Cisco's $10 Million in Scholarships for Cyber

Ritual

Its coming up on the end of August and they still have not even made as much as a blog post on their website.

With news of the layoff's, I wonder how this may affect the program.

In the last email they stated that there would be assessment's sent out in August and that the program would start in September. This program is looking shaky.

techsecurity

Thanks guys for your info, seems that something has changed but I think we will soon be informed.

9bits

Cisco knows what they're doing, people. I think the last 30 years shows that. Relax.

NetworkNewb

9bits wrote: »

Cisco knows what they're doing, people. I think the last 30 years shows that. Relax.

Exactly, they know they sent out false info and left people hanging. Its not like their scrambling and laying a ton of people off...

BuzzSaw

NetworkNewb wrote: »

Exactly, they know they sent out false info and left people hanging. Its not like their scrambling and laying a ton of people off...

It is a FREE program, so its hard to say I feel like they left people "hanging". I'm sure this will all come to fruition

NetworkNewb

Honestly don't even care if they tell us this month or not. But just because something is free doesn't mean you can't leave someone "hanging". If someone told you they are going to meet you at a bar or pick you up at the airport and they don't follow through with no response, I would consider that leaving someone hanging. Even though it was "FREE" it doesn't look good on that person. (or in this case, doesn't look great on Cisco's part)

chrisone

eh I am over this.....got things to do.

OctalDump

9bits wrote: »

Cisco knows what they're doing, people. I think the last 30 years shows that. Relax.

They wouldn't be the first successful IT business to disappear or massively change, though. It's always fine until it isn't.

At the moment, I'm just expecting this program to be delayed. It's an obvious area for them to be pushing into, and if you can hook people early, it will likely lead to much better market penetration for their products in the longer run.

If they do this program right, it could be the default network security qualification in much the same way that CCNA R+S is the default networking qualification. And along with that comes lots of people comfortable with using their equipment and systems, so like the answer to "Which brand switch should we buy?" is so often "Cisco", the answer to "What should we do to secure our network?" will be "Cisco".

9bits

I'm just not sure why people are being spastic over their time scale. Lots of big projects get delayed, or take longer than expected. Nothing new or shocking here, plus it's a free program.

Ritual

9bits wrote: »

I'm just not sure why people are being spastic over their time scale. Lots of big projects get delayed, or take longer than expected. Nothing new or shocking here, plus it's a free program.

Because we signed up to dedicate hours a day for three months to complete a series of exams for a ceritificate. A certificate that may have forced people into delaying or changing the priority of other career advancement pursuits in anticipation for.

One would expect a large well respected company to follow through when they email us telling us that X,Y is going to happen.

I also don't think anyone was really "spastic" about it, we are casually discussing what feels like a delay in the program.

Abdullah.AA

august 24th, still no email

JustFred

Be patient, there's a reorganization going on at Cisco, People are losing their jobs. Such matters affects almost all departments.

BlackBeret

Ritual wrote: »

Because we signed up to dedicate hours a day for three months to complete a series of exams for a ceritificate. A certificate that may have forced people into delaying or changing the priority of other career advancement pursuits in anticipation for.

One would expect a large well respected company to follow through when they email us telling us that X,Y is going to happen.

To be fair all you've done at this point is given your email address to Cisco and said you were interested in the program. As far as I know no one has been given the chance to officially apply, much less been accepted. If people have changed their lives or plans for something that they haven't even officially applied for yet than that's just poor planning on their part.

Also, 10,000 people are going to be accepted over the course of TWO YEARS for the three month program. Don't make plans for anything until you have a start date in hand.

NetworkNewb

I just find it weird they haven't said anything regarding it, after they told everyone they should be expecting something by a certain date. I don't think anyone really cares that they haven't gotten their "free" assessment yet. They shouldn't anyways, its not like anyone knows they are even going to be accepted to do it...

How hard is to say something like "Because of the overwhelming applicants that have applied to our program we will be pushing back the assessments until X time."

Its whatever though, I just making random comments and could care less if they even canceled it. Got a ton on the plate to go through already.

cmztech

whilst we all await the anticipated response, here is a link to some pretty cool TED talks that can hold us over in the meantime.

https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/blogs/talking-tech-with-cisco/2016/06/22/ted-talk-10-pack-security-lectures-that-will-open-your-eyes-and-mind

Ertaz

BlackBeret wrote: »

To be fair all you've done at this point is given your email address to Cisco and said you were interested in the program. As far as I know no one has been given the chance to officially apply, much less been accepted. If people have changed their lives or plans for something that they haven't even officially applied for yet than that's just poor planning on their part.

Also, 10,000 people are going to be accepted over the course of TWO YEARS for the three month program. Don't make plans for anything until you have a start date in hand.

We aren't owed anything. I think folks are just expecting Cisco to honor the timeline they committed to. For folks without a training budget, this is a big boost to start their careers. Not everyone gets to go to SANS class every year. For those of us who have been at this for a while, this falls into the "nice to have" bucket.

Mr.Network

I received an email from Cisco today.

"We’re excited by a fantastic response to the Cisco Global Cybersecurity Scholarship program from thousands of individuals like you. Responses have come from more than 126 countries so far. Together, we can protect the world from cybercriminals.

Before you are invited in mid-August to complete an assessment for entry into the scholarship program, we want to remind you why this program is so important. Actually, we have 10 reminders, part of a series of riveting cybersecurity TED Talks that we present to you as part of our “Talking Tech with Cisco” blog. We encourage you to watch all 10 TED Talk videos; they are relatively short and do a great job at revealing the formidable challenges we face on the cyber-threat landscape. You will walk away further convinced that you have chosen a field that greatly needs and values your skill and dedication.

As you look forward to the start of the program, we want to reinforce that it is a serious commitment: a total of 90 hours in three months. But when you complete this program, you will have achieved the respected CCNA Cyber Ops Certification. For now, set your sights on the assessment of your qualifications in mid-August. The assessment will cover questions to verify your basic technical competency as discussed in our scholarship selection criteria. We’ll keep you posted on next steps.

Thank you again for your interest in the scholarship program. We look forward to helping you build highly rewarding career opportunities in cybersecurity"

danny069

Hmm, I didn't get that email...I just signed up again, because I may have signed up before I attained my CCNA.

lmoworld

Go to twitter and look for @LearningatCisco. People should start to hear something by 25 Aug.

Ertaz

Looks like the "Thanks, but no thanks" email will start on Monday.

cmztech

@danny, I got that same mentioned email this morning, too. I only have my CCENT at this time. Not sure if that was the case for you?

I also answered No to the Cisco Academy certificate question. I really didn't want to, but I hope that doesn't weight too heavily on being selected or not...

I'm wondering if it's like pulling names from a hat or if they are hand selecting or perhaps a combination of both.

Why does this feel like the Hunger Games all of a sudden lol?

tonylo1420

I only received the email,no assessment

danny069

Cmztech, when I applied for the scholarship, I didn't have a CCENT, I took the full CCNA exam after I applied, so I applied again. I am a NetAcad student also from when I took two courses enrolled at my university. I figured I should apply again because what's the worst that can happen? I'm sure they have your name listed if you've ever done NetAcad. You should answer all the questions honestly because we don't really know what they are looking for, perhaps a mix of different disciplines, know what I mean?

Abdullah.AA

cmztech wrote: »

@danny, I got that same mentioned email this morning, too. I only have my CCENT at this time. Not sure if that was the case for you?

I also answered No to the Cisco Academy certificate question. I really didn't want to, but I hope that doesn't weight too heavily on being selected or not...

I'm wondering if it's like pulling names from a hat or if they are hand selecting or perhaps a combination of both.

Why does this feel like the Hunger Games all of a sudden lol?

you got the email with the assessment link or what?

could you copy-paste it, leaving out the private details of course.

Abdullah.AA

this is from their twitter account, few hours ago:

Thank you so much for your interest in the Global Cybersecurity Scholarship program. Beginning this Friday, August 26th and throughout the rest of September, qualified candidates will receive an email, allowing them to access an assessment portal. Please note that because of the significant number of applicants, placement of successful candidates into their cybersecurity coursework will occur on a first come – first served basis, so we encourage candidates to take the assessment as soon as they receive the notification email.

Please note also that because of the large candidate pool, it might take a few days following the assessment for candidates to receive their assessment results and directions for next steps.

Lastly, candidates who did not meet initial qualifications for receiving an assessment will be notified of their status starting Monday, Aug 29th.

I also wanted to point out that CompTIA is also going to start a new certification equal to cisco's CCNA Cyber Ops:
https://certification.comptia.org/certifications/cybersecurity-analyst

just no free training/scholarship

techsecurity

No mail until today. Anybody got an answer?

Abdullah.AA

nop, still waiting

Ertaz

Good luck to everyone tomorrow. May the odds be ever in your favor...

esr0159

still got no mail

techsecurity

I think its a bit difficult to be accepted, at least if you have just one cert or just cnap. Probably if you are an ex-military etc you have better chances, although some said that if you posses one of the requirements you will be accepted. Lets hope for the best and may the odds be with us. In case there is anything new from my side I will inform you.