Back in April, I had a second attempt at the CCIE voice lab. It had been nearly a year, so I had to take it otherwise I’d have to re-sit the written as well. I had a very accelerated period of practice leading up to the exam. Not enough, obviously! I know where I went wrong. A single typographical error played a big part in my downfall as it caused me to waste a lot of time very early on things that I can do in my sleep. (Type the correct IP address and things work much better!)
So what can I say within the bounds of NDA. Again it was a fair test, everything I came up against was something I would expect to know. Brussels lab is much nicer than Sydney. The lunch is much better value 1500USD + VAT for up to three courses, with steak and chips as an option, is much better than a sandwich. I had no need to ask the proctor for clarification this time, but he was friendly and looked after us. There were a few first-time R&S guys doing the exam along with one other voice person. I was one of the last to leave, so I don’t know how anyone else felt they went.
Would I have passed if I’d had more time? I think if I had another hour I would have been very close. Do I think I’ll do it next time ? Well you never know, the average is around the 3 attempt mark, so its quite possible.
I stayed at the Van Der Valk Brussels Airport Hotel. It is a very good hotel, at a reasonable rate and its no more than 5-10 minutes walk for CCIE Central. The shuttle bus was at the airport when I arrived, and took me back after the exam (I walked back to the hotel and jumped on). The restaurant food was excellent, and breakfast was also a good buffet. The in-room free Wi-Fi was good enough for me to have a Skype video call with my wife (it is rate-limited at 256kbps up/downstream). If you want faster, you can pay, but for what I wanted to do (Skype & BBC radio via my home VPN) it worked fine.
So when’s the next attempt (as you can tell it’s now June). Well as a self-funded independent consultant, I have been having a little market-forced rest & relaxation, which seems now to be over (hopefully!). So I’ll be looking at how my schedule will be going with clients, and then it’s back to Brussels.
Until then….