Robert Kosyluk, CCIE #28368

On my second lab attempt I got the PASS. I would like to thank INE for their top of the line products. I used all 4 workbooks, mock labs, the advanced tech Cod, QoS bootcamp, audio boot camp, and used the OEQs throughout to keep fresh. The journey started about 20 months ago when I was getting close to the time to renew my CCNP. I always dreamed about getting my CCIE, but did not know if I would be able to. After discussing with my wife, friends, and co workers I thought instead of just renewing my CCNP, I will go for the CCIE. I had a couple of co-workers who already pass the lab and raved about INEs products, so there was very little research to be done with choosing a vendor. The approach I took I would study for the lab, and pass the written as a result and thats what happened. I went through WBI twice and purchased II and III. Ill never forget my first full scale multiprotocol lab. I thought I was ready, getting better with the technologies (many of which I do not use day-to-day) and thought a level 6 lab, Ill get this done quick. Oh boy, this was a rude awakening. It took me over 12 hours to do the first lab. I remember thinking what did I get myself into, and doubting I could do it. But, I kept trucking along. Each lab I felt better and better. After a couple of months I had finished all 20 labs. By the end, the labs which took 12 hours I could get done in well under 5. During this I used all the other products as refreshers, and I tell you working out with the RS Audio bootcamps is not the same as some hard rock, but I digress. After 18 months spending over 20 hours per week studying I took by first crack at the lab. I felt prepared and confident, but was rattled a little after the start. The TS was larger than I thought and struggled there. I got lost a few times in the topology looking at wrong routers and trying to fix issues I did not need to. The config section was a little better, but still my nerves got the best of me. Needless to say I did not pass and took that as a huge lesson learned. I went back to the drawing board, and went through all WB IV and the TS sections of WBII (which I skipped before). I focused on TS for a good 4 weeks. With a month left, I started to work on full labs again. I went into my second attempt feeling better. My first attempt I was maybe over confident. This one I had the attitude of lets just see what they throw at me. The TS section I finished quicker than I had thought I would, and had time to go over the tickets twice. I was relieved when I was able to complete this section early and was confident I had passed it. Moving on the config section was the same. Other than one task I struggled with, I finished the section with time to spare. Luckily I had this time to review the lab. As I went through it a second time I noticed I had swapped the IP addresses of R1 and R2. Wow, huge mental mistake. Could have failed due to something that simple. I reloaded my rack after this review, and after it came back up I now noticed the ADD/DEL flapping when I turned up debug ip routing. At this point it was about 45 minutes from the end of the lab. I really got nervous here thinking to myself I better find this. Luckily I had ran into this problem a lot of times working on the workbooks, and was able to look at the debug and notice the config mistake I had. I left the lab thinking I was close, but there were still doubts since there were a couple of items I was not sure if I really did what they wanted me to do. I would ask the proctor and would get the answer what does it say? I would answer with a couple of options I could do, showing I understand different ways to do it, then the proctor just read the task to me out loud word for word. Instead of being frustrated I laughed to myself and completed the task how I thought they wanted it (I guess I got it?) I felt better than my first attempt, as I had more time to review and did not lose time to self induced issues. Plus my overall stress level was lower during the exam (maybe since I had been in that seat before). I know I lost 2 points for an item which I was not sure how to do exactly. Well, I knew how to do most of that task but some odd ball request. Being only 2 points I decided to leave that alone until the last 10 minutes and go over the lab 2 complete times, which I did. Now it was the waiting game, and I got an email with my score report less than 2 hours after leaving. I thought uh oh. That had to be too quick. I logged in and saw PASS. I think I felt more relieved than excited. I was already looking at dates if I needed a third exam. Needless to say I logged in and looked at it about 12 times over the next couple of days. I would love to thank my wife for supporting me through this journey taking care of 2 babies while I stayed up late nights working on labs and weekend in the basement. Also, understanding that some items had to be put on hold while I spent time on this journey. I could not have done with without your support and love. What to do with all this free time now? Well, not study as hard as I did before ;) but I have become interested in MPLS (which I dont currently use where I work) and want to learn more. Also, I still want to strenghten my multicast skills with some advanced topics. I think that the INE SP products might be calling my name. Thanks, Rob Kosyluk CCIE #28368