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!

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.

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 :)

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.

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.

End of the Rainbow

Every time someone asks me why I decided to leave Dubai and join Cisco based in Singapore, my answer is always: because Middle East is the end of the rainbow. What is the end of the rainbow? When I was young, I always heard people say about the pot of gold laid at the end of the rainbow. They say: If you want to become very rich, just follow the rainbow until you find the end.
There you will find your gold.
Well, I might be small and naïve that time so I wasn’t brave enough to follow the suggestion. Right call, I guess.

I believe Middle East is the end of the rainbow that many people used to tell me about. You can get a very high salary, without tax, so if you make 100 you will bring 100 home. Car price is cheap and everyone can afford to buy car. And the good thing about being networkers in Middle East is the infrastructure is still under heavy development so many technologies that have already had mature in other country may be considered new to many people there. It means if you know a bit more compare to the others than it’s very easy to set yourself apart. The competition is relatively low to reach the top, so if you are able to do so then you will find yourself alone. With lots of $$$ for sure.

So what’s wrong with all of that? Well, if you want to make lots of money and get retired quickly then you should work in Middle East. But if you are like me, who feels like being rich is not enough and always tries to get new challenges all the time then you may not want to go there at all. At least until you get tired with whatever you are doing in life and finally start thinking to chase the money.

Then one friend strikes me with his ultimate question: so what do you expect to see at the end of the rainbow? What would you like to end up?

As per today, my answer is: I don’t know.
I used to think that working for Cisco in Silicon Valley is my ultimate goal. I used to dream about it. Hoping someday I can be one of the guys who build and test the product. And finally, after more than 10 months waiting, I got my H1b visa approved. Now I have a chance to fly to San Jose and try my luck. But I’m not sure if I’m ready for that.

The thing is, I’m already with Cisco now. Even it’s the Advanced Services team and not the business unit who develops product, but it’s still Cisco. And my current skill is fit as part of Advanced Services. I mean I used to do consulting work, make a design, lead the project implementation, allocate resources, discuss with customer and make a plan etc and I’m doing all of those now with Cisco AS.

So I may be best with whatever I’m doing right now.
But if I move to SV, I need to start from beginning since the skill set required is most likely very deep in one particular technology plus I need to know how to automate the process to test the product.

The question is not whether I’m going to survive in SV. But the real question that’s killing my mind now is whether I’m going to like what I will do there. Even if I’m able to join Cisco in SV.

Maybe I’m good with whatever I’m doing now so I should just continue doing it. And actually I really like whatever I'm doing. Or I may just need to work hard and ask for internal transfer one day. That will be the day I have made my decision to switch from Advanced Services to the business unit.

And perhaps you should start asking yourself too: what do you expect to find at the end of your rainbow?

IE Mentor with Dynamips

Just like Internetwork Expert, IE Mentor now has provided Dynamips configuration file to practice their CCIE SP workbook labs. IE Mentor is well known as one of the best training provider for CCIE SP preparation. Their workbook is top of the line and I heard their bootcamp is worth the money too.

All of the information of how to use Dynamips to practice the workbook can be found in this link. The .NET configuration file can be downloaded if you are a registered user with IE Mentor.

Well, actually it's not difficult to make the Dynamips configuration file for any workbooks or any scenarios. But if someone has already made it available, why not to use it? And it's not only the configuration file, this offer also means that even there may not be official technical support available but you know there is someone out there that you can ask when you face a problem setting up the lab. And the priceless forum full of people discussing the setup will come up as well. So I'd say just go for it.