Narbik Kocharians
Narbik, a Triple CCIE has over 30 years of experience in the industry. He has designed, implemented and supported numerous enterprise networks. Some of the companies that Narbik has worked for are: IBM, Carlton United Breweries, Australian Cable and Wireless, BP, AMOCO and in US, 20th Century Ins., Home Saving of America, Verizon, TTI, Trinet Inc, NLI, IPexpert, Anderson Networking and Consulting and many more. Narbik has been a dedicated CCIE instructor for over 10 years.
The times are a changing and with the change come many more challenges for the average IT professional. Old farts like Narbik and I have seen the changes and challenges before, yet this time old wisdom and new conditions collide. Where traditionally safe havens kept network engineers safe we have seen wholesale slaughter of staff that have hurt network engineers. Financial institutions, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, insurance companies, manufacturing, automotive and yes, VARs. Smart or lucky I am still not sure which has kept some of us afloat during this storm. I was on the phone today with Narbik a person I am happy to call my friend. We are planning training venues around the world spreading his budget friendly high quality effective training in new venues. Narbik has been very busy writing new training materials for his SP, Security and the new Routing and Switching books. Soon his offerings will challenge the big boys in the CCIE training industry and I wanted to ask a few questions of him that you might have had on your minds as well.
Q: Narbik for all the time I have known you I have never asked you why you got started training CCIEs. So tell me what got you going and who motivated you to do what you do every day now as a CCIE trainer?
A: Good question, well…….. Many moons ago I met this gentleman named Merdad Khoe. I nicknamed him Mr. Memory Bank. I was taking classes and he was the manager handling all the students and accounts. This guy was so sharp that he knew everyone’s name, what class they were in, how much they had paid and what their balance was and in some cases he even knew their account number. I know it’s unbelievable, but this character has a school called Brand College in Glendale, CA. They conduct training in various Operating systems and Cisco Networking classes. One day he kind of forced me into teaching this Hardware class that was on Saturdays. We started the class with 10 students and the very next class, we had people sitting on the floor, we had more than 20 in the class and it was amazing. Of course, NO OVERHEAD Projectors, Mr. Merdad Khoe, thanks mate, thank you very much.
Q: So you had a mentor. I always advise CCIEs to be mentors and to find a mentor. How much did this relationship help you mold your career?
A: I was teaching CCIE classes when I was NOT a CCIE. I taught a CCIE class in Verizon in Thousand Oaks Ca. and some of my students passed the lab, some on their first try and few on their second. Merdad always encouraged me and pushed me to take on more challenging courses. His friendship meant a lot to me. He is like a brother to me. From time to time when I feel tired or frustrated, I go to his school and chat and have a coffee and when I leave that place I feel a lot better.
Q: You have not been idle I know and we have spoken about your plans to expand by providing Service Provider and Security CCIE boot camps. What are your expected dates for the first SP and Security training sessions?
A: Well Eman, you know in the last few months, I have Tech edited Wendell Odom’s New Cisco Press book called “CCIE Routing and Switching Exam Certification Guide 4th Edition” with “Maurilio Gorito”, finished my “Advanced CCIE Routing and Switching 2.0” 2500 pages of labs with detailed explanation. Just finished our Troubleshooting labs, I partnered with a VERY GOOD FRIEND OF MINE CALLED Dan Shechter, what a gentleman, a Triple CCIE with unbelievable amount of knowledge. Together we wrote 10 Trouble Shooting Mock labs. We thought that each lab was going to take 5.5 hours to complete but they will take 8 hours each. But man O man, these labs are really GR8. They cover all aspect of CCIE R&S, and ALSO the NEW, YES the NEW “CCIE 2.0 Protocol specific Mock labs” hahahaha, these labs are really tough, I should put a warning and a disclaimer on the bottom of each page, guaranteed to frustrate the best of us. But after all these work books, you have to remember that I get bored with my lectures, so I have added another 4 hours of solid material to the lecture, this is my surprise for my students starting Jan.
Q: With the expectation that you will keep the quality of your training and the familiar personal approach to mentoring and molding people to be good CCIEs not just people who can pass the lab, what can you tell us about Piotr and Paul?
A: These guys are gifted, eager to know, eager to TEACH, TEACH and NOT LECTURE with lots of energy. It’s a perfect match. Oo I forgot they always have a smile on their face, I could NOT work with bunch of sour $#@^&s.
Q: There is always bickering exchanges out in various forums on the internet about 360 and gray market training companies and who is better as a trainer. The fact is that so many good trainers are out there but delivering the information so that each individual can absorb it is the real key. Everyone picks the vehicle they feel is their preferred style of learning. Competition is good; it inevitably lowers the prices and keeps the quality high. Do you see the prices for CCIE boot camps going up or down in the future?
A: I think it should stay where it is today. When I came to the market, people were charging $4500 to $4999 for a boot camp, and I could NOT believe it. Nothing is worth that much money for a week. I think I was the one that pushed the prices down to what they are today. I don’t know man, some times I think of reducing the price to $1800 or even lower and stay there for few months so people that can NOT Afford the current prices can take advantage of it. Trust me, if I do this it won’t be because I am hurting financially, my students can attest to the fact that every class is FULL and thank GOD for that.
Q: You have given a few freebies away that can help the average lab candidate prepare for the test. I think you rank up there with Mother Teresa! What are you going to give us next?
A: Well I will be giving away one of the labs from my “CCIE 2.0 Protocol specific Mock labs” I think I like to give away RIPv2 Mock lab and show people everything possible in RIPv2 in that lab. That will tell them what will happen in OSPF or even BGP.
The reason I do that is because some people can take advantage of these FREE labs, bad economy does NOT allow them to purchase books, and the second reason I do that is so people can see what they are going to get before purchasing it, also I like people to see what happens in my classes.
Q: The recent fires this fall Near your home in California was pretty bad. Did you have to leave your home and was it at risk during the fires?
A: Yes couple of time, and it all happened during my R&S Boot Camp. After the boot camp I had to get home and pack and take the stuff to a storage place and after that I would write a lab or two and then sleep for few hours and then, back to the boot camp. I was tired. But I was happy that not many people got hurt, homes, materials can be replaced, but lives……..
Q: Is it too early to let folks know that in 2010 we will be offering consulting services by selecting the cream of the crop for projects that require CCIEs and Network Engineers?
A: HAHAHAHAHA, good marketing mate, NO, we will be doing that, my goal is to train people and place them in a consulting job immediately, but to reach that goal we have to start the consulting and the rest will follow.
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