Most folks who pursue a CCNA certification find that it's a time-consuming process. If you do it completely via self-study, a CCNA can take you months to achieve. The Professional-level Cisco certifications, and some of the specializations (CQS certifications), take longer because more exams are involved and the general level of difficulty is higher. Of course, earning certifications can take you a lot less time from start to finish if you can take courses or a boot camp. But for most folks who are chasing an Expert-level certification, such courses are of only limited help in the get-me-there-faster sense. There's simply so much you need to know and master to pass the CCIE exams (and the forthcoming CCDE exams) that you're in for a haul either way. Cisco has long stated that the average number of lab exam attempts to reach a CCIE is between 2 and 3, but my experience by talking with many candidates over a long period of time is that the average is more like four attempts. A joke that gives me a good chuckle is that most candidates get one letter per attempt. Some of the tracks--Security and Voice in particular--usually require more than four attempts. But how long does it take, start to finish, to earn a CCIE? I think that's worth a look, especially for candidates near the beginning of the path, because it's valuable to help you set expectations for yourself. Most folks who are highly motivated--and let's keep it at that level, since if you're not highly motivated, you probably will never achieve a CCIE--will measure their CCIE journey in years. That is, once you can set the CCIE as a goal, with enough foundational understanding of what's required to have a grasp on what it will take you to get there, you can count on quite a long journey. To that point, goal-setting becomes a key part of the CCIE pursuit. So does project management; any large project needs to be broken into smaller segments, put in order with well-defined goals and timelines at each stage, and tracked to completion. Without both of these skills in your bag, your journey is likely to be longer and harder than it should be. Let's take a look at the phases of CCIE study (just for a first CCIE certification, to keep the discussion more well-defined).
As I worked through this list, it became clear to me that very little in the way of CCIE preparation timelines can be placed within well-defined mile-posts in time. In my case, from when I set the goal (just after completing my CCNP and CCDP) until I completed the CCIE R&S certification three years ago, the elapsed time was 18 months. I also averaged about 6 weeks between lab exam attempts. Based on talking with a lot of other CCIEs, I think that both of these are shorter than average, but I know quite a few folks who have done it in a lot less and some who have taken a lot longer. For example, there's talk of a gentleman who has taken the CCIE lab exam more than 20 times. I have it on good authority that this is not an urban legend. I have to give this guy a lot of credit for determination--a key element in the path to CCIE--but at some point, I would think, you'd have to look at yourself in the mirror and decide that you've spent enough time and energy and money on it! Next time I'll post a few poll questions about preparation phases and timelines so we can collect additional real-world experiences on how long it takes candidates to make the CCIE journey. In the meantime, please feel free to post your feedback on the phases I've laid out above. Is it trimmable? Did you find a way to optimize it? How does it differ for dual- or multiple-CCIE holders? What effects did training (or a lack of training) have on your timeline?
Rus Healy, CCIE #15025, is a Principal SE at Annese & Associates, Cisco's Partner of the Year for the northeastern U.S. and Canada. He is the co-author of CCIE Routing and Switching Exam Certification Guide, Third Edition. In addition to a CCIE in routing and switching, Rus holds CCVP, CCDP, and IPTD certifications and is a Cisco Technology Solution Specialist in Unified Communications. He enjoys many other pursuits including coaching his daughter's softball team and boating and camping with his family.
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Building a practice lab
There is a lot of pre-lab-prep preparation that most candidates are unaware of going into this journey, particularly choosing your training resources and determining how you will practice.
Gathering (and funding) the equipment necessary to build a decent lab can take a considerable amount of time, and could be considered a phase in itself (3.5?). Other lab options include router simulations/emulators and online rack rentals, but these tools also have a learning curve and take time to get accustomed to.
An aspiring CCIE should expect to spend a good month (and often a good buck if not sponsored) on these administrative tasks alone. Talking with other CCIEs or candidates that have been there can help speed up getting your training plan and equipment together so you can move on to the fun stuff.
Time estimates seem suprising
I recently decided that I'm going to be pursuing my CCIE after I complete my CCNP in a few months. So I've been searching through the blogosphere as well as major CCIE study material vendor sites regarding what has worked for others and how long it took them.
I have to say, I'm a little surprised at the time estimates that you stated, as well as the average number of attempts. I guess that I was planning to take around a year and a half from start to finish and do 1-2 attempts at the lab in order to pass. It just seems like there are so many good resources and training materials/plans out there now. Also, there are excellent graded mock lab products out there, I would think that people would be able to get a pretty good idea of when they are ready for the lab.
Of course, I may be buying into the marking hype of some of the training companies. And a lot of the CCIE bloggers out there may not accurately represent the average CCIE candidate. Plus, I have a habit of always thinking that things will take less time that they actually do (hence my still partially-finished basement that should have been done months ago).
I guess what would be nice to find out is really what separates the people who take 2-3 years and 3-4 lab attempts from the people who take 1-2 years and 1-2 lab attempts. How do I get myself into the latter group?
Hi Rush, I think the
Hi Rush,
I think the networking industry is full of engineers who have not seen high school in their life. For such people to pass CCIE may be a big task. they might need several attempts as their learning ability is very much limited.
I was able to pass CCIE in six months. I am graduate engineer from Mumbai university. I do not see CCIE even closer to being harder than first year enginerring math. People who took six attempts to pass CCIE will never pass engineering mechanics or for that matter math in their entire life.
You are a genius! Tell me
You are a genius! Tell me your study strategies , please. What is your CCIE #? Are you going for mulitple CCIE track certifications.
Oh my!
First year engineering math! How funny you are my friend! People will almost believe you
A quick search of the
A quick search of the Internet will tell you that Suresh IS a CCIE (Suresh Mishra CCIE #21577 (R&S)). He was pretty active on the Online Study List hosted by IPExpert. Look through the archives and you'll see that he knows his stuff.
I guess my point - perhaps things come easier to some than others. Don't discount his statement because it sounds unfathomable to you.
Career in Networking
Hi Suresh,
I have done B.E. in E&TC from the Mumbai university in 2008.Can u pls tell me does networking courses (CCNA,CCNP etc)add good value to the enginner? or this is better suited for undergratuates.
How much i can earn after competing CCNA-CCNP-CCIE?
being an engineer does it give an edge & money in the networking?
thanks
pls reply.
In a way wouldn't you need
In a way wouldn't you need to take into account the amount of time he or she has prepared for CCNA/CCNP certifications? All of this time helped build a solid foundation for the CCIE exam.
I am always interested in engineers who claim to pass the CCIE in less than a year. Shouldn't their time allocation include time spent at work (if working with Cisco gear), time spent on CCNA/CCNP certifications, high school or college, and other training seminars?
An intersting topic would be to see how long an individual has prepared from the ground up from let's say no experience to CCIE.
The most important part of
The most important part of becoming CCIE is the ability to understand the underlaying technology and how it functions. I have seen people with many years of experiance getting into trouble with medium scale routing problems.
On other hand, there are people who have just read the books and might not have spend lot of time with cisco gear but are able to understand and troubleshoot problems very quickly.
It varies from person to person as to how much of expericance or hands on you need to pass the CCIE LAB. In my case all I needed was the speed to pass the LAB as I was very confortable with the technologies.
Timing Depends...
From my perspective, the amount of time really depends on what your current job role entails. As an example, if you are a network engineer that implements and designs networks for a living and now you are pursuing a CCIE, well then it isn't going to take you nearly as long as say a desktop support person that never touches the gear and has to do all their studying at night. Additionally, the addition of a study partner and/or mentor that can help you navigate tough topics quickly, rather than wasting valuable time to master a topic without help can also help to reduce the time frame.
For the person that has no experience, I think going the CCNA, CCDA, CCNP, CCDP, route (assuming an R&S CCIE is being pursued) is a good road map, while this road will lead you down paths that are not precisely needed for the exam it does offer you a stepping stone method of ramping up for the CCIE and allows you to suffer learning details needed to pass Cisco exams.
My advice would be when you are ready (meaning that you are at a CCNP level of experience) is to get your lab gear, prepare a learning schedule that covers all the topics, buy the appropriate learning materials, find a partner to study with, join appropriate group study forums and prepare to lose what semblance of a life you had in lieu of staring at blinking lights and being frustrated by things that you know should work but aren't.
BTW - I would take Diffi-Qs anyday over getting my CCIE again.
Steve