I have now reached the point where I am in a 2 week countdown until my JNCIE-SP expires. I had been toying with the idea of letting it do so since I spend as much time coding these days as I do network engineering things and more of my energy is on the coding side.
But this morning I changed my mind.
I have decided to renew it for another 3 years as insurance. Increasingly, I dream of a sabbatical. And if I have to provide for this myself, that will mean taking myself out of the work force and then finding a way back in. Having a certification will help.
Renewing involves taking the JNCIP-SP written exam: JN0-660.
My guess is that I can make myself ready after a few days of of study. I plan to put in a couple of hours each day studying and then take and fail the exam a week's time or less. There is no shame in this.
Veterans of the JNCIE-SP practical examination are well aware that failing the actual test is a key part of preparation. This is true for the written tests as well. There is not a good substitute to get you into the flow of thinking like the test other than doing it.
Incidentally, many things in life are like this. The only way to get real and hard data is to actually do something with the understanding that it may not work, but that in attempting to do it, you will learn things.
So... Expiring in 2 weeks? Probably not.
