Ok, it’s been far too long since I’ve posted anything on this page, and all I can say is that the CCIE has been the most all consuming study process that I have ever been through in my life. I finally decided to book my lab for September 11, 2017, which gives me roughly three more months until I will sit the lab for my first (and hopefully only) attempt. I have been getting in 25-30 hours of lab time in per week, and I’m hoping to up that to closer to the 40 hour per week range as the lab approaches.

My study plan at this point has been doing lots of full scale labs, along with working through Narbik’s Foundations and Advanced Foundations workbooks. I attended Narbik’s 10 day CCIE bootcamp in early April, and it was easily the best class that I’ve ever been to. He is an amazing teacher and all around awesome guy, and if you can swing it, I highly recommend attending if you are serious about the lab. I know he offers a pretty hefty discount for military (active and retired) members, so make sure you mention it to Janet when you sign up.

Lastly, it is getting close to Cisco Live 2017 in Las Vegas. We’re just a little over three weeks away from the kickoff to my favorite event of the year. This year, I’m participating in TFDx at CLUS, which is Tech Field Day at Cisco Live. This year, they’re having separate groups on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I’ll be a delegate on Tuesday. It’s an entire day of Cisco presenting, and I’m looking forward to hearing them along with reconnecting with some TFD friends and meeting a few new people.

The final portion of this update is a challenge to myself. I’m hoping to begin to add more content specific to the final process of preparing for my CCIE lab. I’m going to start to add more content specific to pieces of the blueprint that I found difficult or interesting, along with screenshots and other fun stuff. This is in hopes of helping me be accountable to not only getting content created, but hopefully learning more about the process by posting my thought process on the site. Short update, I know, but more will be coming soon. I’ve already started the process of creating a 20 node lab in VIRL, and I’m hoping to share that soon.