Starting Somewhere...

I've never been one for blogging but when it comes to my CCIE studies, I can see why a lot of candidates do this. It's a good way to take what you learn and verbalize it in your own words. I think it'll help me in the long run as I'm starting my trek towards the CCIE Data Center and keep me motivated.

I've been route & switch focused for most of my networking career but I chose the CCIE Data Center as my first CCIE for a number of reasons:

• Growth in data center technologies in the industry is unprecedented 
• I felt the recommended reading list was achievable within a year 
• I felt challenged by the topics in a positive way and it excited me 
• I have access to an enormous amount of resources including racks, videos, books, and mentors for this particular track

At the time of writing this, I've completed 4 out of the 7 books recommended by Cisco for the CCIE Data Center and watched half of the INE CCIE Data Center videos that are available. I anticipate that I will finish the remaining books and videos and (hopefully!) pass the written exam by the end of the year. At that point, I'll start heavily labbing every day and probably update this blog regularly at that point with the technologies I'm working on, what I find I'm doing right, and what I find I'm doing wrong. 

Stay tuned...