Ten Years a CCIE

In my first article in the “Ten Years a CCIE” series, I discuss the mystique of the CCIE certification which made me want to attempt the test.

Learning about the CCIE

My first vague awareness of the CCIE certification came in 1999 while I was a Master’s student in Telecommunications Management at Golden Gate University in San Francisco. A family friend was staying at my father’s house, an instructor in the PhD program in telecommunications at the University of Idaho. I was excited to meet him because I was thinking of pursuing further graduate studies, but I was a bit surprised when I told him of my ambitions to be a network engineer, and of my coursework at GGU. He told me not to waste my time in a graduate program if I wanted to be a network engineer. “You should get a Cisco certification instead,” he said, “they’re gold.” A disappointing comment, seeing that I was in my second year of the Masters program, but I kept it in mind and completed my degree. Continue Reading

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 won’t publish them at once, but one at a time over the next months.  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  –  Published 2/3/16
Routing and Switching:  An exam in flux – Published 2/23/16
In those days, you had to build a lab – Published 3/6/16
How to pass the CCIE lab exam in one attempt – Published 3/10/16
Room of horrors:  Inside the CCIE lab – Published 3/15/16
A CCIE goes home to Cisco – Published 3/28/16
Multiple CCIE’s, multiple attempts – Published 4/4/16
Recertification pain – Published 5/2/16
Cheaters – Published 5/14/16
The value of a CCIE – Published 11/2/16