The journey to become the first person (I think!) to pass CCIE Collaboration version 2

Walk the Walk

My journey started back in October 2016. I had just failed to clear the CCIE Collaboration Written exam in order to re-certify my Cisco credentials. This had been a biennial occurrence since 2004 when I had first passed the CCIE Voice lab exam.

In case you are unaware of what happens to an active CCIE after the recertification deadline has passed – Cisco doesn’t waste any time in telling you that your CCIE goes into the SUSPEND status. This is a snippet from the email I received a few hours after the deadline has passed:

“Our records show that your recertification deadline was October 4 2016 and your CCIE now has a Suspended status. If you have suspended status for more than one year, you will be required to take an the CCIE written exam and the corresponding CCIE lab/practical exam to restore active CCIE status.”

I found myself visiting the Person VUE website organizing the logistics of re-sitting the Written exam when it suddenly occurred to me- what happens if I don’t re-certify? Surely the CCIE Collab blueprint is due a massive upgrade. What if I accidentally on purpose forget to re-certify? Wouldn’t it be so beneficial to both me and my customers if I had the opportunity to go through the entire process myself?

My skills were out of date and surely this was a great way to give myself a refresher and also stay up to date with changes that were about to happen behind the scenes. Enough talk Vik- time to Walk the Walk.

Throwing Everything Away

I still had a year grace period remaining in case I wanted to reverse my decision should common sense prevail. I had a year to simply pass any Written exam and re-certify. Nothing lost nothing gained.

In the 365 days that followed I questioned myself- was this necessary? Was I being stupid? I talked it over with several previous customers with whom I had built up a friendship and opinion was divided.

Fast forward to October 4 2017 and the decision was made. I was waving bye bye to this:

It was a sleepless night but I could no longer turn back- the day I first got the number back in 2004 was etched in my memory – I had worked so hard for it and I was about to lose it. The next day I checked my status and sure enough I was, for the first time in 15 or so years, without any Cisco credential to my name (passing the IE Written also rectifies your other other certifications). I was walking around naked!

Version 2 announcement

The CCIE Collaboration version 2 announcement arrived 3 months later in Jan 2018. It definitely reflected what my students had been telling me was happening in the real world. The new unified blueprint (Written and Lab share a blueprint minus the Evolving Technologies section in the Written) had no real surprises. If anything, the format change was the big news- the previous exam was a contiguous 8 hour lab exam. The new exam would consist of 3 sections as was already the case with some of the other tracks such as CCIE R&S: Troubleshooting, Diagnostic and Configuration.

As a CCIE Collaboration instructor my job in Jan 2018 was to help everybody in the middle of their studies to get over the finish line. Anybody who had invested significant energy and resources in Collaboration version 1 definitely did NOT want to be sitting version 2.

I put version 2 to one side in order to focus on wrapping up the Collabv1 business.

Cisco Live Tectorial

It was in Orlando June 2018 that I started to get serious about the new blueprint. I decided to attend the 8 hour session that was designed for engineers who were interested in learning more about the CCIE Collaboration certification. The session gave me good insight into the new sections (Diagnostic and Troubleshooting). There was also some great technical information about some of the new technologies that would be tested. I must admit to feeling slightly “behind the 8 ball” during that humbling lecture.

That session at CLUS re-iterated something to me that I had been aware of for a few years: I had stopped learning. I have committed to myself that I will never let that happen again. In this day and age an engineer has to learn everyday otherwise the world moves on and you are left standing. My time at Cisco Live gave me the incentive to start learning again.

England in the World Cup

I managed to pass the Written exam in spring 2018 and had the lab scheduled for August 2018. That gave me about 2-3 months of (a) not having any collabv1 business to deal with and (b) time in isolation to master new technologies.

But first there was the small matter of the World Cup 2018 in Russia. My team (England) had failed at every tournament since 1990 so surely this would only be a 10 day distraction before I could move onto the job in hand. The one and only time I wanted- no needed- England to be 3 games and done and they failed me and managed to go all the way to the bitter end of the World Cup. 5 weeks of reading sports articles and believing Football was coming home! This is the reason why I write this particular article in October not September!

Solitary Confinement

In a way this was my favorite time. Not talking to anybody, figuring stuff out and fighting with technology. July/August/September 2018 was spent working in the CollabCert classroom in downtown San Jose single-mindedly labbing, break/fix, combing my way through wireshark traces and Cisco documentation. I am lucky enough to have the spouse that enables me to not make any income for large portions of the year and this was one of those times. No job + ignore family = recipe for success.

Collabv2 Takeaway

It’s easy to say what I’m about to say with the benefit of hindsight and safe in the knowledge that the exam has been cleared…but I enjoyed every minute of the process. I am a better engineer for it. The certification is a symptom of something bigger- increased knowledge. I dread to think what would have happened had I taken the easy/smart option and decided to re-certify two years ago but I needed the challenge and I needed the time pressure otherwise life possibly would have just gotten in the way! In no way shape or form is that meant to be a criticism of anybody who claims to be a Collaboration engineer but hasn’t cleared the new format of the exam. But this is what I do for a living and with my personality I needed this challenge. If I worked for Cisco or a partner then would have I take this path? Hell no!

The CCIE Collaboration content team have achieved their goals: preparing for the written and lab exam will mean you need a deep understanding of the technology. The days of remembering a sequence of configuration steps are gone. The first two sections (DIAG and TS) are the key behind this. I know for sure I did NOT get 100% in any section of the lab but I also know for sure that without my experience and knowledge I would have no chance passing the lab in two attempts. Congratulations to the CCIE Collab team for producing a relevant and challenging refresh to the cert and the net result is that candidates who go through the process are going to be better equipped in their career as a Collab engineer.

If you want to know more about CollabCert and the CCIE Collaboration then please join me on Thursday October 25th at Noon Pacific time for a Webinar. Please send info@collabcert.com a quick email registering your interest and we will provide further details.

For now- thank you for the reading and to those of you who embark on this journey best of luck!

Vik Malhi
CCIE #13890 (once again)