TacAck – My security journey!

Hey all!

This is the new post series that i was talking about yesterday.As a ccie candidate , i always wonder how my fellow candidates are preparing? What techniques are they using? What am i missing? So i’ve decided to post small interviews with all the guys i know asking them about their prep. The aim of this is to inspire,motivate all of us.

So here we go! Today, we’re going to talk to Tolulope Ogunsina.

This dude just turned 21 a couple of days back and he’s already a CCIE R&S and he’s on his way to another ccie! Yes, he’s a young achiever if there ever was one! He’s an overall nice guy and a very helpful person . He also kicks some serious CCIE butt

TacACK : Hello Tolulope! How are you doing today?

I’m fine thank you.

TacACK :Where are you from?

I’m from Nigeria, a country in West Africa

TacACK :Cutting right to the chase , when and how did your journey into cisco networks start?

I started about 4+ years ago when I was in the university. My IT journey actually started with programming but since I read my first cisco book, I haven’t looked back. I’ve gone on to achieve the CCNA, CCNP and the CCIE — R&S certifications.

TacACK :You’re a CCIE R&S too! That’s a phenomenal achievement! Congratulations. How did you prepare for that?

I studied while I was in school. I read a lot of texts and used the InternetworkExpert workbooks (Vol1 to Vol3) to prepare for the lab. The INE materials are pretty good. They were enough to help me pass on my first attempt. Most of my prep was on dynamips. I had a couple of rack rental sessions to practice the switching technologies I couldnt set up on dynamips. In all It took about 10months to study with the last 5 months being very intense.

TacACK :Why did you opt to study for ccie-security after R&S ?

I would have normally gone for SP since it overlaps with R&S but I faced more security challenges at work (and security is just fascinating) so I decided to study security technologies, after a few months of studying, I decided to this was the right way to go.

TacACK :What is your daily study plan?

It depends. I try to put in a couple of hours every evening (since I have to go to work) and I do full labs at weekeneds. I also do small labs during the week.

TacACK :What materials do you use?

Recommended books from cisco press (especially Yusuf’s), INE workbooks (vol1 and 2), I also use IPExper free stuff (OSL and vlectures) and yusuf’s flash cards for the OEQ.

TacACK :What’re your weak-points in the blueprint and how do you plan on overcoming those?

I am hoping that there isn’t any But seriously, I still have to practice some advanced VPN scenarios. I also need to lab up some other advanced security technologies (e.g FPM) and spend more time on the IPS cli (I heard about people not being able to access the GUI in the lab)

TacACK :Do you have any role-models?

Before starting my R&S journey, I had a chat with Roman Rodichev (6x CCIE), he has been a great source of inspiration. I also admire Petr Lapukov a lot . I have had help from CCIEs in my country. I look forward to being able to give back to the community someday.

TacACK :When are you attempting the lab?

In 11 days

TacACK :5 tips to any ccie-sec candidate?

Err, I’m not sure I’m in a position to give tips (I still need all teh tips I can get)
1. Know the blueprint
2. Have a strategy to pick easy points (sometimes, the easy points are at the end of the lab)
3. Love debugs (They are lifesavers)
4. Documentation is your friend
5. It’s just an exam, relax and ace it

TacACK :How will you celebrate once you get ccie-sec certification?

That’s still open to suggestions. What do you think

Well, i think he should have a huge road trip to capetown and back!

Thanks for anwering my questions Tolulope and here’s wishing you all the success for this cert in particular and your bright future in general! Tolulope’s twitter handle is @amplebrain and he’s also active on OSL.

We’ve got more interview lined up over the course of the next couple of weeks . Next , i’ll try and get my study-partner and a good friend ( Ryan Schuett ) on and ask him about his prep Trust me , you don’t wanna miss that.

Cheers,

TacACK