Customer Case Study

Customer Success Story

Cisco CCIE Voice Certication Represents Key Achievement for Cisco Support Engineer
Patrick Ng, CCIE #25691, has a masters degree in computer science. But in terms of what is most valuable, he rates his Cisco CCIE Voice certication as the highest achievement of his professional career. The academic degrees are a good foundation. However, with the hands-on skills of a CCIE, I denitely have more knowledge and understanding on how to resolve customers network issues and restore critical services faster, he says.

Studying for the CCIE Voice and then achieving it is the way to gain the knowledge that can set you apart. It helps you earn the respect of both clients and your networking professional peers.

After leaving his native Hong Kong for the United States, Patrick enrolled in the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned a bachelors degree in electrical engineering and computer science. He continued his computer science studies at San Jose State University and earned his masters degree in 2005 while working full time at Cisco. When Patrick joined Cisco nine years ago, he worked as a software engineer on ATM networks, network management systems, gigabit switch routers, and the sophisticated Cisco Carrier Routing System (CRS-1) routers. He began his Cisco certication path by attaining a Cisco CCNA and a Cisco CCNP. Today, as a customer support engineer in the San Jose Technical Assistance Center (TAC), he focuses on unied communications solutions such as Cisco MeetingPlace, Cisco WebEx, Cisco Unied Contact Center, Cisco CallManager, voice gateways, and voice gatekeepers. I work with customers everyday to troubleshoot voice network issues. With my CCIE Voice, I now plan to design Cisco data and voice networks at a system level, says Patrick. Making the commitment to attain his CCIE Voice certication. Patrick cited three reasons for deciding to work toward a CCIE Voice certication: Expand his career opportunities Demonstrate mastery of the technology Challenge himself Right now there are only 20,860 CCIEs in the entire world and only 1214 CCIE Voice professionals among them. Its an exclusive group, and I wanted to be a part of it.

, . . , CCIE #25691
Patrick Ng, CCIE #25691 Customer Support Engineer, Technical Assistance Center (TAC) Cisco Systems, Inc.

Patrick enrolled in the Cisco 360 Learning Program for CCIE Voice when he was preparing for his second attempt to pass the CCIE Voice Lab Exam. He utilized the program for ve months and tracked his progress using the Learning Management System (LMS) that is provided with the program.

Customer Case Study

I was so lucky to be the rst Cisco Voice 360 student who passed the CCIE Voice Lab Exam, says Patrick. The modern voice network is a broad unied communications platform, which is composed of many components. It is getting very complex to design, congure, and maintain. The Cisco 360 Learning Programs practical skill-building denitely prepared me to build an expertlevel skill set to tackle my demanding job at Cisco, as well as helped me pass the CCIE Voice Lab Exam. Patrick offers his thoughts about specic components of the program: Preassessment Labs: His rst step was to take the graded Preassessment Lab to measure his baseline skills. He used the assessment results to create a personalized learning program that he could complete at his own pace. The Preassessment Lab is graded by an automated grading engine, and a score report showed me the mistakes I made during the lab, he says. The grading engine is especially interesting, says Patrick. The results helped me select the appropriate curriculum elements to use. I was able to understand my mistakes and to identify my weak areas. I could then read the answer key with its high-quality technical content and apply the knowledge to help me improve. Self-Paced Lessons: By the time Patrick completed his preassessment work, he was well prepared for the Self-Paced Lessons, which include many hours of video instruction that are available on demand via the LMS portal. I watched all of them. Of course, there are plenty of print materials to read. The videos, which are delivered by certied instructors, can show you the lessons in a more graphic way. Patrick points out the benet of having access to multiple modules, each about 1530 minutes in length, which t easily into his busy work schedule at Cisco. I liked the exibility that it gave me and the fact that I could download lessons once, and replay them as many times as needed. Practice Lab Workbook: Though Patrick found value in the Self-Paced Lessons, he was even more impressed with the Practice Lab Workbook. This program component consists of 25 lab scenarios that enable students to practice hands-on conguration and troubleshooting activities on voice network equipment. I enjoyed this aspect, because it challenges you, he says. For me, but maybe not for others, this is the most direct way of learning. It offers various difculty levels, and I appreciate the depth of the knowledge that is built into it. And again, Patrick made good use of the grading engine comments, which explained the rationale for the right answers. He could therefore match his work against the correct congurations. Performance Assessments: Patrick also completed the 8-hour graded Performance Assessments, which mimic the actual 8-hour CCIE Voice Lab Exam. The resulting personalized score reports create a more efcient learning path, because they specically identify areas where students need extra preparation. I could practice and build my technical skills from beginner to expert in a systematic way based on my assessment results, says Patrick. Instructor-Led Workshops: Patrick reports that Instructor-Led Workshops were a large part of his experience. A blend of lectures and hands-on labs teach students how to use expert-level, problem-solving processes to support Cisco Unied Communications technologies. I found particular value in the Performance Assessment labs and live instruction, he says. The material presented is very challenging, particularly the troubleshooting. And of course, instructors in this segment of the program all have CCIE Voice and Cisco CCSI certied instructor certications, so we have the opportunity to learn from real experts. They would illustrate the decision tree or thought process to approach a problem and fulll the lab requirement. Reference Library: Many valuable technical and best-practice resources are available in the Reference Library, and Patrick utilized them. Moreover, the Reference Library contains articles on exam-preparation strategies and useful study tips.

Customer Case Study

A 24-hour training product meeting global needs. Patrick understands that IT is an everchanging industry and that an in-depth understanding of the fundamentals is the key to success. No matter where in the world a voice networking professional works, the CCIE Voice goal is attainable. He says, The CCIE Voice Lab Exam is a very difficult exam. For candidates who finished the whole Cisco 360 Learning Program, the chance of passing is much higher. And for those who are about to embark on a similar path, Patrick offers this advice: Be patient, study, and learn in a consistent way. Know that you can do it, because this is probably the best training program in the market.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

To learn more about the http://www.cisco.com/go/360. Cisco 360 Learning Program for CCIE Voice, visit:

Americas Headquarters Cisco Systems, Inc. San Jose, CA

Asia Pacific Headquarters Cisco Systems (USA) Pte. Ltd. Singapore

Europe Headquarters Cisco Systems International BV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Cisco has more than 200 offices worldwide. Addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers are listed on the Cisco Website at www.cisco.com/go/offices.
CCDE, CCENT, CCSI, Cisco Eos, Cisco HealthPresence, the Cisco logo, Cisco Lumin, Cisco Nexus, Cisco Nurse Connect, Cisco Stackpower, Cisco StadiumVision, Cisco TelePresence, Cisco WebEx, DCE, and Welcome to the Human Network are trademarks; Changing the Way We Work, Live, Play, and Learn and Cisco Store are service marks; and Access Registrar, Aironet, AsyncOS, Bringing the Meeting To You, Catalyst, CCDA, CCDP, CCIE, CCIP, CCNA, CCNP, CCSP, CCVP, Cisco, the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert logo, Cisco IOS, Cisco Press, Cisco Systems, Cisco Systems Capital, the Cisco Systems logo, Cisco Unity, Collaboration Without Limitation, EtherFast, EtherSwitch, Event Center, Fast Step, Follow Me Browsing, FormShare, GigaDrive, HomeLink, Internet Quotient, IOS, iPhone, iQuick Study, IronPort, the IronPort logo, LightStream, Linksys, MediaTone, MeetingPlace, MeetingPlace Chime Sound, MGX, Networkers, Networking Academy, Network Registrar, PCNow, PIX, PowerPanels, ProConnect, ScriptShare, SenderBase, SMARTnet, Spectrum Expert, StackWise, The Fastest Way to Increase Your Internet Quotient, TransPath, WebEx, and the WebEx logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document or website are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (0903R)

Americas Headquarters Cisco Systems, Inc. San Jose, CA

Asia Pacific Headquarters Cisco Systems (USA) Pte. Ltd. Singapore

Europe Headquarters Cisco Systems International BV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Cisco has more than 200 offices worldwide. Addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers are listed on the Cisco Website at www.cisco.com/go/offices.
CCDE, CCENT, CCSI, Cisco Eos, Cisco HealthPresence, the Cisco logo, Cisco Lumin, Cisco Nexus, Cisco Nurse Connect, Cisco Stackpower, Cisco StadiumVision, Cisco TelePresence, Cisco WebEx, DCE, and Welcome to the Human Network are trademarks; Changing the Way We Work, Live, Play, and Learn and Cisco Store are service marks; and Access Registrar, Aironet, AsyncOS, Bringing the Meeting To You, Catalyst, CCDA, CCDP, CCIE, CCIP, CCNA, CCNP, CCSP, CCVP, Cisco, the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert logo, Cisco IOS, Cisco Press, Cisco Systems, Cisco Systems Capital, the Cisco Systems logo, Cisco Unity, Collaboration Without Limitation, EtherFast, EtherSwitch, Event Center, Fast Step, Follow Me Browsing, FormShare, GigaDrive, HomeLink, Internet Quotient, IOS, iPhone, iQuick Study, IronPort, the IronPort logo, LightStream, Linksys, MediaTone, MeetingPlace, MeetingPlace Chime Sound, MGX, Networkers, Networking Academy, Network Registrar, PCNow, PIX, PowerPanels, ProConnect, ScriptShare, SenderBase, SMARTnet, Spectrum Expert, StackWise, The Fastest Way to Increase Your Internet Quotient, TransPath, WebEx, and the WebEx logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document or website are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (0903R)
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