Ints Meijers, CCIE #29095

Hello, Yesterday (30 May 2011) I passed CCIE RS exam in Brussels. This marks a year long dream come true. Three attempts (all of them in Brussels) were needed for it to become reality. Self-paced "INE CCIE RS 4.0 Training Program" was with me all the way. Especially I want to thank INE for "CCIE R&S v4.0 Advanced Technologies" VoD series. These lectures helped me brush up forgotten topics and grasp new ones. I accompanied them with an online rack session and tested each presented concept to further verify how the technology works. INE Blog provided me with essential information on documentation navigation - this helped a lot! A little on my journey... I started studying for written exam on April 2010 and passed it in June 2010. Then I started preparing for the lab. Built my own rack and meanwhile listened to ATC VoD series while commuting. INE R&S Lab Workbook Volume I challenged me to think outside the box and introduced me to different style of presenting information, where logical topology not always comes hand in hand with physical one. First attempt was in 10 November 2010. I had an extra stress due to first time. What I learned is not to make assumptions and consult proctor when in doubt. I ran to him for help a lot that time :) Second attempt was in 07 March 2011. This time I had more experience. I understood how the questions are asked and how to interpret the diagrams. What I learned is that i need more speed, both in TS and configuration part. And here it comes. A winning strategy (already seen this suggested to students many times): Notepad configuring. Yes - do all configuration in notepad. Third attempt was yesterday 30 May 2011. I used notepad for all configuration and tracking of activities. Scratch paper was used for tracking TS tickets. For configuration section I used scratch paper to note topics I want to review. And redraw partial topology for a quick reference. Notepad helped me to detect and correct a lot of silly mistakes made due to stress. In the end it proved to be a valid strategy which worked for me. Thanks for all the support during this journey! Ints, CCIE# 29095