Four days, for most people, may not be a long period of time. But for someone like me, who must do labs for 300 hours before my CCIE SP 3 weeks from now, every second counts. Wow, that sounds very cool, doesn’t it? Every second counts. Or better let’s just say every day is important.
Since Wednesday evening I have been in Kuala Lumpur to lead a migration for one of our customer. It’s been a thrilling experience to try to define all the steps required, to make a cross check to ensure there is nothing missing, to accommodate the last minute request for changes, simulate the new config changes in internal lab, do my best to avoid unnecessary surprises, and finally it was over by 2 am this morning. There was no time at all to do anything else, even to check out the night life in Heritage walk next to my hotel.
So here I am, standing by my hotel room window, staring at the Twin Towers. I still have one hour left before I must check out and go to the Airport. I’m going to fly back to Singapore but I may need to travel again to another project within a couple of days.
I have been thinking about my work on the last 4 days that made me skip my CCIE study completely. I wish I could do what I said in my previous post. I wish I could ignore everything but CCIE, including work, to complete my 300 lab hour target. But again, as I mentioned, it was a tremendous experience. And I believe it really helps to build the tension and the pressures required to make one ready for the lab.
I believe all CCIE candidates must face real world pressure before they can face the lab. I believe none of all CCIE candidates should skip the work only to study for CCIE. The pressure in work can really help in setting up the mood, to bring up the troubleshooting mindset and to maintain the flow of the journey.
Well, again, at the same time the last work has caused me losing the 4 precious days. There is no reason to look back or to try to blame someone. I’m writing this just in the middle of my evaluation of what I have achieved so far and how fast I need to set the pace in my study. So far I have just done half of the Internetwork Expert workbook. I can say with the previous Techlabs from them, I have done only around 100 hour lab time.
200 hours to go. And I have 3 weeks left.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Saturday, July 07, 2007
23 Days Later
Today is a good day. It's July 7 2007. Make it shorts as 07-07-07. Wow, Triple Seven. Triple lucky numbers.
What the heck, everyday is should be a good day, isn't it?
Anyway, 23 days have passed since my last post to lab 300 hours, and following is the update so far:
- I have applied for Schengen Visa to Belgium embassy, and they told me to wait for another 2-3 weeks. Well, Visa is my number one enemy in this journey
- I got confirmation for my flight and hotel. I must fly to Brussels through London and the trip will take 16 hours :(
- I haven't paid my lab since I thought as Cisco employee it would be somekind like internal payment or such. Still checking with CCIE team and hopefully they don't drop my date
- I have completed the Techlabs from Internetwork Expert
- I keep watching the SP class-on-demand video in my Zen over and over again. I may have spent about 80 hours on it, while so far I have spent only about 40 to 50 hours doing the Techlabs
- Social life remains zero
To be frank, I'm a bit behind my schedule here. With the remaining days that I have, I need to start working with the Internetwork Expert workbook, and I must lab at least 8 hours a day to achieve my 300 target. This means I must ignore everything other than CCIE, including my work, my photography stuff, my sleeping time, assembling my Gundam, even watching Heroes and Transformers.
It looks fun.
It's time to shift to the fifth gear.
What the heck, everyday is should be a good day, isn't it?
Anyway, 23 days have passed since my last post to lab 300 hours, and following is the update so far:
- I have applied for Schengen Visa to Belgium embassy, and they told me to wait for another 2-3 weeks. Well, Visa is my number one enemy in this journey
- I got confirmation for my flight and hotel. I must fly to Brussels through London and the trip will take 16 hours :(
- I haven't paid my lab since I thought as Cisco employee it would be somekind like internal payment or such. Still checking with CCIE team and hopefully they don't drop my date
- I have completed the Techlabs from Internetwork Expert
- I keep watching the SP class-on-demand video in my Zen over and over again. I may have spent about 80 hours on it, while so far I have spent only about 40 to 50 hours doing the Techlabs
- Social life remains zero
To be frank, I'm a bit behind my schedule here. With the remaining days that I have, I need to start working with the Internetwork Expert workbook, and I must lab at least 8 hours a day to achieve my 300 target. This means I must ignore everything other than CCIE, including my work, my photography stuff, my sleeping time, assembling my Gundam, even watching Heroes and Transformers.
It looks fun.
It's time to shift to the fifth gear.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
300
I know what you are thinking. Yup, that movie is really cool. The battle scenes are awesome. The fighting skills are great. And the Queen is so pretty and wise.
But I’m not going to discuss about how those 300 Spartan soldiers fought for their country in Battle of Thermophylae. 300 here is the number of hours in the lab that I’m planning to do before I take my CCIE lab. Why 300? Same reason with King Leonidas, I guess. Or maybe it’s because I spent about 900 hours practicing in the lab for my first CCIE. And for the second, about 600 hours. Now I’m going for my third CCIE, and looking at the pattern I told myself I need to do at least 300 hours.
I have only 60 days left before my lab date, so if I want to lab for 300 hours I must do at least 5 hours a day. Doing 4 to 5 hours a day is not difficult since I always stay until late anyway, so I can do it after I finish my work. Yeah, right. That’s if you work for 9-to-5 company. In Cisco I don’t have to come to office at 9 as long as the work is done. Which means I may work for more than just 9-to-5. Well, it also means I may work most of the time. And I don't even have to come to office at all (except for the free bananas :))
The key here is to fully utilize the weekend. 5 hours a day means 35 hours a week. If I can do even only 2 hours lab during working day, I still have 2 days in the weekend where I can lab for 12 hours a day.
So when is the time for social life?
Uhm.. what is that, anyway?
My only challenge is with the frequent flyer life style. My lab is located somewhere in Cisco internal network so when I travel sometime I don’t get Internet connection to access them. Or the Internet might be very slow. Traveling also means it’s difficult to bring the books along since they are heavy. And I really don’t like to read from my notebook.
Fear not, I got the Internetwork Expert Advanced Technology class-on-demand for CCIE SP recorded as .avi file that I can play in my Creative Zen Vison W. So everytime I have spare time but no access to my lab, I can listen to the Two Brians explaining the SP technologies. Even the Zen screen is small, I still can see the command typed in the video. And just FYI, Zen has a slot to plug the CF card from my digital camera.
Yeah, vote Zen for CCIE-wannabe-that-must-travel-all-the-time!
I have to admit that many times I was tempted to delay my lab date. But then I told my self, if I delay this once I may do it again and again later. So no more excuse, I will do it in the next 60 days. Unless for some reason I don’t get the Schengen Visa to go to Brussels or my company asks me not to go.
As Leonidas said:
“Spartans never retreat! Spartans never surrender!”
For tonight, we dine in Hell!
But I’m not going to discuss about how those 300 Spartan soldiers fought for their country in Battle of Thermophylae. 300 here is the number of hours in the lab that I’m planning to do before I take my CCIE lab. Why 300? Same reason with King Leonidas, I guess. Or maybe it’s because I spent about 900 hours practicing in the lab for my first CCIE. And for the second, about 600 hours. Now I’m going for my third CCIE, and looking at the pattern I told myself I need to do at least 300 hours.
I have only 60 days left before my lab date, so if I want to lab for 300 hours I must do at least 5 hours a day. Doing 4 to 5 hours a day is not difficult since I always stay until late anyway, so I can do it after I finish my work. Yeah, right. That’s if you work for 9-to-5 company. In Cisco I don’t have to come to office at 9 as long as the work is done. Which means I may work for more than just 9-to-5. Well, it also means I may work most of the time. And I don't even have to come to office at all (except for the free bananas :))
The key here is to fully utilize the weekend. 5 hours a day means 35 hours a week. If I can do even only 2 hours lab during working day, I still have 2 days in the weekend where I can lab for 12 hours a day.
So when is the time for social life?
Uhm.. what is that, anyway?
My only challenge is with the frequent flyer life style. My lab is located somewhere in Cisco internal network so when I travel sometime I don’t get Internet connection to access them. Or the Internet might be very slow. Traveling also means it’s difficult to bring the books along since they are heavy. And I really don’t like to read from my notebook.
Fear not, I got the Internetwork Expert Advanced Technology class-on-demand for CCIE SP recorded as .avi file that I can play in my Creative Zen Vison W. So everytime I have spare time but no access to my lab, I can listen to the Two Brians explaining the SP technologies. Even the Zen screen is small, I still can see the command typed in the video. And just FYI, Zen has a slot to plug the CF card from my digital camera.
Yeah, vote Zen for CCIE-wannabe-that-must-travel-all-the-time!
I have to admit that many times I was tempted to delay my lab date. But then I told my self, if I delay this once I may do it again and again later. So no more excuse, I will do it in the next 60 days. Unless for some reason I don’t get the Schengen Visa to go to Brussels or my company asks me not to go.
As Leonidas said:
“Spartans never retreat! Spartans never surrender!”
For tonight, we dine in Hell!
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Finding Talents
I just returned from Hongkong for some Cisco internal training. Wait, it doesn’t sound right.. let me re-phrase it:
I went to Hongkong to go to Disneyland, roaming around to take pictures and to check out the night life. While I was there, coincidentally Cisco conducted some internal training that, they said, I must attend. So I decided to pass by Cisco Hongkong office and attend the training since I had spare time anyway.
Well, you don’t have to believe this statement. But one thing for sure, going to Cisco office also means free soft drink and snacks, and if you are lucky you may get free banana :)
Anyway, the training was about finding my talents. It is not the talent in playing piano or such, but more into discovering my talents that related to professionalism at work, and turn it into the strengths that can make my work more efficient.
Yeah, you may think: that’s just another physiological crap. But I had to attend it regardless, and here are my top 5 talent themes I got from the website that I must take before going to the course:
Adaptability: prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time
Significance: want to be very important in the eyes of others. They are independent and want to be recognized
Positivity: have a enthusiasm that is contagious. They are upbeat and can get others excited about what they are going to do
Activator: can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient
Harmony: look for consensus. They don’t enjoy conflict; rather, they seek areas of agreement
Okay, I like the Adaptability one, especially the part of "discover the future one day at a time". But I think the rest of them are not the top 5 talents for an engineer. Top notch engineer, I believe, should have the following:
Analytical: search for reasons and causes. They have ability to think about all the factors that might affect a situation
Learner: have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them
Achiever: have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive
Self Assurance: feel confident in their ability to manage their own lives. They possess an inner compass that gives them confidence that their decisions are right
And just add the Adaptability because it sounds cool. Those are the talents that I wanted to have. Imagine, an engineer like me doesn’t even have Analytical and Learner. And without Achiever and Self Assurance I can imagine losing my path to go to the next level.
I really wanted to change my talent themes during the training (I can, since the output from the assessment on that website is sent only to me and not to Cisco) but deep inside I have to admit that all of them are correct. Most of my work so far requires flexibility and my ability to adapt for changes (Adaptability), I always want to feel that my work is important and get recognition from others (Significance), I like to influence people to take CCIE and move ahead (well, I count that as Positivity), I have no patient to grow, no obstacles should be in front of my project or my development (Activator) and I notice that I’m fit in the project where there are many engineers from different background involved and I have to collect all the proposed designs from them to come up with a design that I hope can satisfy everyone (Harmony). Those are the talents that I have been using in my role as Consulting engineer. So it looks like my current role and my life style are fit with my talents.
So the question now is whether I want to accept my talent themes as they are and focus on developing them to become my strengths, or try to dig deeper to shape those talents that I want (Analytical, Learner, Achiever, Self Assurance) to become a top notch engineer.
Ah well, why bother.
Like you said: it’s just another physiological craps, isn’t it?
But after reading this if you feel curious, I suggest you to check the book that was used in the course: Now, Discover Your Strengths.
I went to Hongkong to go to Disneyland, roaming around to take pictures and to check out the night life. While I was there, coincidentally Cisco conducted some internal training that, they said, I must attend. So I decided to pass by Cisco Hongkong office and attend the training since I had spare time anyway.
Well, you don’t have to believe this statement. But one thing for sure, going to Cisco office also means free soft drink and snacks, and if you are lucky you may get free banana :)
Anyway, the training was about finding my talents. It is not the talent in playing piano or such, but more into discovering my talents that related to professionalism at work, and turn it into the strengths that can make my work more efficient.
Yeah, you may think: that’s just another physiological crap. But I had to attend it regardless, and here are my top 5 talent themes I got from the website that I must take before going to the course:
Adaptability: prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time
Significance: want to be very important in the eyes of others. They are independent and want to be recognized
Positivity: have a enthusiasm that is contagious. They are upbeat and can get others excited about what they are going to do
Activator: can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient
Harmony: look for consensus. They don’t enjoy conflict; rather, they seek areas of agreement
Okay, I like the Adaptability one, especially the part of "discover the future one day at a time". But I think the rest of them are not the top 5 talents for an engineer. Top notch engineer, I believe, should have the following:
Analytical: search for reasons and causes. They have ability to think about all the factors that might affect a situation
Learner: have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them
Achiever: have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive
Self Assurance: feel confident in their ability to manage their own lives. They possess an inner compass that gives them confidence that their decisions are right
And just add the Adaptability because it sounds cool. Those are the talents that I wanted to have. Imagine, an engineer like me doesn’t even have Analytical and Learner. And without Achiever and Self Assurance I can imagine losing my path to go to the next level.
I really wanted to change my talent themes during the training (I can, since the output from the assessment on that website is sent only to me and not to Cisco) but deep inside I have to admit that all of them are correct. Most of my work so far requires flexibility and my ability to adapt for changes (Adaptability), I always want to feel that my work is important and get recognition from others (Significance), I like to influence people to take CCIE and move ahead (well, I count that as Positivity), I have no patient to grow, no obstacles should be in front of my project or my development (Activator) and I notice that I’m fit in the project where there are many engineers from different background involved and I have to collect all the proposed designs from them to come up with a design that I hope can satisfy everyone (Harmony). Those are the talents that I have been using in my role as Consulting engineer. So it looks like my current role and my life style are fit with my talents.
So the question now is whether I want to accept my talent themes as they are and focus on developing them to become my strengths, or try to dig deeper to shape those talents that I want (Analytical, Learner, Achiever, Self Assurance) to become a top notch engineer.
Ah well, why bother.
Like you said: it’s just another physiological craps, isn’t it?
But after reading this if you feel curious, I suggest you to check the book that was used in the course: Now, Discover Your Strengths.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Never Make a Promise
Never make a promise that you can’t keep.
I know, you must have heard those words before. Perhaps for so many times. But it’s true. It’s really true. At least that is what happening with me now.
Earlier this year I made a promise that I would pass my CCIE Service Provider lab within 4 months. Today is already end of May, and I’m nowhere in my CCIE journey.
During this period I have seen two of my team members passed the CCIE SP and made them Triple and Double CCIEs. They both passed in the first attempt. And how about me? Still zero.
Who’s to blame? Nobody. Most probably it’s because of me.
I really enjoyed my new role in Cisco AS, really enjoyed the new life style as frequent flyer, and I guess that makes me forget my original purpose. Forget my own promise.
But it’s a good life style, though.
I keep traveling from one country to another, most of the time working from the hotel room and the airport, visiting places that I always wanted to visit.
I had a chance to cruise along Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River, ride a coaster in Hongkong Disneyland, and wet my feet in the pond behind Malaysia’s Twin Towers building. And don’t forget the Formula 1 in Sepang where Fernando Alonso beat those Ferraris!
So no complaint for my past, but I’ve better got back to my focus. Taking photos in new places with my Canon EOS 5D is an exciting experience, but I really want to do that as a Triple CCIE. Even some people tell me certification is not important anymore. They say CCIE is not counted anymore when you join Cisco. But I just want to do it.
Cisco pay for my first three lab attempts. Not bad at all. They also provide all training required, any CCIE bootcamp or internal trainings, and any material available for all Cisco employees (except the real CCIE lab question!).
But my biggest challenge is time. Especially since I have to travel and work (and play and take photos for sure) at the same time.
So I don’t think I can’t attend any training within my timeframe. I have already booked the lab sometime in August, so I have about 2 months to prepare.
My weakness points are IS-IS and Multicast. Fear not, I have the Internetwork Expert’s Advanced Technology video-on-demand for CCIE SP. It’s a very good material even I also have a problem to finish watching them all. Within a week or two I need to start practicing the workbook that I have from both IE Mentor and Internetwork Expert. If I can do this for the next 2 months, I believe I have a chance to pass.
Okay, time has been defined, course has been set. It’s time to sail again. But before that, I hope you don’t mind if I share my picture sitting in front of Snow White Castle :)
I know, you must have heard those words before. Perhaps for so many times. But it’s true. It’s really true. At least that is what happening with me now.
Earlier this year I made a promise that I would pass my CCIE Service Provider lab within 4 months. Today is already end of May, and I’m nowhere in my CCIE journey.
During this period I have seen two of my team members passed the CCIE SP and made them Triple and Double CCIEs. They both passed in the first attempt. And how about me? Still zero.
Who’s to blame? Nobody. Most probably it’s because of me.
I really enjoyed my new role in Cisco AS, really enjoyed the new life style as frequent flyer, and I guess that makes me forget my original purpose. Forget my own promise.
But it’s a good life style, though.
I keep traveling from one country to another, most of the time working from the hotel room and the airport, visiting places that I always wanted to visit.
I had a chance to cruise along Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River, ride a coaster in Hongkong Disneyland, and wet my feet in the pond behind Malaysia’s Twin Towers building. And don’t forget the Formula 1 in Sepang where Fernando Alonso beat those Ferraris!
So no complaint for my past, but I’ve better got back to my focus. Taking photos in new places with my Canon EOS 5D is an exciting experience, but I really want to do that as a Triple CCIE. Even some people tell me certification is not important anymore. They say CCIE is not counted anymore when you join Cisco. But I just want to do it.
Cisco pay for my first three lab attempts. Not bad at all. They also provide all training required, any CCIE bootcamp or internal trainings, and any material available for all Cisco employees (except the real CCIE lab question!).
But my biggest challenge is time. Especially since I have to travel and work (and play and take photos for sure) at the same time.
So I don’t think I can’t attend any training within my timeframe. I have already booked the lab sometime in August, so I have about 2 months to prepare.
My weakness points are IS-IS and Multicast. Fear not, I have the Internetwork Expert’s Advanced Technology video-on-demand for CCIE SP. It’s a very good material even I also have a problem to finish watching them all. Within a week or two I need to start practicing the workbook that I have from both IE Mentor and Internetwork Expert. If I can do this for the next 2 months, I believe I have a chance to pass.
Okay, time has been defined, course has been set. It’s time to sail again. But before that, I hope you don’t mind if I share my picture sitting in front of Snow White Castle :)
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Learn to Listen, Learn not to Speak
Many have asked me the reason why I didn’t update my blog for a while.
Well, my first reason is because currently I’m still learning about how to listen. It sounds easy but really hard to do. I’m a kind of guy who likes to talk about myself, about my past, my job, my experience and projects and so on. I bet you will hate me if you have a chance to meet me in person.
So here I am, with my new job in Cisco, realizing that I’m just an ordinary person here. My co-workers are much better than me technically. They have done more interesting stuff. They know more people. They have more CCIEs.
I have nothing to be proud of. Then I start realizing that this is a good time for me to listen. To learn from anyone who has more experience and exposure in the past.
The second reason is: I’m also learning not to speak. I mean, there are many fascinating stuff and new things that I learn since I joined Cisco, but some of them are confidential information that I can’t just share to public. It was easier when I was outside the system, I could write about anything. But now since I’m part of Cisco I need to make sure that what I write doesn’t reflect about my opinion as Cisco’s employee.
Do I have a problem with my integrity?
Not sure. That’s another thing that I have to learn too.
Well, my first reason is because currently I’m still learning about how to listen. It sounds easy but really hard to do. I’m a kind of guy who likes to talk about myself, about my past, my job, my experience and projects and so on. I bet you will hate me if you have a chance to meet me in person.
So here I am, with my new job in Cisco, realizing that I’m just an ordinary person here. My co-workers are much better than me technically. They have done more interesting stuff. They know more people. They have more CCIEs.
I have nothing to be proud of. Then I start realizing that this is a good time for me to listen. To learn from anyone who has more experience and exposure in the past.
The second reason is: I’m also learning not to speak. I mean, there are many fascinating stuff and new things that I learn since I joined Cisco, but some of them are confidential information that I can’t just share to public. It was easier when I was outside the system, I could write about anything. But now since I’m part of Cisco I need to make sure that what I write doesn’t reflect about my opinion as Cisco’s employee.
Do I have a problem with my integrity?
Not sure. That’s another thing that I have to learn too.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
In the Moment
Chris Turk, a young surgeon, was upset when his superior told him the reason why he’s not chosen as the best surgeon in the hospital is: "..when you're working, I can always see your wheels turning. You're thinking about what you have to do next, what could go wrong. You're not in the moment.."
Well, I’m not sure whether to be the best surgeon in real world you should stick with what you are doing right now and not to focus too much with the next moment, I just took that plot from one of the episodes of Scrubs TV series anyway. But most of the time I seem to forget this basic principle too.
When I want to achieve something in the future, I tend to forget what I have in hand right now. I start making the plan to achieve my target but at the same time I start ignoring my today’s task.
So you want to move to better job? Keep broadcasting your CV but don’t ignore your current job. Want to move to different department? Apply and do the negotiation but don’t leave the tasks with the existing team.
Wanna pass CCIE? Stop dreaming and do what you have to do today: pass the written test, get the workbook, setup the lab, join the study group, ask advice from other CCIE and so on.
Plan for the future but don’t forget what we have today.
Be in the moment.
Well, I’m not sure whether to be the best surgeon in real world you should stick with what you are doing right now and not to focus too much with the next moment, I just took that plot from one of the episodes of Scrubs TV series anyway. But most of the time I seem to forget this basic principle too.
When I want to achieve something in the future, I tend to forget what I have in hand right now. I start making the plan to achieve my target but at the same time I start ignoring my today’s task.
So you want to move to better job? Keep broadcasting your CV but don’t ignore your current job. Want to move to different department? Apply and do the negotiation but don’t leave the tasks with the existing team.
Wanna pass CCIE? Stop dreaming and do what you have to do today: pass the written test, get the workbook, setup the lab, join the study group, ask advice from other CCIE and so on.
Plan for the future but don’t forget what we have today.
Be in the moment.
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