Damien from the UK

HI everyone, I’m Damien from the UK. I have previously been CCNP certified. however that expired so I am starting again. I will be taking the CCNA composite exam in December and I will then focus on the new CCNP exam. My ultimate ambition is the CCIE written and LAB exam. I have worked in IT industry for 14 years so I have lots of experience. My main problem is not working exclusively on networking, I work on Microsoft and VMWare most of the time, however I have love for networking, so that’s why I am here!

I used Rene’s books to pass CCNP last time, I had all 3 of them and they helped me tremendously, so that is the reason why I have returned.

I hope I can assist others in the relentless pursuit for networking certifications!

Hello Damien!

Great to have you with us! We wish you success in your certification journey and we’re here to help you along whenever you need a nudge or two…

Looking forward to responding to your questions on the forum!

Laz

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Welcome Damien!

When you go for the new CCNP exams, you won’t have to do the CCIE written anymore. CCNP ENCOR will be the replacement for the written exam. Once you are CCNP in 2020, you can go for the lab :slight_smile:

Even if you don’t do networking all day long, CCIE is still possible. It’s like a marathon, it just takes a long time to go through all topics, read, do labs, etc. In those 14 years your brain is already programmed to read stuff, figure out how it works, test it, move on to the next topic, etc. :grin:

Rene

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It is time to a build a home lab. Opinions may differ but build an eve-ng lab. Do all the network lessons labs with your eve-ng lab and you will be ok. Yes, it is not a marathon, it is hard journey with many lessons to learn. It is totally worth it and you are in the right place to start your journey. Good luck and safe travels on amazing journey !!!

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I have a home lab using GNS3, EVENG and some physical kit too. I have used GNS3 for many years, I have also used VIRL in the past. I always find switching quite difficult to emulate, hence the physical kit. Thanks for the comment.

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Hi Damien,

I still have some physical switches since there are always things you can’t emulate correctly. One example is IGMP snooping. You can configure it in VIRL but you get funky results.

Rene