One Network Engineer's journey to the CCIE

I have just registered for Cisco Live and also my CCIE Written exam on July 12th at 11:00am.  I am a bit nervous about the test itself, but I will put in the leg work now to hopefully pass it decisively.  I will continue with my plan of reading, doing the INE Class-On-Demand and INE Vol 1 labs.  I am still in the process of getting all the hardware I have ordered in order to get my home lab completely setup.  In the meantime, I have been having difficulty keeping up with the reading but I will need to change that ASAP.  More updates to follow….

I was thinking of giving myself about 3-4 months of study time to pass the CCIE written exam.  Today I was researching CiscoLive and saw that included with your registration, you have access to one certification exam.  This would be the perfect time for my exam as it gives me approximately 12 weeks from now to study and hopefully pass my CCIE Written exam.  I have requested that my job pay for this experience as it not only helps me do my job better, but helps me grow as a Network Engineer.  Cisco is such a pro at these types of events, they even have a link on how to Justify Your Trip.

That being said, I have 13 Sundays during which I can do a rack rental and practice my Volume 1 workbook from INE.  My plan to study for the Written exam was the following:

1. Reading Odom Cisco Press CCIE book(jumping around, not cover-to-cover)

2. Watching the INE Written CoD (squeezed in during work hours and any downtime available)

3. Complete INE.com Vol I on the weekends to get some time away from the books and get my hands on some devices.

4. Read relevant sections from Doyle Routing TCP/IP vol 1 and 2 (again for specific topics from the Blueprint)

I would like to make a set schedule of study time, say 10pm-12am every night, but I dont think I can stick to something like that.  The problem with something so rigid is that with a second child on the way, its not the easiest thing in the world to do.  Either way, I will try and do so in order to give myself the structure necessary to pass this exam.  Thats it for today.  Wendell Odom book chapter 3 here I come……

P.S. Looked at a timer to see how much time I have until Cisco Live.

Time until Sunday, July 10, 2011 at 9:00:00 AM (Las Vegas time)