Yes of course,experience would be a great opportunity.I would like to know the blogs and the podcasts you use becuase I would really need some motivation and as you said to keep away from tv shows.Thanks for tips and yes I am doing good in high school,its just sometimes difficult to manage the time since I am following trainings for the CCNA so that and the pratices makes time not very available.
Cheers 🙂 and thanks alot

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Thanks very much for your note and thanks for your encouragement. I agree with you that an important next step is to gain some real world networking experience. You’ll find that even just a few years with a decent company can change your life. Remember also that while you’re still in high school getting top grades is also important 😊

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Hi Will,

Thanks for reaching out.

My specific goal is to get a CCIE R&S by the end of 2016 and move up to a higher level job role. I’d like a more leadership role working on high level network engineering with potential for large scale and challenging projects. I’m already in a more senior position and make a decent living, but that’s my end goal for now. My plan has been to study and take opportunities at work as much as I can. Specifically, I use online training such as IPExpert and especially INE, I bought several recommended textbooks, I built a hardware lab (that I never use), purchased VIRL and tracked down a bunch of good blogs on topics related to what I’m studying at the moment. I have the luxury to study quite a bit during the workday, so I’ve had it very easy as far as putting together a “formal” study schedule. I don’t have to plan for 8pm-12pm on Tuesday and Thursday like some – I just move through the content every day studying/labbing for about 2-3 hours. When I finish a specific content area like route redistribution or multicast, I work on a short lab from the INE workbooks. Soon I’ll be setting aside time to work on full exam labs, but I’m not quite there yet.

My actual job covers some of the CCIE content from time to time, though it can be pretty slow as well. I’ve worked in several spaces so I know that having a broad knowledge is incredibly valuable – it seems like you must have a very broad skillset considering the options you mentioned. I’ve found myself making forward career moves but sometimes making lateral career moves before figuring out what the next step is for me. That’s been extremely difficult for me, but in hindsight also very rewarding.

I keep myself motivated by reading a blog once in a while and listening to podcasts. For some reason they motivate me to keep pushing when all I want to do is turn on Netflix.

I hope that helps a little

Phil

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