The Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert also known as CCIE is considered to be one of the most prestigious networking certifications in the industry. CCIEs would be regarded as networking masters because of their expert network engineering skills and would be considered as exceedingly sought out individuals in the job market. According to Cisco, CCIE certification holders would be representing less than 3% of all professionals who are certified with Cisco and less than 1% of the networking professionals across the globe. CCIEs would be deployed into the network assignments which are most technically challenging as well as paid top dollar for the work they do.

Becoming a CCIE isn’t going to be just about going through books, memorizing some facts, and taking an exam to gain the certification, as might be the case with some other industry certifications. The real challenge in the CCIE certification is going to be the grueling hands-on lab exam which would be lasting up to eight hours. In order to pass the lab, you must not only be intimately familiar with the Cisco configuration commands but you should also have a deep understanding of routers, switches, and network protocols. If you wish to clear it, in a single attempt, you would need a good training provider, like the SPOTO Club.

CCIE Preparation Resources:

CCIE Written Exam:

I began my CCIE journey by preparing for the CCIE written exam. It took me a little more than five to six months for the preparation as I have the help of the SPOTO Club. You may consider below-mentioned resources to prepare yourself for the CCIE Written Exam and also get enroll in the courses offered by the SPOTO Club.

• CCIE Routing and Switching Certification Guide, 4th Edition.

This Cisco Press title authored by Wendell Odom, Rus Healy, and Denise Donohue covers the CCIE Routing and Switching 4.0 blueprint. This book was the mainstay of my preparation for the written exam and covered almost everything I needed to pass my CCIE written exam. If you are new to a certain technology, you should use other resources first to build your knowledge and use this book as the last stage prep tool. Also, this book is useful only for the CCIE written exam and not for the lab.

• Routing TCP/IP Volume I, 2nd Edition.

Routing TCP/IP Volume I, 2nd Edition by Jeff Doyle should be on the bookshelf of any serious networking professional. It primarily covers Interior Gateway Protocols (IGPs) including Routing Information Protocol (RIP), Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) and provides a solid foundation for not only for the written exam but also for the lab.

• Routing TCP/IP Volume II.

This book is the second volume of the series by Jeff Doyle and primarily covers Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), Network Address Translation (NAT), Multicast, and IPv6. This book is a bit dated but still serves as a good reference on the mentioned topics.

CCIE Lab Resources

The three most important things for the preparation for the lab exam are practice, practice, only practice and it would be applying to both troubleshooting and configuration parts. In fact, Cisco would be recommending having three to five years of experience before attempting the CCIE lab exam. The good news is that even if you lack relevant experience you would be able to make up for it through practice in a lab environment. But, for that, you might need to build your own lab at home, which is not recommended or get yourself enrolled in the courses provided by a good and reliable training provider.

I would suggest that if you wish to have proper training, you should check out the training offered by the SPOTO Club. They are the best training provider and have a team of experienced personalities to help you out.