King of the Stupid...averted

So, what dummy works his but off for the prized certification of CCIE, and then comes within two weeks of losing it? Well folks that would be me. Thinking that July 16th 2011 would never come, I procrastinated for over a year in re-certifying my CCIE.


For those unaware, Cisco requires all of their CCIEs to re-cert within a 3 year period or become "inactive". Basically, that means you have no standing with Cisco with regards to your CCIE. You maintain your cherished number, but neither your employee nor you get any of the perks that with go along with you being a CCIE. The re-certification is the same written test that potential CCIE's take as a qualification exam. And this qualifies them to take the CCIE lab.

Well, about 2 weeks ago I figured I would finally go about the process of studying. I figured that would give me a chance to take it (heaven forbid) 3x before that fateful day. The stupidity of my actions really took hold over the last two days, when I had vision of getting into a car accident that put me in the hospital for 2 weeks.

The thing is, my current job is highly technical. But who in the world remembers all the BGP Dampening suppress limits, the logical direction of WCCP flows or the default root priority (49162) when enabling Backbone Fast. To prepare I used my Safari Book account and glossed over quite a few things. However, I read CCIE Routing and Switching Certification Guide cover to cover, all 985 pages of it.

Today I went into the testing center confident this would be a failed attempt. But alas, I came out golden. I must say that the test has a real shotgun feel to it. Nothing is really focused on, and it seems to search for generalist knowledge of IP.

I must say that there is absolutely no way a CCIE candidate can judge their preparedness for the CCIE lab based on this test. Not that there is a zero level of difficulty to it, but it’s simply a million miles away from the actual lab. I wonder if any candidates take this test and assume that it's a barometer for the lab? I certainly would hope not.