About four years ago I was privileged to start working for Cisco Systems. Joining the AS Mobility team I met people from the world over with expertise in networking and telecommunications. Many had one or more CCIE certifications and I was one of those who hadn’t yet known the bitter taste of studying up to 4 hours a day for months to pass a written exam and an 8-hour lab practical.
Before coming to the U.S. it was rare for me to meet an engineer with a CCIE-certified engineer, mainly because I’m from the tiny Dominican Republic, which doesn’t have a high tech engineer demographic.
My journey began when a good friend told me you need dedication, effort, and sacrifice to become a certified engineer. That inspired and motivated me to pursue one of my big challenges and dreams – to become a CCIE.
I then prepared for the written exam, reading several books and watching videos related to the technologies covered in the syllabus. After 3 months – with my wife putting in extra time to care for our two kids – I felt ready. I took the written exam in November 2013 and passed the first test. A week later I scheduled the practical exam for April 2014.
When I booked the practical exam, I got really nervous. I thought, Oh my God! What have I done? I don’t feel ready for anything and I have the exam in six months!
For entire weekends, I never left my room and had no social life, sacrificing moments of fun and joy with family because I was studying. In addition to the week-time study hours, over the weekends I’d spend more than 8 hours studying nonstop, taking only short breaks to rest my eyes. It was a long, tense, stress-filled journey, and sometimes frustrating when something didn’t work properly during practice and labs.
Finally, a week closer to the practical exam, I realized I had prepared enough. But, in a CCIE exam you’re never 100 percent confident because anything can happen during the exam.
I flew to San Jose, California two days early because I needed at least one day to adapt my body to the new environment. The first day I slept without any problem and got up late. The second day (one day before the test), I went to bed at 10 o’clock, but from that time until 6 in the morning, I didn’t sleep. It was frustrating, because I knew I’d need all my energy for the exam.
There was no turning back. In prayer, I entrusted my day to Almighty God because I knew how I had prepared and sacrificed over the past year. I went out early and bought two Red Bulls, then had a light breakfast and drank two cups of coffee.
I arrived at the test center, registered, waited for the proctor to pick the various CCIE-track candidates, then entered the examination room. Once inside the laboratory, I was extremely nervous and then the proctor explained the exam methodology. I could neither hear nor understand what he was saying. It felt out of focus. Stress and nerves were betraying me and when the test started I couldn’t even press the keyboard. I did deep breathing to relax.
Starting the test, I was unable to think about my attack methodology, I took a short break. I went to the bathroom, washed my face, drank some water and a cup of coffee… then I came back to my desk. Feeling more refreshed and relaxed, all I heard was the sound of the fast keyboard clicks.
I took about 20 minutes to read and review the exam and mark the points in my favor and against, using a checkbox on a separate page, as a way to save time during the test taking. When I started configuring and troubleshooting, I marked each task I completed, and marked those that stumped me as incomplete. I worked on the exam for 8 short hours until the session ended.
I did my best. When I left the test center I didn’t feel confident about having passed or failed, though. I was anxious as I awaited the results.
When I arrived at the airport two hours early for my 8:10 evening flight home, all kinds of things were going through my mind. I was ready to schedule my second try. But, about 40 minutes before boarding the airplane, I got a call from my manager: “Rafael, congratulations! You did it! You passed your CCIE!”
I said: “What? Are you kidding me?”
I could not believe I had passed the CCIE exam. Really? I thought my manager was kidding. How could he could have known the result before me? Turns out that Cisco managers receive a notification directly from the candidate’s email address when they pass the CCIE exam.
After getting the good news, I went to the website to confirm, then called everyone: my wife, parents, co-workers, childhood friends, and I even posted on Facebook! I also thanked God for giving me the strength and courage to pass this tough exam. It was truly rewarding and surprising to know I had already completed this long journey and I was relieved. The pressure and stress diminished and now I began feeling free of studies.
I hadn’t slept for almost 24 hours, so when I finally got home, I went to bed and broke the record for most time sleeping – about 15 hours! I was extremely tired but at the same time so happy because, as many people say, “Time paid off!”
This has been my journey through the world of CCIE certification. I hope to maintain my certification while continuing to grow professionally. I’m staying hungry and looking forward to learning new stuff.
Below are some references I used to study for my CCIE exam. Please share your own tips on how to study for the CCIE.
Trainings:
- Workbooks of technologies, labs (mock labs) and videos of INE
- Rack Rental and videos of IPExpert
- Sessions and presentations related to different Data Center technologies:
Books:
- Data Center Virtualization Fundamentals
- Nx-os And Cisco Nexus Switching Next-generation Data Center Architectures
- Storage Networking Protocol Fundamentals
Resources for lab:
We are more than welcome to learn from others so please feel free to share your experience with us!
Best regards,
Rafael Ceara
