Will the Real CCIE Please Stand Up!

I was working at my job, you know as the CCIE Agent, and one day I was looking for CCIEs to present to Channel Partners in Africa and South Africa. I was working through my database when I received an email in response to an issue of the CCIE Flyer. The CCIE Manny Ego (not his real name) asked me to help introduce him to some of the Channel Partners I was providing candidates to. Then unbidden he sent me an email with attached images of various certifications. I looked through them and one particular one Manny sent me, drew my attention. This was a CCIE certificate.

In all my years I had never had a CCIE send me an image of his certificate.

I was surprised by a couple of things. The Cisco logo was not the current one in use by Cisco. Then when looking at the number on the document I noticed it seemed a bit high for the ones being issued in February 2009. So, M (my Girl Friday), looked up the number and name using the verification tool. She got nothing, no hits on it. So it could have been because the name was wrong or the number was wrong. So as you already may expect, I called Monica (my best friend at Cisco) and she told me the number had not been issued yet.

What?!

I have been amazed at the traffic I am seeing these days in requests for CCIEs. When speaking and meeting with so many of them I find they all have the same determination to be the best they can be. Some come from small environments where they have been the go-to guy or larger environments where they have been a team resource while still others are independent contractors or bank vice presidents. I even met a married pair of CCIEs in Greece this past month. As people go the many real CCIEs I know are a very honest bunch of people and I am happy to say they have been very open with me discussing personal and professional aspects of their lives.

Then there are some CCIEs who are made of the wrong stuff.

Like the ones I have spoken with who could not tell me what the seven layers of the OSI model are or the layer names. Those CCIEs who could not be understood even in their own native languages and one memorable CCIE who sent me pictures of herself in a bikini! But a CCIE who was not a CCIE? I was shocked at his boldness. This topped the guy who claimed to be a quad-CCIE and then yelled at me for asking for his CCIE number. He actually said I should trust him and when I asked for the number that was stepping over the line! He said he would never allow me to represent him anywhere ever again. Turns out I checked on him and it was definitely a ruse but, lying about being a CCIE is one thing and lying about being a quad-CCIE is another; yet sending me counterfeit documents takes the cake.

At first I was just as open with Manny Ego as I am with anyone who I encounter and accepted him at face value. His name and number were posted on the CCIE Hall of Fame website even.

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