Dang Ngo, CCIE #36665

Hey guys, i am sooo happy and proud to be able to announce that i finally got the 5 digit-number (on my 2nd attempt) that made me sleep very little the last 15 months. I actually studied almost everyday in the morning before work (from 6:30 to 8:30) and night from 22:00 to ~2:00 in the morning) and often the complete weekend. As reading through some success-stories I could copy and paste a lot of things from other guys.. I think we all go through the same .. now..here a few things about my Journey to the #36665: In January 2011 i started to search for the right material to prepare (primarily Cisco Press Books)? while searching through the web i looked for some CCIE Training Companys . I wasn?t sure to choose which one.After reading through forums, blog etc .. and chatting with different Sales guys, I got a very good offer from Stan Yee (btw .. Stan did his job very well :) ) and he convinced me to go to INE because ?They are the best?.. and I totally agree now :) Ok.. I mad the deal with All-Access-Pass for 1 year .. all R&S WBs and 2000 Tokens. Price was very fair and so I actually started my Journey in June 2011. In the first stage, I guess like many..i started watching the ATC from Brian M. .. during this video i always ask myself (why does this guy know soooo much in detail..thats incredible).. Yeah..so I went through all the Videos .. making notes.. for those who are currently just in the beginning of their journey..i suggest you guys to watch the Vids, when you are ?fresh? in mind and not tired? otherwise you probably won?t get the details that Brian is explaining which are very important? Anyway..after going through all the ATCs, I started to work an WB I .. that was so huge and with so many details .. and as many people stated in the forum? you easily forget the basics.. when starting going through the WB i thought ?hm..yeah..i knew Brians was saying something about it in the ATCs..but cannot remember it exactly anymore? I figured out for myself the best way how to not forget about the basics.. I put the ATCs on all my devices (iPhone, iPad, converted Vids to MP3) .. so when I was jogging, going to the gym, going by car and especially going to sleep..i listened to the Videos of the Brians over and over again (new ATCs and older ones with Brian D.). Then you really ?breathe? this stuff .. and the end it was a little bit weird ..because I just got used to it to falling asleep with the ATCs (or Brians voice :D). When working on the WB I, I read a lot in blogs, books etc.. but my focus was really on the WBs and its explainations.. there are really awesome and it really deserves the title ?The Bible for CCIE R&S? in my opinion. I think it is the best to stick one/two resources as central guide and to cross-read other books. Brian D. suggested this and from my perspective and experience now this is the best way. For my rack .. I used in the beginning GNS3 with 14 NICs with 2x 3750?s and 2x3550?s.. but while going through the Multicast and Qos Labs.. I realized that GNS3 was not working properly..so I decided to buy all components. Luckily my company had already 3 Routers ( 2x 3825, 1x2811.. so I bought 3 additional 1841, one FRS-Switch (2522, BB1), two 1721(BB2 and BB3) WICs and Serial-Cables). I really recommend to buy real equipment if you can afford it .. this was in my opinion the best invest because I was able to lab whenever I wanted to. You maybe pay ~120 Euros for a 1841 on Ebay (Germany).. including WICs, Cables etc, you are maybe around 1k.. + 2x3560 for ~200-300 Euro on Ebay (GER). The 2522 costs maybe 80 Euros and 1721 ~ 20 Euro. During Christmas I saw the offer of the 10-Day R&S Bootcamp of INE in London. I thought that this would be perfect to attend for my studies?so I talked to my supervisor from my company and he agreed that I was able to go there. Ok..when I saw that Brian Dennis is teaching the course..i just that ?hm..what a shame..i would like to see Brian Mcgahan?.. I just got used to his ATCs and I was really convinced about his skills.. but yeah..i also thought .. you will see a 5x CCIE..this must be very good as well or maybe even better. Guys.. this Bootcamps was soooo awesome .. I learned so much.. there are really good reviews here on different blogs (http://blog.initialdraft.com, http://lostintransit.se/, http://www.rogerperkin.co.uk/ccie/ ). Brian Dennis has the ability to explain difficult things so easily and I really like the way he teaches people. Everyone who is pursuing the CCIE should really see at least once Brian Dennis in action! I definitely will go for another Bootcamp.. it is worth every penny!!! After the bootcamp, I saw where I had to improve my skills? I worked on it and primary focused on WB2. In June I attended for my first attempt? and failed.. I actually made the same experience like CarlosG did in his first attempt? I wasn?t prepared for troubleshooting.. I had a lot of troubles to manage my windows (where to put them etc) and my big mistake was, that I used Gnome-Connection Manager (similar to Secure-CRT or Putty Connection Manager) for preparation..so I was used to use tabbed consoles in one big window ? in the Lab you only have putty ..every device is one console ..so I really struggled and could only finish 7 Tickets which I also didn?t solve all correctly. For the config section..i felt pretty good..but when I saw the my score, I was really surprised because it was worse than I expected. I didn?t really verify because of lack of time .. and I think that was one of the reasons because of my bad score. Anyway.. I saw that I was not prepared .. so I reviewed myself, what I did wrong.. and worked on my weak parts. I started to work mostly with the documentation .. and this was really important!!!! Before my first attempt I didn?t? really take care of this part although the Brians always tell you to work with the documentation. After my fail I understood why and I really focused on the documentation (how to use and especially how to read it) Ok.. better prepared I scheduled my second attempt for September and I felt more confident to pass? This time I knew exactly what is happening and what to focus on. TS Part: I searched for the ?easier? tickets ..but I had problems in the beginning to find the faults. When I just finished 7 Tickets I only had 9 minutes left. I got really nervous .. took a deep breath and focused. At the end I could manage 2 more Tickets and I felt pretty confident not to break any restrictions this time. Config Part: Config Part was straight forward. I only want to emphasize that you NEED TO VERIFY!! I felt really confident after I finished my configuration part. When verifying I saw stupid mistakes that could have made me fail. Luckily I did verify (Especially L2 and L3 Section ? I used TCL this time.. which I also really recommend to use). When leaving the lab, I felt good and I was hoping not to break any restrictions or that I overlooked mistakes. When received the e-mail from cisco that my Lab Score Report was available, my heart was bumping.. I logged in my account and saw it : PASS ! I was soo relieved..all the work paid off. I would like to thank INE (especially the Brians and Petr) for their great material and advises..without it, it would have been much harder to achieve the number. Also the guys here in the forum .. although I did not write a lot.. I read and learned from many of you guys! Thanks! Dang CCIE #36665