The CCIE Program
Cisco has run the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) program
for several years as a way to let individuals prove that they have
reached the technical peak of the networking industry. Chesapeake
Computer Consultants, Inc., was founded by the first person outside of
Cisco to become a CCIE, and has a long history of involvement with the
program. We currently have nine CCIE's on staff - more than any other
Cisco training partner.
The CCIE program is the only well-established vendor training program that has never been labeled as a "paper" certification. Other vendors' major certifications have had trouble maintaining their respectability as more and more study materials have come to market, making it possible for some people to pass certification exams without having a good understanding of how to use the products. Cisco has, from the very beginning, insisted on a rigorous, hands-on, lab exam to make sure that anyone earning a CCIE designation deserves to get it. No one passes a CCIE lab exam unless he or she knows how to build and troubleshoot a complex internetwork.
The last public numbers Cisco released on the CCIE program indicated that there were 1981 CCIE's worldwide, with 834 of them residing in the United States. Most estimates are that between one third and one half of those are Cisco employees, and there is a lot more demand both inside Cisco and in the rest of the networking industry for people with the CCIE skill set.
There have been a lot of changes to Cisco's CCIE program lately. The biggest changes are that Cisco has introduced two new types of CCIE one for people who specialize in WAN Switching (the Stratacom product line) and another targeted at the skills Internet Service Providers need (dial access and very complex TCP/IP configurations). These changes make good sense because Cisco's product offerings have gotten so diverse that it's impossible for anyone to be top-notch across the entire product line.
Becoming a CCIE
The basic things that you have to do to become a CCIE have remained unchanged regardless of whether you are interested in one of the new specialties or the traditional CCIE
certification which is now called the CCIE - Routing and Switching
Program. You have to take and pass a written exam (administered
electronically at a Sylvan Prometric testing center for $200 US
dollars), and then you have to take and pass a two day, hands-on, lab
exam. If you don't pass the lab on your first try (and many people
don't), Cisco imposes a 30 day waiting period between attempts. At two
days and $1,000 US dollars per attempt, the lab is not a test to be
taken lightly.
You won't be able to find out more than some generalities about the contents of the CCIE exams until you actually take them because the specific contents are covered by non-disclosures. Any CCIE who reveals the contents of an exam risks being de-certified, so we tend not to be any more specific than what you can read on Cisco's web site at http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/625/ccie/index.html. Make sure you follow the link from there to the CCIE Home Page for the latest updates.
So, You Want to Be One of the Best?
Once you've decided that you want to prove you're one of the best in
the networking industry, there isn't that much to do. You study. You
practice. You may take classes. You study. You practice. You study
some more. You practice some more. Oh, and did we mention that you
should study and practice? Once you can't stand it any more, you're
probably ready to take the written exam. Once you pass it, you can
schedule the lab exam, and that's when the real work starts! You'll
have to put in a lot of time preparing if you want to pass. Most
people say it's the hardest test they've ever taken in their lives.
Chesapeake offers a CCIE Preparation Lab if you want to work with one of our CCIEs to get some hands-on practice as preparation for the real thing. We give you a set of routers, scenarios you can use to test yourself on configuring the routers, and a CCIE to help answer your questions. Students who avail themselves of this opportunity rave over the opportunity to get a realistic evaluation of their ability from someone who has been through the program.
Our best advice for preparing to take your CCIE exam? Study hard, and make sure you understand what you're studying. Prioritize your time when you take the exam so that you don't waste any of it - you'll need all the time you can get. Everything an access server, router, or switch can do is fair game on the test - and that's how it needs to be to make sure that only the best become CCIEs.