2011 - Whats to come?

I thought I would join every man and his dog and write either a 2010 recap or a 2011 prediction post.

Over the past 12 months I have began and completed my CCNP certification and now have that certification bug that I swear should be a medical condition, the only way to cure it is to get yet more exams done!

Some of my goals for 2011 may be a little farfetched however some are easily obtainable.

CCIP #

I have already started studying towards this one and the ROUTE exam that I had to do for the CCNP is part of the exam anyway so I am already 1/4 on my way there.

I will probably choose to do the BGP exam first and then the MPLS followed by the final QoS exam. My aim is to have the CCIP finished for the end of February to give myself a real target to work towards before moving onto…

CCIE Written!? #

Once I have completed my CCIP I think it is only fair to use all of the knowledge built up from CCNP + CCIP to do the CCIE written exam.

Whilst I am quite a new face to the networking industry and therefore don’t have the raw experience under my belt I think that having the CCIE written will hopefully show employers (current and possible future ones) that I am serious and at least have the knowledge to pass this exam which should act at least as a foot in the door.

Blog more #

I want to start as a mean to go on and try and post at least 2 posts a week, with at least one of those being a technical posting relating to whatever I am currently studying.

Whilst there are so many great Cisco blogs out there I believe, like many others that blogging is a great way of getting down what you have learned to not only force yourself to be as accurate as possible (as the internet can be a cruel, cruel world) and to also share the knowledge for anyone that wants it.

CCNA Voice / CCNP Voice #

In my day-to-day job I deal with voice however we are not a Cisco house when it comes to voice, instead we run a Broadworks platform with Polycom end devices. This then is more of a possibility than a given that but I would like to have more of an understanding how the underlying technology that I support works, yes I have a basic knowledge of how the SIP protocol works but I would like to get something formalised as well.

CCIE Lab? #

This is by far the most outrageous goal of 2011 but hey, if you don’t set some goals then you have nothing to aim for. CCIE is my end goal at the end of things anyway and why wait!?

The biggest issue with heading for the lab is that I am 100% self-funded at the moment for all my certifications and so having to pay out for travel to Belgium and the lab itself is quite a commitment that will mean that I will want to be 110% happy before I take it.

Overall I wish that everyone has a happy and prosperous 2011 and that whatever they set themselves as goals are achieved.

thanks and until next time,

David