Casp for renewal

Iceman81

Hello, I currently have A+, Net+, & Sec+, and they are set to expire in April.

I am trying to decide whether to retake sec+ to get everything renewed, or progress while renewing with the CASP cert.

A little background, new to "IT" after career change, I am doing tech support for verizon fios, which is not really IT, but it's a stepping stone.

Trying to get certs to make up for the lack of experience. I received my CCNA a few months ago, and after renewing my comptia certs, I'm going set my sites on MCSA.

So in short, is it recommended to get casp just to renew? I have no clue if DoD is in my future.

danny069

It doesn't matter if the DoD is in your future. To take the CASP and renew all before it is a great deal. That's what I did, I took the CASP to renew my Sec+. My A+ is lifetime. You should go for the CASP. It's a great cert to have.

Mike7

Agree with @Danny069.
Once you get your CASP, you are almost ready for CISSP. CISSP fulfils CASP 3 year CPE requirements.

TechGuru80

A general rule of thumb is to never remain at the same level...always progress for higher level certifications.

Another rule of thumb is to never let your certifications get close to expiration (in my opinion four months is too close to just now start studying to renew).

You might be able to study enough to pass but it is not a for sure thing as the CASP is a higher level certification. You have said that your current job is not in security, which will obviously make things more challenging because you are not exposed to security on a daily basis, making a lot of the material brand new.

Personally, I might look at Security+ practice questions to see if you actually remember any of the material. If you have forgotten a lot of the material, I would consider completing Security+ again only because it will take less time to prepare and prevent you from facing the stress of expiring...and then proceed after.

Mike-Mike

your CCNA might renew some of that? my CCNA Security renewed my Security+

OctalDump

Mike-Mike wrote: »

your CCNA might renew some of that? my CCNA Security renewed my Security+

CCNA Route and Switch will satisfy the requirements for Network+ which will satisfy the requirements for A+. Since it's not a CompTIA certification, you renew under the CE program, so you will need to pay the fee for that.

Security+ can be renewed with CCNA Security or MCSA 2008 or MCSA 2012 or CEH, amongst others. Depending on your background, those might be better options than CASP. Or you could just do Sec+ again and that will renew everything without having to pay the annual fee.

I think if you do try for the CASP, and aren't ready by March, then switch to the Security+. There's some overlap, so the study won't be completely wasted, and once you have your Sec+, you can go back to the CASP. Or just do the Sec+ again as soon as you are ready, and then you have open options for what to study next.

CASP is a much higher step than Sec+. It's aimed at people with 10+ years experience, unlike the A+ etc which are baseline certifications. So, I'd encourage you to read up on it before jumping in.

leelt

I would suggest going for something higher than redoing Sec+, but if time is your factor that's up to you. I've renewed Sec+ twice pretty easy with their requirements, just check there site for updated requirements.