Back in action

Nearly missed out on a January update here...

Just before Christmas, I sat and happily passed the CCIE R&S Written Exam, which is handy if only to be able to view the Lab exam spots that are open.

In mid January I sat the Alcatel-Lucent Service Router Certification NRS-II Lab Exam in Melbourne.  I think it was a pretty good exam really in the depth and breadth of the material to be covered and time available, I don't know if I have passed it yet, unfortunately the grading of this exam takes somewhat more time than it appears the CCIE Lab exams do.  It's of direct relevance to most of the work I've been involved with lately so I felt the diversion away from the CCIE was easily justified.

Today I have started back up again and have jumped in with the IP Expert Volume 3 Labs.  Having had what probably amounts to a six week break from CCIE studies has been pretty harsh with the speed on the keys and knowing where to look in the doccd, I have been a little slower than I really would have liked but it's actually not a bad thing to get a dose of reality and to identify some areas that I have got a little rusty on already.