Even as the gloomy economic news continues to come thick and fast there are CCIE engineers out there gainfully employed and in love with what they do. Perhaps not all day long - but often enough to make them want to keep doing it. And in the light of various studies that report how dissatisfied many people are with their current jobs and career choices, such IT professionals are indeed fortunate.
There's clearly a considerable difference between someone who's just studying for the CCIE in order to land a better and higher paying job, compared to an IT engineer who sees their work as more of a vocation than a job. And who enjoys, rather than is resigned to, every possible opportunity to study and play on a rack with a view to applying some of that knowledge to help solve real business issues.
Of course, in the business world there's invariably a mixing of these paths. Most people have to earn money to eat and to pay bills - so it's completely understandable that market supply and demand is behind a lot of the interest in the CCIE program from students. (Along with the business drivers behind the interests of Cisco and their channel partners in having CCIEs in the marketplace.)
Although I've not met him I can sense that Ethan Banks is a CCIE inspired not only by personal achievement but also with the very challenge itself. (See his article in the November issue of Eman's newsletter or go direct Ethan's blog: http://www.cciecandidate.com/?p=568 and read the post and the comments.)
So it's no surprise to read of his thinking around pursuing a second CCIE track or some other comparable challenge. Those with young families will recognize some of the dilemmas Ethan's wrestling with. I know that further sacrifice of what family time I had recovered was the primary reason why I did not attempt another CCIE track - but now that my daughter has become a teenager... well, we'll see.
The secondary reason, by the way, was that my employer at the time (an Investment Bank) saw no compelling business advantage in supporting me in further study. It was a feather in the relevant managers' caps that they helped one of their staff achieve a major technical career landmark. And now that the Wall Street business models are in some disarray I doubt that keeping top-dollar CCIEs will be top of their list of concerns for a while.
Perhaps the optimum level of career/vocational satisfaction for a CCIE study geek is to be both a CCIE instructor and a consultant. Teaching combined with real world experience can be a powerful credibility statement for an internetworking consultant - especially if the labour arbitrage trend (aka outsourcing and offshoring) and the Internet communications revolution continues to drive developed world IT technical roles to smart engineers in developing countries.
So, what about your modus operandi for all this CCIE study? What drives you to do it even in the face of resistance from others and the uncertain future of the "IT profession" in developed nations? By answering these questions you'll go a long way to understanding what the CCIE means to you at a fundamental level. Good luck in whatever path you choose.
Mark McClure is a Japan-based career coach, IT consultant and CCIE #10814. Visit his mid-career coaching blog here at http://markmccluretoday.com. For those experienced network engineers and team leaders interested in Mark's IT career coaching options you can find out more at http://techcareerzigzag.com.