Steve Jordan, CCIE #11293

Back in March 2013, I purchased the INE DC workbook and began working through the Nexus and UCS technology labs while waiting to take the CCIE Storage lab on 4/9/2013. Luckily, I passed the CCIE Storage and I was thrilled of course, but this is about the CCIE DC experience afterall. Shortly after that, I began working through additional lab scenarios and immediately got signed up for the June - 10 day INE DC bootcamp in Newport Beach, CA. in order to boost my CCIE DC studies. Mark Snow was our DC instructor and he set the stage with his lectures and lab scenarios he had us go through. We asked him every question we could think of and he didn?t miss a beat answering our questions while maintaining a very relaxing and memorable bootcamp experience. After that, I headed for Cisco Live 2013 in Orlando to attend additional DC related sessions and take the DC written test. I passed the written, scheduled the lab for 9/10 in SJ and began hitting the the INE CCIE DC labs hard for around 4 hours each evening and about 10-12 hours on the weekends. I used the INE rack rentals and Cisco PEC labs for my access to DC lab gear. I even went out to Huntington Beach, CA to relax for my final week prep and to say hello to Mark Snow. Unfortunately, I missed the mark on my first DC attempt, but I finished the exam and scored fairly well. After that, I came back home and hit the labs even harder and worked on my weak areas. Although, I did have a hard time scheduling my 2nd attempt, I finally got a date and passed on 11/2/2013 in RTP which made me a triple CCIE. Thank you very much INE! I appreciate everything you guys do and keep up the good work!