Thursday, July 10, 2008

Nice topic brought up from CCIE Pursuit: Advertisements

This afternoon I was checking my favorite Blogs, as I usually do in my lunch time, those include CCIE Candidate from Ethan Banks, CCIE Pursuit, CCIE Jorney, and many others.

Blogging about our studies is great, specially for having all of your notes in one place, and also those notes may help others in their way (I know Ethan, Keith, CCIE Pursuit notes are helping me, ALOT!!!).

But well... back to the subject, this afternoon I was checking CCIE Pursuit and saw his last post "Full Disclosure - or - How I Became A Corporate Shill (Not Really)", nice topic! Never saw any blog post about that (at least I didn´t!)!

Until few weeks ago I used to have Internetwork Expert´s banner at my little blog! Their approach was nice (I love - in the right way, do not get me wrong - the nice lady who gave me all the oportunities over there, starting with a good payment plan, and after that with the oportunity of having a Banner in my blog)! That was pretty nice! They gave me a few stuff ! I was pretty happy!

Last couple weeks we had some exciting news! Starting with Scott Morris moving to Internetwork Expert, and ending with the "Super Star" Narbik Kocharians partnership with IPExpert! Nice goal for both sides!

Also, following advices from my friends, about the High Quality of IPExpert´s material, I decided to buy IPExpert´s CCIE R&S Blended Learning Solutions! The price is fair (at least I think so!), and no questions about the quality! The videos are taught by nobody else but Scott Morris in person! The same one that is now at Internetwork Expert!

Sales personnel at both companies (Internetwork Expert and IPExpert) were very nice to me, gracious enough to hear all my needs and expectations, and offering me a good solution that either fits my studies and my pocket ($$) ! :)

After a week or so IPExpert´s personnel also approached me to have a Banner in my Blog, cool!  So why not?! I´m paying for all the bills alone! That would help alot, so I took a decision, and  my choice was the best for me! The result, you can see in my Blog.

As CCIE Pursuit said very well in his wonderfull Blog! (Hey buddy, I read it daily, and truly, I LOVE your way of describing things! With some kind of humor and straight to the point! I told you in some comment at your "home" :) ), either Internetwork Expert and IPExpert did some reverse-engineering with a customer they already had (who bought from them already) and offered a deal! In the end, who wins?! Well... everybody in my opinion! Companies will have banners, and we get something in return  (as my father says, my clock doesn´t works for free, why should I?! - local brazillian expression).

Do I have anything to do with Internetwork Expert?! No!

Do I have anything to do with IPExpert?! Again, no!

So you might be asking... Why are you  only doing reviews for IPExpert last couple weeks?! Well... think some years back, when you got your first bike, your first car... what you were talking at the school/work next day?! That´s me now!!! I just received my CCIE R&S Blended Learning Solutions (the one I bought) and I´m still amazed with the quality and the philosophy behind it! Not a power-point slide one after another! No! It´s a high-quality full motion VoD, just you and the instructor (in this case, Scott Morris), tons of quality tips, great stuff!

Have I quit using my Internetwork Expert stuff?! Not at all! I bought it, and I´ll enjoy it to the end! By the time I start using it again, I´ll blog about it! Right now I´m too excited with IPExpert´s stuff! And I´ll follow their approach! Using two vendors is way better than only one!

Also, when Narbik Kocharians releases his new material, I´ll be one of the first buyers for sure! And I´ll review it in the appropriate time here in the blog!

I´m a independent author, this blog belongs to me (and not to any vendor), and I´ll blog about the materials I own, good or bad! Always! That´s what we (bloggers) are suppose to do! So others can benefit from our experience and make their choice!

I consider myself a Friend of either Internetwork Expert and IPExpert! I gotta thank both (and ALL Bloggers out there) for their efforts in helping so many candidates to achieve their goals! Thank you all!!!! :D

The choice to which vendor to go with?! That´s up to each of us! Be cool, wait for the right time, talk to sales personal, for sure they´ll help you in find the right plan, and make the best choice for you! As I said, I´ve already made mine! ;)

3 comments:

Nickelby said...

I agree bro :-). Ironic when I just posted about having just purchase IE's end to end package and being neutral when I saw your blog post heh.

Caue said...

Yeah buddy... everyone will have different opinions on which vendor to use, or how to follow the path to the CCIE, but in the end, it´s all the same, if you don´t put hard work, no magical workbook will pass the exam for you!

I bought either IPExpert and Internetwork Expert. I´m very happy with both vendors, but, as I stated I´m impressed by the CCIE R&S Blended Learning Solutions. The quality is AWESOME, and the price is fair!

I can´t wait to the new Narbik´s book to be released, I´ll be one of the first buyers too! And that´s all I will use!

Oh yeah... and for sure I´ll add an On-Demand Bootcamp (not able to attend live ones), and that´s pretty much my plan.

But, owning all the material, and leaving them on the top of my desk, will not make me any kind of CCIE. Study discipline, time (no reason to rush), and patience are the keys to face the exam!

Have you set a target date to yours?! I don´t, I´m setting target to my studies, and when I feel ready I´ll take it, not before, not after, just in time! ;)

Nice to have you on-board! Where are you in your studies right now?! Let me know if I can help you in anything!

Cheers man!

Anonymous said...

Well stated, that is pretty much how I think a lot of people do it with their material...