Olivier Jessel, CCIE #44658

Well... where to begin? I got it... The number I was trying to get for 4 years. What an adventure... After lots of work, patience, training, and coffee, I finally reached my goal. Is it really the end? In fact, I think it's only the beginning. This long way to get the certification pushes you to want more and more knowledge. I like it and I won't stop here. I started to prepare for the v3, and then 6 months after came the v4. I prepared for 18 months. I was dreaming about Cisco Console Windows every night. There was no day without starting devices and getting a warm room... (I spared cost for heating...) After one Bootcamp with INE, I had to stop studying because of a private problem. But... I couldn't let it get out of my mind. I should get back on track... I started one year ago. 3 weeks after, Cisco announced the v5! I thought, okay, I have to hurry, because I worked so much on v4 (I like Frame-relay!!!) I went for the first attempt in May, for the v4. One of the last places available. I was soooo stressed that I couldn't even type during the TS section. I made mistakes, but I thought, "It will be okay." I failed the TS section and passed the Config... What a deception... I needed 2 weeks to rebuild me. Then with all the support from my family and friends, I decided to prepare for the v5. For 4 months, I worked on the new topics to reach an expert level, and then I knew that I could do it. I booked the lab only 2 weeks before. What a different feeling. I was much more relaxed, and after finishing the lab nearly 1:30 hours before, I called my wife and said: "If with this I don't get it, I won't come back. It's 100% working, I cannot do better!" After 12 hours and a very short night, I got the result around 6AM. PASS! OMG, I was so happy!! To all of you: if you are reading this story, it means you've chosen the right company to study with!!! I cannot enough recommend the materials of INE!!! Bootcamp with Dave Smith was... awesome! Videos from Brian (I can still hear his voice in my head) are simply the best stuff to help with jumping into a topic and digging into it! Workbooks and all materials are designed to teach you the very deep technologies. I really thank INE for these materials! I would like to thank also my wife, my children, my family and friends. They supported me, every day, hearing me speaking like a pure geek during all this time... Many thanks to all of the people on the IEOC forum, it's a great source of knowledge and support. To finish... to all of you who are studying hard to get it, if this is your dream, never let it go, you will get it one day! Best of luck to all of you along the long way to the CCIE.