Dear fellow professionals, In fear of "taking a person's words and using them out of context", I decided to ask Mr. Doyle himself. He was kind enough to respond to my e-mail, and I'm posting this with the hope of encouraging both "lab rats" and gurus alike to aim for knowledge, not only certs, and in the process help your fellow man/woman. I put my faith in everyone to be civilized and not bash Mr. Doyle's reputation, even if you disagree with his point of view. Last but not least, I hope that this will put an end to personal attacks that have become more common lately, unlike what groupstudy.com used to be 2 to 3 years ago when I first signed up.
Thank you. Elmer ----- Original Message ----- From: Jeff Doyle To: elmer Sent: Friday, May 24, 2002 2:28 PM Subject: Re: Please care to comment on Vol.2 page 792 Hi Elmer, Thanks for the clarification-- my definition of "lab rat" is a bit different than yours. At Juniper, the lab rats tend to be the most experienced field engineers. Nonetheless, under your definition (lab rat = someone with more theoretical than practical experience), the statement applies equally to those with some practical experience and those with little or none. I know exactly the kinds of "old timers" to which you refer-- typically these are guys who have gained their knowledge gradually over the years through practical experience. Scratch the surface of most of these guys, and you will find little understanding of the foundations of the protocols and technologies they think they are experts at. Therein lies the source of their derogatory attitude toward "newbies": Insecurity in their own skills. I regularly conduct technical interviews for Juniper, and I can tell you that if a candidate has a deep understanding of the theories and facts of the various IP networking protocols, I am impressed regardless of the candidate's practical experience. If the engineer is smart and aggressive, it is easy enough to team him or her up with a mentor to add the practical experience. There is an opposite view on all this: I've encountered many people with CCIEs that think the certification is all they need to land a high-level networking job. For me, seeing the CCIE certification on a resume makes me look closer, and is usually enough to make me schedule a face-to-face interview. But once the interview takes place, I expect the candidate to impress me with a level of knowledge that goes well beyond what is required to pass the lab. The first three or four minutes of the interview is generally enough for me to determine whether the candidate truly knows his or her stuff, or whether the CCIE was won by learning just what is needed to pass the lab and no more. All this long-winded reply is saying is: Yes, getting the CCIE will help you get ahead even if your practical experience is limited. It is an excellent way to prove your capabilities to prospective employers, but be sure the depth of your theoretical knowledge well exceeds the rather limited things you need to know to pass the lab. As for your two PS's: I used 11-something for most of the book, and wrote the BGP chapters quite early, which accounts for the outdated statement you cite (and a few others). I have been discussing doing a second edition of the book with Cisco Press to bring it up to date. The conflicting statements about OSPF P-T-MP is a known error, and should be corrected soon in newer printings of the book. Best regards, Jeff At 11:46 PM 5/23/2002 -0400, you wrote: Jeff, Thanks for the response. I know you are a very busy (and sought after) man. I just happened to read this particular page at a time when people new to the networking field are despised by old timers who feel that "lab rats" don't deserve to pass the CCIE lab since all they have is lab experience. I was wondering if you personally feel that most of what one gets tested on in the lab have little resemblance with most production networks. Two reasons for asking you are: 1.Obviouly, every lab candidate as well as my CCIE friends regard you as the authority on this particular certification. 2. You are the author of the second CCIE bible which I am quoting. What is your opinion on a person who passes the lab with very little "real" networking experience? Respectfully, Elmer Deloso P.S. What IOS version did you use as reference when you wrote Vol.2? Because after checking CCO, page93 of your book talks about BGP version number negotiation until both neighbors agree on the same version. The Cisco implementation of BGP in Cisco IOS Release 12.0(6)T or later releases supports BGP Version 4 only and does not support dynamic negotiation down to Version 2. P.P.S. Does Ciscopress consult you regarding errata to your books? Because Vol.1 page 417 says OSPF packets in point-to-multipoint are multicast, but pages 433 and 451 say these are unicast. Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=45001&t=45001 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
