever it is that you’re going
to do. Otherwise, it’s too much like a mundane task and much, much harder
to motivate yourself towards achieving it. So ask yourself, where do you want
to be next year? Or, what about in five years? What do you want to do?
Once you figure that out, you can narrow down the market possibilities and
target yourself more appropriately. But make sure you’ll enjoy whatever
your choice is going to be! Once you’ve decided which mountain you want
to climb first, we’ll get around to which path to take.
| Multiple
CCIEs - Why? |
Technology is addicting. Once
you get started, it’s hard to stop! Some people simply
use that as their reason to pursue multiple CCIE certifications.
The question is, however, what do multiple CCIEs bring? Why
do it?
Having four CCIEs myself and working on my fifth, I’ve
often been asked that question. It really isn’t about
money. Whether working for a company or as an independent
consultant, the market is the market. If a CCIE can bill at
$150 an hour in the marketplace, having four CCIEs doesn’t
mean I can bill at $600 an hour. (Though, that would be nice!)
However, having multiple CCIE certifications does have its
benefits. It allows you to work in more areas, which can provide
some variety from week to week. Multiple CCIEs also increases
your chances of finding a contract or job because you have
two or three times as many things you can do compared to other
candidates.
It’s a way to set yourself apart from others. As I’m
sure you’ve all noticed, this is a tough job market—for
both contracts and full-time employment. What makes you different
from all of the other people bidding on a project or applying
for a job? What can you bring to the table?
There are 12,004 active CCIEs in the world (plus 1,361 inactive
ones). So, once you pass an exam, you’ve become one
of those 12,000 jobseekers. On the other hand, if you were
to get a second CCIE you would be one out of 541 special people
to hold two CCIE titles.
If you were to pass a third CCIE, you would be one of only
81 people in the entire world who have three or more CCIE
certifications. Only 12 people have four or more CCIEs. Only
three people have five or more. You see how it works? In a
tough economic climate, it’s all about making yourself
stand out from the crowd.
In my case, going for more certifications prevents me from
becoming bored more than anything. I like variety! And I just
love this stuff too much. There should probably be some kind
of networkers anonymous group for tech addicts like me. But
like I said before, it’s all about being different.
How different are you?
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Lab Equipment
To study for the CCIE lab, it’s best if you have access to some equipment.
Now, unless you’ve been around a while or just have more money than you
know what to do with, chances are you won’t have a lab setup equal to
the real lab. That’s ok. Start out with one switch and three routers.
This will give you a starting point where you can make most of the basic configurations.
Remember, you have to be able to walk before you run! (And don’t run with
scissors.)
Here are some of the bigger Web sites where you can rent equipment racks for
your CCIE studies:
CCIE Study Habits
First, you should print out the Exam Blueprint of your chosen CCIE
track and get some folders and notebooks. Now, start playing. No, really, I
mean it. Play around with the equipment, trying out different configurations
and conditions.
Reference books and study guides on the CCIE lab go through, in detail, various
protocols and network links and everything else you’ll need to know. They
often have sample labs or mini-scenarios for each topic.
Need more? How about free stuff? It’s called the Documentation
CD and it’s from Cisco themselves. Look at the IOS configuration guides,
or the Catalyst 3550 configuration guides, for example. These provide some configuration
explanations of each of the things that IOS has to offer.
That’ll keep you up-to-date on all the CCIE-related Cisco technologies;
but take it all one step at a time. As I’ve said before, walk before you
run. As you build up your experience, you’ll gradually start adding things
together.
Start with the basics, then look at what you’ve built and ask yourself,
“How can I make this more complicated?” And always remember to redo
things—you’ll learn things quicker with repetition and practice.
Though they might’ve looked simple and easy enough in your books, real
life is tough and things might not work out as they do on paper.
This can be a good thing. Besides strengthening your basic understanding of
Cisco technologies, you need to learn what to do when things go badly. Believe
me, they will go badly. If you’re in the middle of your eight-hour lab
exam and things go badly, you’ll need the experience—and patience—to
conquer these obstacles.
Know your show commands and your debug commands. Your routers
will have this obnoxious habit of doing what you tell them to do, which may
not necessarily be what you want them to do. But on the other hand, with the
proper show/debug commands, the router will also tell you exactly
what is happening. It’s then up to you to interpret and react to that.
Troubleshooting will become invaluable not only for the lab but for real life
as well.
So, how well do you need to know your stuff? Remember when I said this wasn’t
a reality-based exam? I wasn’t lying. In real life, we run our networks,
but they aren’t inherently difficult to maintain. Typically, we’ll
run frame-relay links as point-to-point subinterfaces. Why? Because, that’s
the easy way. Things just work! On the CCIE lab, life isn’t that simple.
Why? Because the proctors are evil? No, not really. But what does it mean for
Cisco to put their stamp of approval on you as an “expert” in the
field? I hope it means you can do more than regurgitate configurations using
point-to-point subinterfaces on frame-relay links! Though it works, knowing
those simple configurations doesn’t demonstrate you know anything about
how the underlying technology works.
However, if you ever run into a network in real life that’s designed
like a CCIE lab, hunt down the person who designed it and duct-tape that person
to his/her chair! Bad lab rat! Bad!
| What's
Up, Doc? |
The Documentation CD is your friend. It’s
the only reference you’ll have available during the
lab, so you had best know it well!
Let me share with you a little anecdote. Back in 1999, when
I was studying for the Routing and Switching lab, I went through
all of these steps. I played with everything, I studied and
labbed it all up! My goal was to practice on labs more bizarre
than the actual test lab would be so that I could know everything
possible and be one of the few who passed on the first try.
That was the goal anyway! And, I studied a lot to
get there. Well, needless to say, they came up with something
on the lab that I hadn’t thought about. Right then and
there, that messed up my game a bit. Also, I’m one of
those people who’ll beat something to death in troubleshooting
until I figure it out. A great habit in real life, not so
good under the time pressure of the lab!
They threw the kitchen sink at me, but I figured it out.
However, I ate up a lot of time in the process, and I was
unable to finish the whole exam because my bad management
of time. Not cool.
Between my first and second attempts, I didn’t touch
a router. The only thing I did was become more familiar with
the Doc CD. By the time my second attempt came around, there
were some things on the test I hadn’t thought about
(they’re good at that!). But instead of blindly stabbing
away at it, I took a more methodical approach with the Documentation
CD and found answers faster. On this second attempt, I even
finished the exam early—so early, in fact, it scared
me! Fortunately, this time, I was successful.
So, remember, you have to have a strategy about how you’ll
handle things and stick to it. Time management is a critical:
Every minute you spend idling away or typing uselessly is
1/480 of your test, and it’ll go by fast!
Realizing this will also help you with answering, “How
much of everything do I need to know? How can I memorize that
much?” The answer is don’t memorize. Learn it.
Once you know the basics, you can look up the details. If
you know the basics, and you are familiar with the Doc CD,
you’ll have plenty of time to fill in the blanks. Personally,
I try not to memorize things, because commands may change
from version to version of IOS. But conceptually, I know what
I’m looking for so the details can be found in the Doc
CD. In the very unfortunate case you don’t have a clue
about something on the test, you can find out about it on
the Doc CD: It covers everything on the test. Just be careful
how much time you spend on it!
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CCIE Social Life
No, no. You don’t get to have one. Along the same lines that
drinking and driving don’t mix, neither does studying for the CCIE and
having a social life. Otherwise, it’ll be like college all over again
on an eight-year plan! Set your expectations, accordingly, for both yourself
and your family/significant other/friends. You will need to reintroduce yourself
when all is done!
The time you spend studying will greatly depend on your previous experience
and study habits. I always cringe when people ask me how long I studied for
any of the labs that I’ve taken. It’s a floating measuring stick.
For my Routing and Switching lab (my first), I clocked in a good 2,000+ hours
over the course of 13 months, and that’s just for studying. To put that
in perspective, there are 2,080 hours in a full-time work year (assuming 40
hours per week for 52 weeks). That was starting from ground zero and playing
around with my equipment—a lot!
On the other hand, when I took my Service Provider exam, I only studied for
a day and a half before taking the lab. I had been teaching and consulting on
many of those technologies for a couple of years prior to the lab. And I had
passed three other CCIE labs before then, so the psychological aspect of preparing
for the exam didn’t phase me any more. Experience—whether it’s
your first exam or fourth—will definitely improve your chances of beating
the CCIE lab.
Networking with Other CCIE Candidates
There are various e-mail lists and Internet bulletin boards that CCIE candidates
frequent, which can give you access to people who are in the same boat as you,
as well as people who’ve completed the journey already! There are tons
of messages that circulate on these boards, though, so be prepared with your
Microsoft Outlook Inbox rules so you can automagically file messages away!
GroupStudy is one of
the most well-known and established of these lists. You can search their archives
or sign up for their mailing list. The “ccielab” list is the one
you’ll want! www.onlinestudylist.com
is another good place for e-mail groups. www.routerie.com
is a vendor forum, but they have many good discussions going on that might interest
you, as a CCIE-in-training. All in all, it’s such a tight and smallish
community that after a while, you’ll begin to recognize names and reputations.
As with any group discussion online, there’s always the chance you might
get flamed! To avoid becoming the victim of random flaming, just make sure when
you pose a question to the group that you’ve already made some effort
to find an answer first! Though people are generally there to help, you’ll
find that sometimes folks’ patience gets a little frayed when you haven’t
done a simple search of past forum posts.
The lists and bulletin boards are great communities and a great way to learn.
Other folks who either are doing or have done the same thing you’re doing
makes for an excellent source of support along your quest for the CCIE.
Break Time!
Now that we’ve finished discussing the basic things you need to prepare
for your CCIE studies, next we’ll talk about the written and lab exams
themselves, bootcamps, game day and life after the exams. So, take a breather,
look over what we’ve talked about, and look out next month for the second
installment of this two-part series on becoming a CCIE! 
Scott Morris, quadruple CCIE and Uber-Geek can often be seen
traveling around the world consulting and delivering CCIE
training. For more information on him check out
www.uber-geek.net or for CCIE training
check out www.ipexpert.com.
More articles by Scott Morris:
So, You Want To Be a CCIE?, Part 2
Theory and Application: CCIE Routing & Switching Written Exam
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