Category Archives: Featured

Why Do People Fail the CCIE Lab Exam?

Having failed a CCIE Lab exam on two occasions, I can tell you that being informed that you are indeed a failure is a humbling experience, always difficult to hear and something nobody ever appreciates.

My kids spend their weekends during summer at swim meets in the Bay Area. You know what the kid who finishes a race in last position receives? A “participation ribbon” (that might just be in California by the way). But when it comes to the harsh world of CCIE Lab score reports, there are only two possible outcomes – “Pass” and “Fail”. I sometimes wish Cisco would re-phrase this as “Pass” and “Participated”. I just can’t get over the fact that somebody can score 79% in an exam and being told by a Bot that you failed. There is something very un-Californian about that. But that is what we all sign up for when we sit a CCIE Lab exam and I fully expect my complaints to fall upon deaf ears.
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Recent Successful Collaboration Engineers

It’s been a busy couple of months with loads of success!!! Determination and hard work definitely pay off.  Congratulations to all of our recent successful students who have passed the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam!

  • Antoine Nicholson – CCIE #53778 (Collaboration)
  • Nizar Houichi – CCIE #53721 (Collaboration)
  • Tanveer Ahmad Mubsher – CCIE #53718 (Collaboration)
  • Jan Roy Eustaquio – CCIE #53696 (Collaboration)
  • Amit Shah – CCIE #53675 (Collaboration)
  • Hamid Faalzadeh – CCIE #53663 (Collaboration)
  • Cedric Hebre – CCIE #53649 (Collaboration)
  • Youssef Aoufi- CCIE #53647 (Collaboration)
  • Mason Nguyen – CCIE #53632 (Collaboration)
  • Mohammed Al Baqari – CCIE #53531 (Collaboration)
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Featured Student Testimonial – Matt Wigfield

This week’s featured testimonial comes from Matt Wigfield.  Matt was able to win his battle with the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam on his first attempt! Great work Matt!

“After looking at other companies material for the CCIE Collaboration written and lab, I choose CollabCert for the one simple reason of Vik Malhi. I sampled material from a couple trainers and Vik was the only one that gave you enough information for what you needed and didn’t go so deep that you stopped listening and keep you engaged in the material.

I used the LMS system for preparing for the lab and it was complete and everything was being updated which most companies did not do. If I had any questions with the material, I was able to email Vik and would get a precise response to the material in question.

When I finally was ready to sit the lab and had a date picked out, I went to the two week boot camp. The camp was geared towards strategy and speed. I came out feeling like I could pass the exam on the first attempt. After leaving the camp I scheduled rack time and had zero issues unlike other rack rental companies.

Thanks to Vik and team, I walked into the lab prepared and ready to tackle it. I walked out of the lab knowing I passed and confirmed that later in the evening after only the first attempt.”

Matt Wigfield – CCIE #51432 (Collaboration)

Featured Student Testimonial – Paul Rittell

This week’s featured testimonial comes from Paul Rittell.  Paul was able to end his 2015 in style by passing the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam.  Here’s what he had to say:

I will tell you guys the good, the bad, and the ugly of the CCIE Collaboration study world.  My journey towards the CCIE was very frustrating at first.  I originally used a different training vendor for the CCIE due to brand loyalty, their popularity and my assumption that the quality from other products would surely follow into their CCIE Collaboration Bootcamp.  I was completely inaccurate.

The “training center” for this well-known and “reputable” company was hosted at a large room in a hotel.  We had to share labs with other people on a desk that was just deep enough to allow one laptop and nothing else. Sharing labs ended up being pretty frustrating because you could not venture off without ruining the pace of the other person.  The bandwidth in the room was not adequate for our class.  At any moment we would lose internet connectivity and all phones would unregister in the middle of our labs.  If someone performed a video conference then we lost connectivity.  It was absolute chaos and extremely difficult to work through labs as you had to troubleshoot your own mistakes and the poor network setup as well.  To top it off, we never received the workbooks that were promised.  In conclusion, the CCIE training is a different ball game and do not trust someone based on Web Appearance, Videos they have created or lower level training materials.

I was at the end of my rope when I met Vik Malhi.  I had the opportunity to speak with Vik in person and after talking with him I knew I would have a better experience with his training facility and approach to the lab exam.  I took Vik Malhi’s CollabCert Workshop twice and the experience cannot be considered to be in the same class as these other guys.  There were NO shared labs, bandwidth issues, misconfigured racks and when we paid for the workbook he actually gave it to us! The training center is an actual training center with a kitchen and an astonishing view of downtown San Jose.  The tables have a huge amount of space and you can easily spread out notes, laptop, keyboard and mouse.  Vik stayed late with us and was very patient with even the most inexperienced students in the class.  The workbooks and facility alone were worth it but I truly do believe the best asset is learning from Vik.  He gives you an actual game plan and teaches you how to attack the lab.  When you come out of his class you WILL know what you need to do. At that point, it’s up to you banging out the hours of practice on the keyboard to get your number.  Don’t trust these other guys!  Go to CollabCert, practice, practice, practice and get your number!

Paul Rittell – CCIE #50814 (Collaboration)

Featured Student Testimonial – Mike Jennings

Our latest featured student testimonial comes from Mike Jennings who passed the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam in December.  Congratulations Mike!  Read about Mike’s experience below:

“A huge thanks to Vik at CollabCert for helping me to pass the Collaboration lab exam the FIRST time!  I attended Vik’s two week camp and also used his Video on Demand library.  The video training was concise and well-organized.  And the camps both filled in the technology gaps for me as well as helped me to develop the strategy that I ultimately used to pass the lab exam.  Knowing the material is not enough to pass the lab.  You need to have a solid strategy for configuration and time management.

My advice for anyone on the Collaboration path:  use whatever vendor you like to gain the knowledge you need to pass the written exam.  Then talk to Vik!  The LMS topics will fill in whatever technology gaps you have.  And the bootcamps will prepare you to apply that knowledge in a timed test environment.  You will also LOVE that Vik does not believe in PowerPoint.  I think there was a quick troubleshooting preso, but the rest of the two weeks was either whiteboard discussions or lab time on YOUR OWN rack of equipment.”

Mike Jennings – CCIE #51203 (Collaboration)

New Year – New Success Stories

What a way to start off 2015.  With all the craziness the holiday season brings,  we’ve had several engineers push through it, study hard and reach the top of the mountain!

CollabCert would like to congratulate the following successful engineers who have recently passed the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam.

  • Shrinivas Varanasy – CCIE #28798 (Voice, Collaboration)
  • Kei Matsuzaki – CCIE #36387 (Voice, Collaboration)
  • Jeffrey Ward – CCIE #46094 (Collaboration)
  • Jason Holt – CCIE #46153 (Collaboration)
  • Bill Johnson – CCIE #46454 (Collaboration)
  • Jimmy Lamon – CCIE #46581 (Collaboration)
  • Ibraheem Al-Hadi – CCIE #46635 (Collaboration)
  • Eric Zolnosky – CCIE #46636 (Collaboration)
  • Jon Hebert – CCIE #46698 (Collaboration)
  • Arvind Rampurada – CCIE #46736 (Collaboration)

Continue reading New Year – New Success Stories