Education

As far as study methods, I did the Cisco College route as I really wanted the hands on experience. Nothing beats that.

I also had plenty of test questions from my books and from the class. Unfortunately, the books are not cheap and I bought a bunch of the books (much from the class) as I also wanted the test questions and different books give different types of questions.

Of course, as has already been mentioned, the test has changed so your old books aren't going to give you all you need. But that doesn't mean they aren't still valuable. The information, by in large, is still useful and on the exam. The problem is there is also other information not in those books, that will be in the newer ones.

wow thats pretty crazy to send you out half way then mess it up. Its actually quite clever if you think about it on how they test you to make sure you know your stuff. I say its clever now, but I bet if I am ever in that situation I will be cursing in 3+ languages repeatedly! :lol:

ZiPPy

P.S. That actually would be fun if you had a partner...YES I WILL TAKE TOM AND CHRIS ON MY TEAM PLEASE...YES THANK YOU :lol: Hey it was a thought okay?!? :roll: hehe

That's why they get the big bucks - they really know their stuff.

A guy who I know is a CCNP, he took the CCIE.. got himself ruined in the labs, went home in tears because the problems they 'injected' were just too difficult to sort out.

And this guy is no slouch.. he can configure pretty much any internetworking hardware in his sleep.. with his little finger plugged into a console port...

Now you know why I'm doing security lol you get paid to try and mess things up.. and (usually) the onus of fixing it all falls on someone else

Come to think of it i've never met a CCIE.. how many are there in the world ?

Configuring a router with his finger in the console port ? Hahahha now that's something I've never heard of! Good one sahir.

From what I know, there are around 13,000-15,000 CCIE's world wide. It is indeed the mother of all certifications, but also requires a lot of work and hands on experience in order to get it.

Also, the certification is only valid for 2 years! I would hate sitting through the recertification process every two years....that would take quite a bit out of you!