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Obtaining a CCIE certificate is a must for any aspiring professional in the IT world nowadays – and the R&S (routing and switching) class of the CCIE certificates is by far the most prominent CCIE, attracting large numbers of candidates every year. This is easy to explain as well, judging by the great job prospects offered to people who possess the certificate as opposed to those who do not (yet supposedly have the same skillset).  For more information on the salary of a CCIE, see the blog post, CCIE Salary Overview – Everything You Wanted to Know.

You should be prepared well for the exam, needless to say – it is split into two parts, with the first one testing your theoretical knowledge and the second focusing on testing if you know how to use your skills in the real world. INE does offer you a guide on how to pass the R&S lab exam using their popular 4.0 program, though you are generally not obliged to go through those – however, doing so improves your chances of getting certified. You also need to keep in mind that even though the two parts of the exam are not linked and you can take them separately at your own discretion, you need to take the written exam first and then go through the lab exam within 18 months, otherwise you would have to repeat the written exam.
Bear in mind that it is not cheap to get certified either – the lab test by itself would cost you around $1,500 for each attempt. However, knowing how the CCIE is going to benefit you later on in your journey to a better career, you should save up the money and go through it. It is recommended that you’ve built up some professional experience before attempting the actual lab exam – about 3-4 years are suggested in most cases – so you should be able to invest this kind of money by that point.  This also gives you time to go through lower level certifications, though not necessary for your CCIE they will help you have a better foundation on where to begin your journey.

Plan your exams well in advance, too – the lab test can only be taken at certain places around the world, and you should take into account the various travel charges and other extra costs associated with moving around for the purpose of taking your examinations. For the same reason, you should apply well beforehand as well – otherwise you risk being denied a spot in your desired location as they tend to fill up quickly.
If you are having trouble finding accommodation, you should get in touch with the service providers running the exam in the area and ask them for directions – in most cases they would be glad to help!

Ready to get certified? The best way to get started with any Cisco certification is with the INE’s all access pass.  No matter what track you are working on they have all the training you need for only one low price.  Check out the All Access Pass now.

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To learn more about GradedLabs rack rentals read The Definitive Guide to GradedLabs Tokens.

After the recent blog post, CCIE Salary Survey, many people have asked, “is it worth it?”  I hope this helps to clear up some of those questions.

The IT world has seen a strong development in the past decades, and an accordingly large number of professionals are arising and utilizing their potential to make the system better for everyone. Nowadays though, in order to prove to your potential employers that you really have what it takes to cope with the latest trends in information technology, you will have to obtain a few certificates.

The CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert) certificate is among the most popular ways to prove you have what it takes – but with the amount of time and money needed as an investment to obtain it, many people question the need for getting it in the first place. So let’s have a look at how CCIE-certified experts do on the salary rankings overall.

In general, an average network engineer with a CCIE certificate stands to earn around $62,000 – $97,000 a year, depending on the company that employs them as well as their experience to some extent. Those network engineers who pick their jobs in IT specifically have a bit higher earning potential – around $110,000 as the upper cap. This makes the IT field an especially lucrative one for network engineers with high qualifications. Research shows that in both cases, those without a CCIE certificate earn around $10,000 – $20,000 less per year.

IT is not the preferred course for everyone with a CCIE interested in a high salary though – for example, systems engineers usually see a higher earning potential outside the IT field – with an annual salary of around $85,000 – $123,000, while those who work specifically in IT tend to earn around $105,000-$110,000 . This also depends on the location of one’s employment though – some areas tend to pay a lot more highly than others, and it certainly pays to do one’s research before applying for any job.

Systems engineers also earn less on average without a CCIE compared to those that have the certificate – and again, the difference is around $20,000 in the average case. This makes the CCIE a very important asset for anyone who takes themselves seriously in the technology fields and wants others to do so as well – today you can’t just rely on your words to prove that you’re a stable and solid candidate, you must make it as obvious as possible. And if that means investing about 18 months to obtain your desired level of certification with Cisco, you definitely should.

Interested in getting certified? Go to www.ine.com/ccie.htm right now and see how easy and fast you can accomplish your goal. Why wait any longer to get started?

Cisco’s CCIE certificates have established for themselves a strong reputation on the IT market, as everyone who has one is generally regarded as highly proficient in their field and with more knowledge about their technology than the average worker. Subsequently, those who become CCIE certified get various attractive job opportunities. The CCIE Voice certificate is one of the more recent ones, and also one of the most difficult to obtain. At the beginning of 2009 there were less than 1000 people in the whole world with one!

The difficulty arises from various aspects of the examination. The exam is divided into two parts like Cisco’s other CCIE exams, a theoretical one as well as a practical lab test. The lab is what makes the CCIE Voice certificate so difficult to obtain – with a large number of unpredictable tasks and a limited amount of time to solve them, most candidates need at least 3-4 attempts before they finally manage to successfully complete the lab. And with the high costs attached to each attempt, you should value yours highly!

In addition, candidates for a CCIE Voice certificate are also required to be knowledgeable in working with various operating systems – often, the lab test involves them setting up a network on a number of computers, each running a different operating system, requiring candidates to have good knowledge of everything they may come across – all the way to an IOS command line interface or web-based interfaces for various devices.

A good tip for those taking the CCIE Voice exam for the first time is to take a few minutes to go through all the tasks in the beginning – assess what you’ll have to do and allocate time to each task accordingly – knowing how much time you’ve got left on each particular task can be a huge life-saver when the clock starts ticking down its last few minutes.

And of course, don’t despair if you don’t get it on the first few tries – like I said above, this is a common occurrence with most candidates and you should approach your first attempt as more of a test run, giving you an overview of the examination procedure and what you could expect. Then, you could come back prepared and obtain your CCIE Voice certificate a lot more easily and confidently. And all the time and money you’ve invested into the process would pay itself back when you get those good job offers coming your way!

The key to passing the lab, as with most exams, is to practice the material over and over again. There are two effective approaches that have been proven time and time again to help you pass the exam. The first approach is to start with a full scale lab, like the ones in INE’s CCIE Voice Workbook Volume II, and go through step by step figuring things out as you go. This approach is similar to jumping off the deep end when learning to swim. As you encounter technologies that you’re unfamiliar with, thats when you read the documentation, do a small task in Workbook Volume I and watch a video like INE’s Deep Dive series to find out more information. This approach is perhaps the most efficient, but it does require more technical proficiency to get started.

The second approach to successfully passing the CCIE Voice exam is to start at the basics. If you are like some candidates, you might need a good refresher course before starting. I recommend watching a CCNP voice video such as INE’s CCNP Voice Bootcamp as a good way to cover the basics you might have missed. From there the steps are simple, start with the labs in Workbook Volume I in concurrence with watching the CCIE Voice Deep Dives. Next try your skills on the labs in the CCIE Voice Workbook Volume II. When you are able to successfully complete these labs, it’s time to get in the final stages of preparation, refinement.

The lab exam is not all about knowing the right things to do or configuring things properly. Your success also depends on how fast you are able to recognize and correct errors. The best way to do this is to spend time on our rack rentals going over and over tasks in Workbook Volume I. Spending as much time as possible doing repetitive tasks will not only increase your speed, but will all greatly increase your confidence.

Getting certified doesn’t have to be difficult. Go to www.ine.com right now to find out more and get started on your path to certification today. Remember, the most important part of passing the lab exam is using the right equipment, don’t accept any substitutes, always use GradedLabs.

After seeing this post recently on Yahoo Answers, I began wondering how many other people were having the same question.  The question:

I wanted to do CCIE certification plz tell me what other certifications i need to complete to be eligible?

I HAVE COMPLETED BASIC NETWORKING TRAINING AND AM CURRENTLY GIVING CERTIFICATIONS OF MICROSOFT= MCSA WANTED TO GIVE CCIE EXAM I KNOW THE PATH STARTS FROM CCNA BUT WHATS ON LATER CERTIFICATIONS NEEDED AND BASIC EXPERIENCE NEEDED TO GIVE CCIE EXAM PLZ GUIDE ME

The answer is simple, there is no prerequisites to obtaining your CCIE.   You can simply register to take the test, pass the written and the lab test to get your CCIE #.  Clearly this is oversimplified answer, but the truth is there are no prereqs as such as having a CCNP or even a CCNA.

Even though there might not be a defined prerequisite for getting you CCIE #, beside passing the two Cisco Exams, it is highly recommended to get take the standard Cisco certification route.  This route starts with the entry level, CCENT (Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician) by passing the 640-822 ICND1 exam.  After passing the ICDN1 exam you only need to complete the 640-816 ICND2 Bootcamp to obtain your CCNA.   Once you’ve passed your CCNA exam it’s time to move to the Professional level of certification.  This will bring you to the next three tests: 642-902 ROUTE, 642-813 SWITCH, and 642-832 TSHOOT.   After these three test you will be ready to start your CCIE journey.  Your CCIE Journey will be a long and hard one, but the rewards are worth it.  This will be for another blog post, but you can read a recent post about some of the benefits here.

A recent blog post from the Inevitable Blog sheds some light  on what it means for him to be a CCIE, and what it means for everyone else.  This interesting read originated from a 2001 article about the same topic.  One of the most interesting parts of this post to me was about what a CCIE personally means to him and what benefits it can bring.

Once you pass the exam, it can open many new opportunities. It can give you more chance to get a better position or to get another job in better organization. It can give you opportunity to work in more complex project. It can give you chance to join Cisco directly, like me, and someday can contribute to develop the content and make the questions for the lab exam. Himawan Nugroho

What are your thoughts?  What does a CCIE mean to you?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Payscale.com recently posted a new salary survey for CCIE professionals. As well as salary ranges based on job types, they provide some insight into the popular companies, cities and even a gender breakdown.
What are your thoughts on these CCIE Salaries? Does this push you harder on your path to get your CCIE? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Median Salary by Job – Certification: Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) (United States)

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