CCIE #25728

Hey guys! OMG, before I make any announcement, let me apologize for not updating my blog for 5 months and 20 days. The reason being I'd been so busy with my CCIE lab exam preparation like there's no tomorrow. After suffering for more than 365 days, finally I've PASSED the exam last Friday at Cisco Sydney's lab exam center in single attempt! My CCIE number is #25728. This number will be tied to my name forever.

FYI, CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert) is the highest level of technical networking certification offered by Cisco. According to Cisco's statistics, there are a total of 20782 of CCIEs worldwide since 16 years ago, as per update on 26th October 2009. I should be the 105th Malaysian CCIE, and one of the less-than-ten-people specializing in Service Provider track. The statistics are frequently being updated here.

Below is a long list of people I would like to especially thank for helping and inspiring me throughout the CCIE journey:
- Father, mother, sister and brother
- Girl friend, Kim Yew (You're the best dear!)
- Best friend and his wife, Alvin and Any
- Joseph Goh (CCIE R&S/SP/Security/Voice, JNCIE) from Cisco AS
- Brian Ng (CCIE R&S) from GK
- Goldman Lee (CCIE R&S/SP/Security) from GK
- Ruby from GK
- Loi (CCIE R&S/SP), Edward (CCIE SP), Ethan (CCIE R&S) and Muzamil from Cisco
- Aizudin, my manager
- Mohan (CCIE R&S), my team leader
- Chong, my buddy/colleague
- All my colleagues
- Hann Yong (CCIE Voice), my ex-colleague
- And many more...

The journey was extremely rough, with more than 1000 hours of lab practices, several hundred hours of reading and thinking. Without their help and motivation, I might not be able to pass this 8-hour killer lab exam, especially in first attempt. I'll be documenting the process of my studies, hopefully can help some of the CCIE candidates.

Ever since I knew the result of my exam last Friday night, I felt so much relief and had never feel so great before. It's one of the biggest achievement in my life. I extended my stay in Sydney over the weekend till Monday. I had 2.5 days to explore this wonderful city. Sorry guys, no DSLR for this trip, only depending on Fujifilm F11, Gorillapod and iPhone's camera.

Below is the marvellous view of Sydney CBD from the CCIE lab exam center situated at St. Leonards.


Sydney Harbor Bridge captured from Sydney Opera House