Re: CCNP or go strait for the CCIE

Honesty, if you have 4 years of network engineering experience it
isn't all that difficult to make the jump straight to the CCIE (it
might even be a waste of your time to study the CCNP).  I would say
that if the CCNA was a breeze for you and that the CCNP doesn't look
much harder, than yes go ahead and start prepping for your CCIE.
Cisco doesn't require those lower level certs if you are ready.
You'll need to spend some money on a lab, but like Axel mentions there
are cheap options like dynamips or rack rentals.

The CCIE isn't as difficult as people make it out to be these days.
It is true that the CCIE used to be really difficult ten years ago
(the black belt of networking) with a grueling two day lab and
proctors hell-bent on failing you, but that is a thing of the past.
Today, Cisco gives you a blueprint for all the topics and there are
lab books to prep with.  I hear people say the first time failure rate
is in the 90% range, but no where have I seen that statistic on
Cisco's site or heard any official authority confirm that.  I think
that is just a B.S. statistic that people say to protect the value of
their certification.

Good Luck!