Thus spake "EA Louie" <elouie@yahoo.com>
That may have been true during your genre of CCIE's, but not with the latest round of CCIE's, my friends... you should see the posts I see on the ccie lab mailing lists. Its enough to scare even me, and I don't scare easily.
The people studying for CCIE can be scary. The failure rate is extremely high, and most (but unfortunately not all) of the people who pass are reasonably clueful.
The latest round of study materials is creating a "puppy mill" of CCIEs - inexperienced, money-hungry, power-conscious, and absolutely clueless. I wouldn't give most of them the enable passwords to my routers...
A certification does not absolve you from due diligence during the hiring process. I've turned down a few CCIE applicants for lack of clue myself. S