Eric Boomer, CCIE #47150

My CCIE R&S quest started back in 2004. Failing miserably at my first attempt, I became very discouraged and decided to call it quits. After earning other certifications such as the CCIP, and CCNP Voice later on and receiving encouragement from others to go back after the IE, I decided to go after it once more. I renewed my efforts back in December of 2012, reading configuration guides cover to cover on Cisco's website, as well as some other reading materials, really taking the time to fully comprehend and practice all topics. I decided this time around to choose INE as my training partner. After receiving the workbooks and building my V4.0 lab, I already felt light years ahead of where I was the first time around. As I progressed through all of the workbooks, I took very good notes of things I struggled with and things that I thought I might have trouble remembering. I would occasionally go back and review these notes, which helped retain this information. I had a few personal bumps that postponed some studying along the way, but as soon as I was able, I got right back to it. Then V5.0 came into the picture in spring of last year. I had to revamp my lab by upgrading switches and buying a server to run CSR1000v. I then attacked all of the new V5.0 labs some of them several times, then revisited the V4.0 workbooks and reconfigured them to work with the new CSR set up. While doing all of this, I registered for the 10 day boot camp with David Smith in Orlando, which I would highly recommend doing. After making two more attempts I finally achieved my number. My best advice is to do all of the things I mentioned, and do not rush through the material.