CompTIA or Cisco

Mmckeehan

I am currently attending WGU and trying to obtain my degree in IT Management and I am looking toward the future. I want to get into security later in my career but am not sure what would hold more weight as far as getting into the fails goes. I just got my first position in the industry as a tier one help desk support. It's not glamorous and the pay isn't there, but we have to start somewhere.


My five year goal is to be a project manager for a IT security company (haven't found which one yet). I am going to be getting my Project plus as part of my degree and am going to get my PMP or Prince2 within the course of the next 5 years as well.


I didn't know if I should get Network+ and Security+ or get my CCNA Routing and Switching/ Security and later the CCNP in the same. I know CompTIA is more general but most places (while not all) use Cisco.

tmtex

From what I have read on here, most will say Cisco. Either way. Cisco = Cisco. Net/Sec is just a overall on all .

Mmckeehan

Thanks for the advice. Also any advice that can help me get to where I want to be would be fantastic as well!

OctalDump

Most of Net+ is covered in CCNA Route + Switch. Roughly, CCNA R+S is 4x the content of Net+. CCNA goes into how to configure lots of things, so you can get a hands on understanding of how networking works. There is Cisco proprietary content, but even with that, you will learn more general networking in CCNA R+S than in Net+.

But if you have nothing, Net+ is a good starting place. It's a bit easier to get into, particularly for people comfortable with reading and understanding that don't need hands on. It depends also on how deep into networking you want to get.

Security+ is good general security and contains a lot of content that isn't covered in CCNA Security. CCNA Security is mostly about configuring Cisco's security features in their products, and their basic security products (ASAs, VPNs, IPSec, firewall, IPS etc). If you want a network defence role, then CCNA R+S, CCNA Sec, CCNA Wireless, and probably at least two CCNPs would be a good start to get the depth of understanding to implement security well.

Info Sec generally is a very broad area. It does include network defence, which Cisco's path is good for, but it covers a broad range of other areas as well: audit, management, compliance, policy, forensics, penetration testing, malware engineering, secure coding, incident handling...

Sec+ is a good start for Info Sec in general.

Pmorgan2

You seem to have a good plan there. You have a moderately focused mid-career goal and you are taking the proper steps to get there. Off the cuff, I would expect you to spend more than a few years as a security professional before taking on the project management role, but that might just be the way my organization does things.

Based on your goals, I recommend building a certification plan that develops your Discipline (IT Project Management), Focus (Security), and Broadening (other IT) skills. For resumes and credibility, you'll want Project Management certifications and Security certifications. To get a good grasp of all the factors of a project or program, you'll want to have some broadening knowledge and experience.

If I could go back, I would plan:

Baseline (1-2 Years)
* IT Degree
* Security focused IT experience
- Security+
- CCNA
- CCNA Security
- Project+ (or better yet, CAPM)
- ITIL Foundation

Mid-Career (2-5 Years)
* Master's Degree in IM or Cybersecurity
* Security focused experience. Pick a discipline. Go for team leader.
- PMP
- CASP or CISSP Associate
- MCSA Server
- Focused Security certs of your preference (GPEN, CEH, CISA, GCIH, OSCP)
- ITIL Intermediate
- Company specific platforms (VCP6, RHEL5, Oracle, ect)

Advanced Career (5-8 Years)
* Transition to Project Management
- CISSP
- CISM
- CCNP Security
- CRISC
- ITIL Expert
- PgMP
- FAC-C

Advanced Career (8-12 Years)
* Transition to Program Management
* Consider the torture of a PhD

I have the same goal as you, except I've changed my focus from security to enterprise architecture due to personal preference. Remember to be flexible. Having broadening experience and knowledge will help in that endeavor. But above all, be better today than you were yesterday.

MimosaVendetta

I went from getting my CompTIA A+ cert, to getting my first job as a help desk tech, and then was in a similar place to you: CCNA vs Net+. I jumped right to my CCNA, despite being a little weak in the networking aspect of things. I worked very hard and got my CCNA in just under 9 months (my training course was about 8 months long). While I sometimes wished I'd had the networking base that comes from going through Net+, I found that I also didn't have some of the bad habits that my classmates had from Net+. Learning subnetting from Bruce Weaver made it easier than the long, drawn out method that is used in Net+.

I would say, definitely go for the CCNA, unless networking already makes you cross-eyed.