Ok,
So here's the problem - CCIE's have to re-certify using a given CCIE Written Exam every couple of years or else become de-certified.
There's a process but the end result is that the CCIE who cannot pass a CCIE Written or CCDE Written Exam - any of them... well they lose the certification. Period.
The problem is that the latest exam has no such study guide apparently at least since around January of 2016 which really means there was no testing aids - FROM ANYWHERE - available to our erstwhile CCIE's who needed to re-certify using... the CCIE RS Written...
And probably others or soon to be others...
So what!!!
These are CCIE's and they beat the lab... They are the most resourceful and talented engineers on the planet and they are elite.
Um...
Unless they can't pass that CCIE Written Exam in time... Those who procrastinated may have lost the certification or may currently be at risk...
If the so-called brain dumps are no longer in operation and of no further use for the current CCIE Written Exams then the current CCIE's who used such resources as a "SOLE SOURCE" are very much dis-enfranchised.
So... what?
Well... That means that Cisco Partners who require CCIE's are going to be needing new CCIE's and there will be a shortage.
It means CCIE Salaries for those who made the cut are know able to name that price in salary negotiations...
It means that no matter what - the CCIE Program has some issues...
1. Is is possible that such a large number of CCIE's simply cannot pass the exams any longer... I mean they were CCIE's yesterday before their CCIE expired...
2. Is is possible that the CCIE Pundits and Tweeters have made a colossal difference at Cisco Live and are going to get an immediate overhaul before they are deer in the headlights and de-certified?
3. Is it possible that even if a new exam is written - the question bank will be changed often enough to make the CCIE's shape up or ship out... of the program...?
4. Some CCIE's let their CCNA or CCNP go at some point and may have been dependent upon that one shot one kill re-certification exam to re-certify a host of certifications... per policy.
5. What's the CCIE Program going to do now?
- Is it going to fold to massive PEER PRESSURE from people who beat the CCIE Labs and may have used materials that gave them an undue advantage over others... can't call it cheating per VUE's guidelines - had this discussion in 2009 so the term does not apply to the test taker.
- However, now Cisco is back in the INTEGRITY CROSS-HAIRS and the CCIE Program has a MORAL DILEMMA....
- Will it stick to its guns,., and retain the current CCIE Written Exams and use its normal process of Exam Development that has been tried and true for over 20+ years...
- Will it fold to PEER PRESSURE because an ENTIRE GENERATION of CCIE's - We are possibly taking over 10,000+ Current CCIE's simply cannot pass the CCIE Written Exams - particularly the CCIE RS Written which apparently may only cover a small percentage of possible questions versus previous years which covered several hundred questions... if we look at the numbers - a little Google and those who don't know any better can check the exact statistics...
I, myself, I looked and found the root cause of the problem...
The CCIE RS Written Question Bank is not in the open...
Recall... Someone cleaned up Sadikhov about 7 years ago or so and now there is no place to dump exams so easy and so... there is a clear and inalienable void...
IPExpert is also no longer around and that left a void...
The bottom line is there is a problem...
CCIE's Numbers are falling and while the numbers say 50,000+ Certified CCIE's, some died and some dropped out of the program when the mythical job opportunities never materialized... or did not pay as well - take a look at the Chinese numbers of CCIE's - the supply/demand and economy may not support the $100k mark for that country and few Visa's so... the investment may not have panned out...
Now with no testing aids to help and no real CCIE Written Training Books by Cisco Press that are a one shot and one kill solution... (Narbik posted on CLN and agreed that even his latest 2 volume offering was not quite a silver bullet for the CCIE RS Written) and no other track has had a Cisco Press Book to really cover the various CCIE Written Exams...
The bottom line is Cisco and Cisco Press have to step up to the plate for CCIE Written Exams...
Right now - The Problem is lack of support.
The Cisco Expert Level Program - 8 years later only supports CCIE Routing and Switching and CCIE Collaboration to any degree...
That's it.
No other CCIE's are supported by the Cisco Expert Level Certification Program...
Why not?
Why not?
Why not?
It's been 8 years and Cisco has certified some 25-30,000 CCIE's or more in that time... more or less...
Yet no major releases to support these CCIE Programs...
My question to Cisco is this: Are you going to shape up or ship out of the CCIE Program?
Someone has to support the CCIE Program... Vendors like Juniper or Arista or even Huawei are not going to do it for Cisco...
I love the CCIE Program and have used it to leverage my own skills for nearly 20 years now... and it has paid off in spades...
However, as a person who continually and consistently helps CCIE's mostly every day - I have to say our CCIE's are needing some more support in the terms of affordable training, more access to labs, and more books and training programs for each CCIE Track...
Do I need to start and fund a CCIE Training Company to prove my point?
I've done well at the CCNP level and well enough to make such a statement. I can leverage a small business loan easy enough. I have the contacts who are talented and I've been engaged with so many talented CCIE's for almost 20+ years and have resources such as few others have...
And I am a highly motivated professional who actually knows the ins and outs of this certification industry to a certain extent who has never been committed to any other organization who trains for the CCIE, even though I've been entertained a time or two by some of the major training partners to Cisco.
Thoughts... We need help...
Now is the Time...
Darby Weaver
The Inquisitor...
So here's the problem - CCIE's have to re-certify using a given CCIE Written Exam every couple of years or else become de-certified.
There's a process but the end result is that the CCIE who cannot pass a CCIE Written or CCDE Written Exam - any of them... well they lose the certification. Period.
The problem is that the latest exam has no such study guide apparently at least since around January of 2016 which really means there was no testing aids - FROM ANYWHERE - available to our erstwhile CCIE's who needed to re-certify using... the CCIE RS Written...
And probably others or soon to be others...
So what!!!
These are CCIE's and they beat the lab... They are the most resourceful and talented engineers on the planet and they are elite.
Um...
Unless they can't pass that CCIE Written Exam in time... Those who procrastinated may have lost the certification or may currently be at risk...
If the so-called brain dumps are no longer in operation and of no further use for the current CCIE Written Exams then the current CCIE's who used such resources as a "SOLE SOURCE" are very much dis-enfranchised.
So... what?
Well... That means that Cisco Partners who require CCIE's are going to be needing new CCIE's and there will be a shortage.
It means CCIE Salaries for those who made the cut are know able to name that price in salary negotiations...
It means that no matter what - the CCIE Program has some issues...
1. Is is possible that such a large number of CCIE's simply cannot pass the exams any longer... I mean they were CCIE's yesterday before their CCIE expired...
2. Is is possible that the CCIE Pundits and Tweeters have made a colossal difference at Cisco Live and are going to get an immediate overhaul before they are deer in the headlights and de-certified?
3. Is it possible that even if a new exam is written - the question bank will be changed often enough to make the CCIE's shape up or ship out... of the program...?
4. Some CCIE's let their CCNA or CCNP go at some point and may have been dependent upon that one shot one kill re-certification exam to re-certify a host of certifications... per policy.
5. What's the CCIE Program going to do now?
- Is it going to fold to massive PEER PRESSURE from people who beat the CCIE Labs and may have used materials that gave them an undue advantage over others... can't call it cheating per VUE's guidelines - had this discussion in 2009 so the term does not apply to the test taker.
- However, now Cisco is back in the INTEGRITY CROSS-HAIRS and the CCIE Program has a MORAL DILEMMA....
- Will it stick to its guns,., and retain the current CCIE Written Exams and use its normal process of Exam Development that has been tried and true for over 20+ years...
- Will it fold to PEER PRESSURE because an ENTIRE GENERATION of CCIE's - We are possibly taking over 10,000+ Current CCIE's simply cannot pass the CCIE Written Exams - particularly the CCIE RS Written which apparently may only cover a small percentage of possible questions versus previous years which covered several hundred questions... if we look at the numbers - a little Google and those who don't know any better can check the exact statistics...
I, myself, I looked and found the root cause of the problem...
The CCIE RS Written Question Bank is not in the open...
Recall... Someone cleaned up Sadikhov about 7 years ago or so and now there is no place to dump exams so easy and so... there is a clear and inalienable void...
IPExpert is also no longer around and that left a void...
The bottom line is there is a problem...
CCIE's Numbers are falling and while the numbers say 50,000+ Certified CCIE's, some died and some dropped out of the program when the mythical job opportunities never materialized... or did not pay as well - take a look at the Chinese numbers of CCIE's - the supply/demand and economy may not support the $100k mark for that country and few Visa's so... the investment may not have panned out...
Now with no testing aids to help and no real CCIE Written Training Books by Cisco Press that are a one shot and one kill solution... (Narbik posted on CLN and agreed that even his latest 2 volume offering was not quite a silver bullet for the CCIE RS Written) and no other track has had a Cisco Press Book to really cover the various CCIE Written Exams...
The bottom line is Cisco and Cisco Press have to step up to the plate for CCIE Written Exams...
Right now - The Problem is lack of support.
The Cisco Expert Level Program - 8 years later only supports CCIE Routing and Switching and CCIE Collaboration to any degree...
That's it.
No other CCIE's are supported by the Cisco Expert Level Certification Program...
Why not?
Why not?
Why not?
It's been 8 years and Cisco has certified some 25-30,000 CCIE's or more in that time... more or less...
Yet no major releases to support these CCIE Programs...
My question to Cisco is this: Are you going to shape up or ship out of the CCIE Program?
Someone has to support the CCIE Program... Vendors like Juniper or Arista or even Huawei are not going to do it for Cisco...
I love the CCIE Program and have used it to leverage my own skills for nearly 20 years now... and it has paid off in spades...
However, as a person who continually and consistently helps CCIE's mostly every day - I have to say our CCIE's are needing some more support in the terms of affordable training, more access to labs, and more books and training programs for each CCIE Track...
Do I need to start and fund a CCIE Training Company to prove my point?
I've done well at the CCNP level and well enough to make such a statement. I can leverage a small business loan easy enough. I have the contacts who are talented and I've been engaged with so many talented CCIE's for almost 20+ years and have resources such as few others have...
And I am a highly motivated professional who actually knows the ins and outs of this certification industry to a certain extent who has never been committed to any other organization who trains for the CCIE, even though I've been entertained a time or two by some of the major training partners to Cisco.
Thoughts... We need help...
Now is the Time...
Darby Weaver
The Inquisitor...
26 comments:
Do you know ccie security v4 is almost about to expire and new version is coming up but so far only v3 books are floating around ? Hopefully someone from cisco read this .
You haven't even passed the lab. Focus on that first instead of the public outage over problems you don't even have to deal with yet. You won't get far with getting people to pay for your CCIE training if you can't pass the lab.
I think that the I.T. fields are moving to quickly for their own good of the people perceive careers in it. Myself, for one, am finding it hard to keep up. Companies are now demanding experience in a wide range of technologies for one person, but that person may be mostly skilled in Networking only, or F5 only, or a combination of both, with one technology lacking. Companies have to now realize that we aren't robots and they have to give a person a shot at learning on the job. And this falls back to the certifications. Certifications focus on a particular technology, and it takes time to even gear up for the written. I enjoy gearing up the the lab than these written exams. They go to wide spread with theory. Any individual is more than likely not to have covered all this stuff on a job.
I've been disappointed in the CCIE for a while now. I just re-certed a few months ago and this last time I seriously questioned whether I should bother. Cisco expects us to shell out $400 (or more if you fail) and who knows how much time and effort studying every 2 years to re-cert but as Darby rightly mentions there is little in the way of legitimate training material out there. And even when you do re-cert what do you get from Cisco? The IE is valuable to small partners who don't have enough IE's on staff to get their discounts, but to the engineer who actually holds the cert???
And guess what? If I let it lapse I'll still put the IE and my number on the resume. I earned it the hard way, no cheating, multiple attempts and almost 2 years of hard study. And no one but a small partner will care. So F off Cisco. :D
So Cisco is spending it's resources making the written supposedly more protected with big rotating question pools, but the questions are hilariously trivial, often have bad grammar and spelling and not much to do with certifying anyone as a good engineer. How bout spend some resources developing a testing methodology that actually matters, because what exists now doesn't. And it doesn't stop people from cheating either, I've met CCIEs who are hilariously inept making very junior errors and not being able to answer basic networking questions. Wonder how they got an R&S number without knowing what ARP is?
I work at a top 5 tech company with many of us holding the IE. Some have chosen to let it lapse because really who has 2 months to waste burning the midnight oil on some ill thought out, poorly executed recert game? We're busy learning scripting languages, hacking, *nix/open source networking and the like so we don't become irrelevant in the future. Cisco would be wise to think about their relevance as well.
This last comment is bothersome. I have said before I am on the CCIE advisory council. We all have different backgrounds and experience. I actually agree with you and I want to change that. My main reason for applying was the fact that I am aware of CCIE's in R/S that don't know what MPLS is or never configured a vrf. I have met Collab CCIE's that can not properly explain a voice codec.
I am open to idea's on how to fix without jeopardizing more valid CCIE numbers. It's a catch 22 right? I mean you make the questions more common sense and experience driven and you end up making it so that cheaters do not even have to take time reading the questions. Raising the number of CCIE's to the fact we have watered down integrity. Or continue to try to make the questions at the degree where it takes a while to process what is required before answering. And yes I realize that bad grammar is a problem. But any solution you present, I will send along.
Everyone got their number for different reasons. I for one did it for the challenge. I did not do it for job security or any of the other reasons. I thought it was a challenge and I took it. So trust me when i say I will not just let my number go because it definitely means something.
Thanks Derek,
I've received a lot of feedback - and over 10,000 views this past weekend - that's a very interesting statistic that says a lot about the program and the issues discussed.
I'm preparing another article/discussion that ties a lot of the concerns and some solutions to the table.
There are a lot of stakeholders involved.
Thanks
Darby Weaver
And today Cisco adds 10% FM (effin magic) to all CCIE track's written exams in the form of "Evolving Technologies" ! They're for sure driving revenue with the lack of quality training material in the form of failed exams and retakes. They have an industry high on their drug, and HR and Hiring Managers can't get enough of . Look up hot cert, Cisco has it. Look for Cisco self study for hot cert,... MIA ?! Take "Data Center" for instance. The cert track was announced late in 2012. Was it just last year, 2015, that the CCNA Data Center OCG books were published after the cert being around for a couple of years ?! CCNP Data Center OCGs still do not exist ?! Service Provider ? No OCG for any level whatsoever. Just a random list of recommended reading. Same with the new CCNA Security, and the list of complaints about that exam wraps around every CCNA Security forum, twice ! Cisco finally (after MONTHS of complaints) took some action on the exam, removing a problem sim, but the new OCG doesn't even cover everything on the exam ? So yes, CCIE is awful, but they're doing this across the board. Hiring managers need to back off of "required" / "mandatory" certs, and interview to see if folks actually possess a required level or specific type of knowledge. They are part of the reason for the certification hysteria that leads to people attempting to cheat their way into a cert because it's REQUIRED for a job they can otherwise do. There are folks who couldn't do the job either way, but because of the lack of rigorous technical interviews, and the automatic ticket punch of having the "MANDATORY" cert, they get hired.
I cannot agree more with the concern and comments. I had my CCIE for 17 years and kept it up with the CCIE SP exam. Unfortunately due to my workload and lack of training resources for the latest exam and the new requirement that you must wait 14 days to retake, I lost it last month. I am still the same person today from an Architect perspective that I was last month, but now my certification is gone. I was not in a position to move to Emeritus as my company was relying upon my CCIE, but I was not also allowed to spend the time to prepare. I know I am preaching to the choir, but I have lost a lot of respect to the certification by a company that does not effectively provide resources for those that they claim to be empowering.
I feel that it's a good thing that they have clamped down on this and I really hope that they manage to do the same for the practical lab. To many people are clearing the I.E. Labs using dumps. So the exam just becomes a speed typing test.
It should restore true self pride in those that manage to pass without these dumps.
I totally understand the Cisco Expert Program has to come up to standards else the Cisco Program ma loose well over 10,000 CCIE's or more.
I have to check the numbers by the time the numbers his 16,000, over 4000 had dropped out of the program - over 25%.
I have to study the numbers and do the verifications to get a better statistic...
The CCNP is doing fine and while some like me are not complaining...
CCIE's are and rightly so.
Darby Weaver
On the Integrity of the CCIE...
The program is learning its true worth as many if not most of the CCIE Population prepared to take the various CCIE Written Exams with no available dumps.
We will see a decrease in the number of CCIE RS first and then each track as the exams are re-written.
Now CCIE's may re-certify in other tracks unless all are cleaned at the same time.
Darby Weaver
Your statement regarding starting your own training company is very interesting to me.
As a prior student of IPExpert I feel a distinct void from them vanishing...
If you do decide to start one up, I'd be very interested, and I'm sure there are more amongst my coworkers (IBM - GTS) that would perk an ear up.
I love this post. As a current CCIE (R&S) and I have over 20 years of networking experience. I support huge enterprise environments and study just about every day. The interesting thing is that Cisco makes it a point to chance the written exams quite regularly but the lab exams hardly change at all or so I've heard. Let's take the CCIE data center version 1.0 for example. Doing a simple google search and you would know this lab test has been compromised. There are droves of people passing this test (LAB) up until the recent change to 2.0. This test should have been retired long ago. There are way to many CCIE data centers out there that do not have a clue and literally just memorized the lab word for word. I can't tell you how many CCIE data centers I have interviewed were their credentials were obviously false. What has Cisco done here? They made the written terribly tough as well as vague making current CCIEs re certification process horrible. At the same time they have left the flood gates open on the lab portion so whoever passes the written could easily pass the lab. Too much focus on the written and not enough focus on the lab portion with regular updates.
The other portion you point out and hit the nail on the head is the ability to study for such a written. A perfect example is Cisco adding emerging technologies to every exam starting 7/25/16. How do you study for these vendor neutral concepts? Look at the blueprint and you see items such "Internet of Things", "Cloud computing" and the list goes on but there is no clear study guide or process. I loved studying for the CCIE R&S because I thought the process although very tough I had clear direction on how to study. I read the following:
BGP internet Architectures - great book
Routing TCP/IP Volume I and Volume II
QOS book
troubleshooting ip protocols
CCIE R&S Cert Guide
INE Videos
IPExpert Videos
attended both INE and IPexpert classes
list goes on.
Studying for the R&S was tough but I had a starting point and knew all the technologies I needed to master. Now its just up for grabs. It seems like you need to go fail the written 2 or 3 times and figure out what to study and then go pass it.
mark
Derek, the problem does not lie in the number of people certified. As any of the psychometricians that Cisco uses will tell you, a good/fair exam will set a bar of knowledge that should be consistent with no matter to how many people attempt or pass it. That being said, it's statistics... And statistics can very well be skewed in order to achieve a desired result. :)
The problem with the written exams of late is not in the size of pool questions. It's in the quality of them. Whether we are talking about asinine questions about trivial things (whatever, trivia is what it is) or bad grammar... That certainly paints a picture. But I would reckon that more people fail because of the scoring methods of questions. When damn near every question is a "pick three", and there's no partial credit, and there always seems to be TWO correct answers and two or more that COULD be correct depending on what your assumptions are, that becomes a much less objective exam.
And going back to the comment about the large pool of questions there, they are written by many people, so it's not possible to get a consistent view of "how did the question-writer think?" In order to pick the "best" of the semi-correct answers.
I do agree very much with some of the comments about not having enough time to study in large doses. Real life is going on, and we are too busy building some of the largest networks that CCIEs SHOULD be doing. I always leave comments on questions within the exams that I have taken over the years, figuring that's constructive (usually). Some comments are more scathing than others depending on what mood the exam has put me in.
The emerging technology questions don't bother me as much. Again, however, going back to the structure and quality of the questions.
Going back to someone's comment about CCIEs and MPLS, I get more of a kick out of the number of people who I have interviewed where their resume clearly says they have "worked on MPLS networks" and when pressed on technical questions I come to find out they have worked for a company that bought a link to an MPLS network and all they did was the CE configuration.
There are many times that I will stand up and vehemently defend Cisco and the CCIE program, and their choices of technologies and things like that. I very much still do. The written exams, however, and quality therein are taking its toll on all the other good things that there are.
I don't quite share the same doom and gloom approach of the various brain dumps that are or or not around any longer. That's one of those things that is going to exist whenever there are people overly-motivated to achieve something. Shortcuts will exist. The answer to stopping them is not, however, in creating a huge list of asinine questions graded in such a way that a statistically select number of people will pass. Change the recert method. Do lab-based scenarios. Tell me that with the extensions of IOU and VIRL and CML and other spin offs of simulations that we can't do that.... Test what people know and can apply. Or perhaps essay questions are better, so that I can explain to someone how a technology or function actually works rather than picking three of the "best-ish" answers in a contrived set of unknown assumptions.
That may be more work on the grading side along the way, but at least I'd feel better about spending $400. Done with my soapbox for the moment. I'm always up for being part of the solution....
Derek,
It comes to my attention that some CCIE's and possibly CCDE's have waited till the last minute to pass the CCIE Written.
Some people are CCIE's with many years of experience.
Some are people striving to pass the CCIE Written in hopes of qualifying for the CCIE Lab of one track or another.
Some are taking the CCIE Written Exams to qualify their own knowledge beyond that offered by the Professional Level Exams.
Some are re-certifying their entire portfolio of Cisco Certifications.
The truth is up till 7-25-2016 and perhaps just a few months before... everyone - CCIE's and non-CCIE's all seemed to share the sentiment that the exam was trifle, easy, not related to being very technical and just a road block.
Today it is being slammed for everything else... and all at once even multi-CCIE's who hold the CCDE or other valuable credentials are clamoring for JUSTICE...
Translation = Someone was not prepared for the exam(s).
The tests are the tests, the wording... very specific... is the wording...
Change the entire CCIE Lab - the Practical today... and come tomorrow the pass rate flat lines...
Why is that?
Small changes in the Practical Lab should not equate to flat lines in the pass rates...
Statistically some should still make the cut, yet we have seen that this has not always been the case in the past.
The solution... complex.
1. Drop the dead weight - a lot of CCIE's depended on something they should not have... it has become a culture so its hard to blame people... I've been to classes where I've been told the instructor has given out what sold as actual test questions for the entire test... - we are speaking of the CCIE here...
2. I personally worked for 1 solid year to stop what was happening on Sadikhov and with the help of a like-minded Team of Moderators and the blessings of the owner - stopped the problem. Our little effort did not slow it down - we made it unacceptable. Period. It worked. We tore a huge leg off the beast...
3. The CCIE Program has been a victim of group collaborative efforts for a long time now... that's true and that cannot be helped nor stopped. So be it.
4. The tests can be re-written and renewed every 3 months - that's what I'd say it takes to totally eradicate the concept of brain dumps whereby the entire exam is leaked word for word - even picture graphics from entering the market and becoming prevalent... that's it.
-Why?
- It takes time for the sell-out training centers to gather the entire question banks and then to disseminate to forums or mailing lists and create reliable answers - its a game of discovery, production, and refinement. Not much else to it.
- It takes time to get the answers - whereby Subject Matter Experts gather to agree on each and every aspect of a given question or scenario.
- It takes time to update the product.
- It takes time to "GO-TO-MARKET"... It just does...
- It takes time for the student or CCIE Candidate to talk, ask questions, gather the nerve to buy and then even more time to prepare and use the product and schedule the exam based on knowing a few questions...
Now I've explained the life cycle development process of what is going on....
What can Cisco do about it?
Really?
1. Build a training program that caters on the exam objectives - whatever they may be... not everything - on the exam objectives.
2. Build a test question development process that derives questions solely from the Official Certification Guides which are based on the objectives... sure you might have to go outside of the OCG but the references are to come from the OCG and be relevant to the objectives - in just that context.
3. The test engines - they need to VARY the questions AND the answers - knowing your alphabet should NEVER result in the attainment of the CCIE Expert Level Certification. Not ever.
4. We have a variety of CCIE's who have created a wealth of certification training - why not explore similar venues and creations by Cisco employees - It might be hard to believe but TAC has produced quite an army of SME's who are Cisco Press Authors and very talented and motivated personnel - Something to be proud of. Why not use it?
5. I am always available for insight or consult...
- I know the methodology of the entire development process and I've been involved in certifications for nearly 20 years now... Others can claim better. None of them made the attempt to stop the process and the flow of the material that validates each every one of our careers - I did and did not use an alias to do it. I'm writing this off the top of my head but there's more to it.
I want a program that makes a better network engineer - with or without the certification. That's what is needed - if the certification program died today and the training many have worked so hard for is all that was left, we'd all be the better for it. That's what I think this is all about - getting better and striving to be the best at what we do every day. We all make mistakes but we learn and we become a higher quality engineer.
Darby Weaver
There's not really much debate - Cisco changed the CCIE Written Exams - per request and mostly on July 26th 2016 the changes were effected.
Unfortunately a lot of previously qualified CCIE's also have to take those same CCIE Written Exams to recertify - some are mult-CCIE's and some are CCDE, and some have 5, 10, 15+ years as a CCIE or more... some will now choose Emeritus as a noble escape from the CCIE Tax.
Candidates will have to pass the Written Exams or else not be candidates.
The flood gates have been closed.
Unfortunately not all CCIE's will make the cut.
I have addressed the problem in forums, linkedin, blogs and there are now hundreds of people who have responded with thousands of hits at the collective places where the concerns have been raised.
There is a gap between Cisco Expert Level Training and Development across all tracks and the Certification Exams or Labs required to attain each given certification at the Expert Level.
Cisco promised people at Cisco Live to make a change and they have.
Things are improving as we speak.
CCIE Trainers are chiming in to complain - they never complained before - it wasn' their problem - now it is.
Everyone asked Cisco to fix the problem and now they have. The new exams are released - so the discussions about the exam questions - can't possible be about these latest exams - not yet... besides we always have the NDA.
Darby Weaver
http://www.darbyslogs.blogspot.com
Great man u r correct i will add here comment for CCDE .. There is no proper way or training for CCDE i have seen many person who become the teacher for ccde but what they team nothing .. Just running their buisness.
We need to stop conflating "horrible grammar and writing" with "making the test harder to cheat on."
It is tough, no doubt, writing test questions. It is doubly tough to thwart cheating. This is not an excuse to use double and triple negatives in questions. This is not an excuse to riddle questions with obfuscating adverbs. If you're trying to confuse people with terrible writing, then you are a bad test writer. Full stop.
If you want to make it more experience based, you have to keep in mind that in real life when we're talking about a lot of money (the cost of the gear, the cost of downtime), *we get to ask clarifying questions.* We don't get that on the test.
And it's not just the questions, it's the answers too! Picking the least wrong answer on the IE is dumb. There is enough material to cover there is no excuse for this kind of bologne.
I've said it before on twitter, and I'll say it again here: I passed 2 out of 3 IE exams on my first attempt. The written, however, I passed by the skin of my teeth. I remember how pissed off I was that I actually paid money to take that exam.
Stop making excuses for terrible writing. You're not being clever, you're pissing people off!
Derick Winkworth,
Can't disagree I've seen a lot of questions by now. No doubt. Some good and some bad.
However, the Cisco Exams by comparison to other programs are pretty fair.
I know some of the questions leave us wondering what were they thinking... seen those too and choose x number of answers out of y number of options...
I went trolling last night and for the first time saw that Cisco totally cleared the field for Braindumps on the CCIE Written exams...
The masterminds trying to defeat the exam barely have a single question formed and that's impressive.
I'm old school underground and have access to places others can't find and yet... it looks like there will be no collaboration on these new exams.
People used to believe it was China that was the problem.
I never actually believed that so much but I heard it.
I know the underground as well as most and better than many.
I know how people operate and socially collaborate to some extent - which is extensive to some degree.
I'm going to post other public posts.
The issue is that Cisco needs a Professional Training Program at least as good as the CCNA and CCNP level programs.
Darby Weaver
Let's be clear - I'm probably going to piss a lot of people off...
Make no mistake - to the max...
Cisco took a recommendation I offered about two years ago now and re-wrote all the CCIE Written Exams and by a quick check on the underground - the guys who hide behind aliases for names... can't seem to agree on what the first question was for the last exam...
That's a good thing... right?
Ok - Now I'm going to piss everyone off...
So... Here's the deal...
There will be no more dumps for the CCIE Written nor the Lab...
And if there are... then every single candidate will have every single bit of a clue as every other candidate...
Cisco will clear the field and no one will know what is or is not valid from one exam to the next.
That is quite simple and I can deliver...
Easy enough...
See - I don't care which questions or scenarios are asked and I study all CCIE Tracks... so I'm good for them all...
Just like that...
This presents a breath of fresh air:
1. Existing CCIE's who passed by using Exams Leaks - may or may not be able to still pass a CCIE Written Exam of any Track...
2. Existing CCIE's who did not use Leaks - may or may not be able to pass a CCIE Written Exam of any Track...
3. I just leveled the playing field?
How?
1. I make regular reports to Cisco's NDA about suspected violations immediately...
2. I publish my findings in the wild for anyone to see - now Cisco alone knows whether the published findings are real or not... I have not taken the current exams Written or Lab and thus am not subject to any NDA...
- I might just make up questions or labs for my own students and add to the fun... and publish them too...
- The worst thing that can happen is people will study one more option they may not have before and it is free...
- The people who are CCIE by Leaks... and we all know there all none... outside of China (kidding... we know...) but hey...
- Let's see how my CCIE Lab Training Program works...
Good luck to all and God Bless!!!
Darby Weaver
A few of the dump sites are no longer carrying Cisco materials. Methinks the lawyers are busy behind the scenes.
I took the DC written exam 3 times before passing it and I am a Cisco DC expert, no question about it. It was ridiculously hard. I was getting questions like the order of internal sequences that the Nexus switches goes through when doing ISSU.. I don't really care what order it goes through. Simply what needs to be considered to perform the action.. How the switch goes about doing it is irrelevant to me as long as the result is what I'm expecting, all working fine while still passing traffic.. In fact I upgrade around 32 Nexus 7ks successfully in our global DCs, without knowing it. The number of bits in Ftag and stuff like that.. FFS
That is just one example there were many more.. To pass some of these exams not a good test of engineer skill.
I look forward to my 10 year soon when I will become emiratas immediately.
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