So I sat on the exam few days ago for 3rd time and failed again. This time I failed both the TS and the configuration, the latter by a huge margin. Let me start with the TS - after one hour and 20 minutes I had solved 9 tickets most of them with breeze. I had just one 3 pointer remaining and I decided not to bother with it. I verified the other tickets again for ten minutes - all of them were working and I didn't think I had broken any restrictions so I ended the section with added 30 minutes to the config section. Oh, well as it turned out I failed the TS and I am not even sure why. Anyway, back to the exam. I entered the config part with confidence, took a quick glance at all the questions and there wasn't anything that looked like it might be a problem. Finished with the L2 stuff and half way trough the L3 by lunch. After lunch I finished the lab with 1 and a half hour remaining and I had skipped 2 tasks - one of which I couldn't figure out (later I understood I misread it completely) and another which was not for so many points but involved huge config so I decided I would be better without it and just use the time to verify the other tasks. After second reread I realized that there were many tasks I am not 100% sure of, mainly due to that one bizarre and random bullet point in them - something that doesn't really "break" the network but for whatever reason Cisco asks for it. So I wasn't sure for my pass but I knew I was close. It was shocking to see in the end how poorly I had scored on almost all the sections - much worse than my previous 2 attempts. Anyway, I realize that in the end my network was "working" from a practical point of view but not the way Cisco wanted it and I accept that.
Back to my first attempt. I met a Cisco employee there who was already a CCIE in R&S and was sitting on the SP exam. After the lab he asked how my exam was and if it was as in the "dumps". I told him I am not interested in that on which he laughed and replied that I can't pass without them and "everybody is doing it". Later a colleague of mine who also failed the lab told me that another candidate he met there pointed him to a forum where they clearly discuss all the exam variants. On my last attempt I also met an ex-colleague of mine who was sitting on the exam for 2nd time. He admitted that on his 1st attempt he didn't know the dumps existed and failed the lab pretty badly and didn't have idea for most of the things in it but was well prepared by the dumps on that 2nd attempt. He passed the exam and is CCIE now. When we spoke after the exam he easily identified my variant just by a loosen description of one of the tasks there. Apparently I've had "K7". Good to know. I checked the named forum today. I don't have registration there and I can't read in the threads but just by the titles it's clear that the variants there are exactly as the ones I've had. At the time I was on the site there were 40 active users on the same page. 1/3 of the threads there were "success stories" also mentioning the exact variant they had had. Apparently "K7" is pretty popular.
So, I am done pursuing the CCIE. I realize that I don't meet the expected criteria. If I were I would have passed on my first, second or third attempt, but I didn't and it's my fault, not INE's, not Cisco's, not the dumpers'. But there are others who don't meet them and they are CCIEs. There are also the legit guys and I do respect them because they have succeeded where I have failed and I know how hard it's. But I also know some of the "other" CCIEs personally and this certification doesn't have the same value for me anymore. Sure, I could keep studying for the R&S. I could explore every obscure command in IOS 12.4T there is and eventually I will get the number. And according to Cisco I will be expert on the same level as the guys who remembered the solution of the 4 lab variants, went to a bootcamp in India, payed certain amount of money to have somebody else to sit on the exam for them. Thanks, but no thanks. Even that I didn't pass the CCIE, I am relatively happy with my level of understanding on the R&S topics and I am confident I can put them to work in every network there is out there. So it's time to move forward and not keep studying the same things over and over again. I will move to the SP materials now, again provided by INE. Will I sit on the lab after I am finished - hell no. In fact I have absolutely no intention to renew any of my existing certifications. If Cisco don't care enough of them to protected them I don't see why should I.