Leonardo Abdalla, CCIE #28644

My name is Leonardo Abdalla, I am from Brazil and 25 years old. I have been studying the CCIE for 2 years, since I passed the CCNP in 2009. First things first, I started my network journey back in 2005 when I had the opportunity to join the network team in the company in which I worked at that time. That was such a challenge to me as I was the replacement of a CCNA guy that was leaving the project and I was coming from the Mainframe area. At that point on, I started to learn a lot of things in the field and every new thing triggered my curiosity, which made me research, research and learn new stuff. I then started studying hard and in the beginning of 2006 got my CCNA. That was a major achievement at that time to me, as I studied by myself and most of the things I knew were the stuff that I learned at work. From that point on, I was completely in love with networking and took the 4 CCNP exams, concluding the CCNP track back on 2009. This was a huge year to me, I got my CCNP and right of the bat started studying for the CCIE Written exam which I passed in the same year. I was so excited about taking it to the next level and going for the lab right away, but I knew I was not well prepared at all. There are people who want to know what they need for the exam and those who want to know every single piece of a protocol and/or technology and the latter is me. INE was fundamental for my preparation. INE's blogs and IEOC forums are simply awesome, there is some well qualified and talented instructors who periodically update the blog with detailed and straightforward write ups on several topics (I am talking about top-notch guys). This really help you get everything you need to know. Furthermore, INE racks are absolutely the best out there and the support personnel is always very helpful. I spent hours and hours trying things out on those racks. After 1.5 years I knew I was prepared for the exam, both from the technical and strategic standpoints. However, the physical lab in Brazil was gone by the end of 2010, which made my journey a little bit more entertaining, just say the least. I had to travel to San Jose in USA to take the exam. And finally in April of 2011, I finally passed in my first attempt. I guess I wouldn't be able to make it without INE's help. Thank you very much INE for all the support. Regards, Leonardo Abdalla CCIE# 28644 (R&S)