When I approached my tenth anniversary of first passing the CCIE routing/switching exam (November 2004-2014), I had the idea to post some short reflections on the exam, its value, and my personal experience being a CCIE. I hoped that, although the nature of the exam has changed quite a bit over the last 10 years, these reflections would provide some useful information to those who are preparing to take it. I also hoped that the historical information will prove useful and/or entertaining to newer candidates, but that it also will be a nice walk down memory lane for older CCIE’s.

It turned out that short became long. I was surprised by how much there was to say. I wrote these pieces in 2014, and having done so, decided they were a bit self-indulgent and uninteresting.  I shelved them in my drafts folder.  Now, two years later, I have re-read them and decided that perhaps they have the value I had initially hoped for.

So, I have decided to go ahead and publish my “Ten Years a CCIE” series. I hope that you find them interesting and a little entertaining.  Good luck to those of you who are starting your own CCIE journey, and I look forward to reading your stories ten years from now.

Ten Years A CCIE, by Jeff McLaughlin #14023

The CCIE Mystique
Routing and Switching:  An exam in flux
In those days, you had to build a lab
How to pass the CCIE lab exam in one attempt
Room of horrors:  Inside the CCIE lab
A CCIE goes home to Cisco
Multiple CCIE’s, multiple attempts
Recertification pain
Cheaters
The value of a CCIE