CyberSecurity Student question about certs

WIZARD1325

I am in my 3rd year at my university and one of my class's deals with Network + ( had to buy the book and everything)

This is my thoughts as a student then please fill in the gaps.

Ideally my thought process was to get my Degree first then get Network + cert then once I get 4 years experience (military) go for my CISSP.

Now my question to all you experience work force people out there is what do you recommend the path I should take
I have a friend that tells me not to take Network+ and go for CNNET exam instead hold more weight.

But I'm truely at a lost. My back round is I was a 15 year Air Force cop (Security Forces) using my post 9/11 bill to get my bachelors in CyberSecurity. I am a single Full time dad taking care of my 3 year old in the process. I have a little over a year left in schooling.

Any words of wisdom to set me on the good path were I can land a 60K job with ease (so to speak)


Thank you in advance

NotHackingYou

Your friend is partially right. Skip the Network+ Exam (but do study the material!). Get the CCENT and keep going right into the CCNA. 60k might be doable, depending where you want to live. Do you have clearance?

TNbound

If your in Tampa, you should be able to move in on 60k with ease after some experience.

kiki162

Kudos to you Wizard! I would definitely do your Network+ and look at doing Security+ as well. Although it's not going to help as far as jobs and what you are looking to make, it's a good primer for the CISSP. If you are looking to get into the field as a Network Admin, then yes you can go for the CCENT, and then the CCNA. All of these certs no matter which route you take will help you in the long run.

Few other things I would suggest, you can also look at the SSCP from ISC2, as that will give you an idea on what to eventually expect for the CISSP. The SSCP book - 2nd edition from Darril Gibson is the gold standard when it comes to passing the SSCP exam. Look for that on Amazon.

For the CISSP, the Shon Harris book is one of the better ones to study from. Use the testing engine from that book, along with testing engines from transcender.com.

Going back to your initial question, you get your CCNA, or at a minimum Security+ that will qualify you for 8570. Once you've made your choice, it's all about time management, and I understand how hard it is with a little one. Good luck!

TechGromit

WIZARD1325 wrote: »

I have a friend that tells me not to take Network+ and go for CCENT exam instead hold more weight.

I would take the Network+ first, it's a fairly easy exam to pass, I studied for a week and passed it. The CCENT is a considerably harder exam, I've been working on this beast for 2 months, rescheduled my exam twice. If you do a job search, you'll find the number of positions that recognize the Network+ as an accepted certification in the hundreds, they may also ask for others certs as well, but as a stand alone cert, it has value. If you run a search with CCENT, you'll be lucky to get more than 5 hits. As a stand alone certification, the CCENT is fairly worthless, it's true value is it's half way to a CCNA, which is a valuable certification to have.

jelevated

CCENT is worth it, it isn't as well known as network+ but the skills you gain will be immeasurable. Once you step up to CCNA you should be able to get interviews based on it alone. The CCNA is alot harder today then it was back in the day, more topics including IPv6.

But in the meantime you don't need to wait 4 years for the CISSP. You can become an "associate of (ISC)²", search for it in the CISSP forum it's been well discussed. You pass the CISSP exam but you don't need any experience. You absolutely cannot say that you are in any way shape or form a "CISSP" on your resume, but you are allowed to say "Associate of (ISC), passed CISSP exam" which is ok and statement of fact. Be prepared to answer what this is in an interview but that will get you passed some CISSP filters.

BlackBeret

You mentioned getting 4 years experience through the military, are you changing AFSC's? Also, for qualifications towards your CISSP, don't discount your 15 years as security forces, Physical security, access control, security and risk management, identify and access management, security operations, etc. If you're staying on the military side the AF has been pushing hard for people to move over to 1B4, if you do that I wouldn't worry about certifications at this time, they'll come with the school training and the training you get at your assigned unit.

Also, I'm in a job market very similar to Tampa. If you're looking at continuing to work for the government either as a contractor or AF civilian when you get out you don't need to worry about the money side of it with an IT degree and some experience. 60k would be shooting yourself in the foot.

Now, not to side track your thread, but no one explained some things properly to me when I got off of active duty, I was looking for 60ish because that's what I was used to making, but I didn't realize some things.

1. Insurance - You go from free to $600/month + 3k deductible (I know, my company is garbage with insurance) for a family. That's another $10,200/year you need to factor in.
2. Taxes - In the military you're taxed on your base salary, and your tax rate is based on your base salary. I was making over $60k/year, but my base pay was around $32k/year, which put me at 15% tax bracket. I was paying $4333/year in taxes. At $60k/year federal taxes are around $10,738. So add another $6,500 for increased taxes.

These are minimum differences. I'm not even counting cost-shares after you meet deductibles on insurance and other potential expenses like when you live in areas that privatized military housing costs much less than the surrounding rentals, etc. The point is if you're in the military and your gross pay is around $60k, you need to make about $75-80k for a comparable civilian salary.

kurosaki00

Like I tell everyone... if you have basic understanding of networks and technology (printers, ip addresses, lan cards, Ethernet, etc.) skip A+ and Net+.
Go for CCNA and if you want more under your belt with PCs, go to MS certifications or Linux certs.

NavyMooseCCNA

Thank you for your Service and Good luck! Personally, I would skip the N+ and go the CCNA route and then take Security+.

WIZARD1325

OMG Thank you very much. Sorry for not replying to all you guys. Thank you so much. So I been going to alot of
extra credit class's were they bring in people from the work force and talk about whats going on. So far Cyber Security anaylist seems promising
what do you guys think? I mean the real answer is you wont really know until you have experience under your belt.
Man I need to start interning soon I have no idea what to expect.

scenicroute

WIZARD1325 wrote: »

OMG Thank you very much. Sorry for not replying to all you guys. Thank you so much. So I been going to alot of
extra credit class's were they bring in people from the work force and talk about whats going on. So far Cyber Security anaylist seems promising
what do you guys think? I mean the real answer is you wont really know until you have experience under your belt.
Man I need to start interning soon I have no idea what to expect.

I'm guessing you have a security clearance, given your military background. That's worth a lot right there. A lot of DoD jobs want people to have a security clearance and the CompTIA Security+ cert: https://certification.comptia.org/certifications/security

So if you have just those two things, you can probably get a foot in the door pretty easy. Whether or not you should just jump right into Security+, I can't say. It's good to have a handle on networking first, and as people have already mentioned, Network+ or CCENT/CCNA are potential paths for that. But I'd say it's not critical you have a networking cert; you just need to understand the basics. So if you want to fast track things, jump right into the Security+ training and study the concepts of networking while you're at it.

Also, a relatively new cert in the field is the Cisco CCNA CyberOps: CCNA Cyber Ops - Cisco It may be worth looking into after you finish Security+ if you want something that gives you a decent foundation to blue team type work. In any case, if I were in your shoes, I'd go after the Sec+ as fast as I could and go from there. It was the first IT cert I got. No regrets.

TechGromit

scenicroute wrote: »

I'm guessing you have a security clearance, given your military background. That's worth a lot right there.

That's a stretch, just being in the military doesn't give you security clearance. The typical grunt on the front line hardly needs a "Secret" level security clearance, being Military Police wouldn't be much better. He would have to worked in operations at a base's HQ to have any chance to get a secret clearance or better while serving.

anhtran35

Do you have a Secret Clearance?
What certification did you obtain?

dmoore44

For what it's worth, you might try looking in to the SANS VetSuccess program: https://www.sans.org/cybertalent/immersion-academy

If you get in, you get free SANS training and the associated certs - those plus your BS would easily set you up for a 60k job. Also, don't be adraid to move. Tampa, DC, San Antonio, and Dallas all have very robust job markets for InfoSec positions. If you can't find something to your liking in FL, hunt around in other states.

Good luck to you in your studies... 3-year olds and school don't mix well...

WIZARD1325

OMG so my son got bit by a dog at the sitters house and i havent gotten back to you guys so sorry. so heres the update skinny.

Looks like CCNA is a good start for me or Security + need to do further research on the matter. This I want to go for ISC^2 for my CISSP

I only have secret level clearance from the military as Security Forces in the Air Force.

I did a entry level job search on indeed.com under Cyber security (generic search) in Tampa and saw really only CISSP and or Security + I didn't see any CCNA certs. I have 1 year left in my degree and my post 9/11 bill is running out quick lol. I ordered my books for CISSP. School gave me a feww CCNA book as well. I need to make every right choice here because of my son.

Hey did anybody catch that commercial on TV that was for a school, it showed a mother who got fired from her job and she went to school to be a IT network person and was able to provide for her kid. Kinda hit home when I saw that since me and hundreds other single parents are doing it with no help. Also the movie pursuit of happiness hits really close to home as well.

I live wondering whens the next pay to pay of bills, my car is in repo status, I only have enough to pay food, mortgage and utilities.
God bless this post 9/11 bill I swear to good. I am sacrificing alot to get back to my normal standards of living that I was in when I was in the Air Force at E-5 Pay.

Cant do part time work because it cost more to work then not too (travel,babysitter,gas etc)
anyway wish be luck and my son is doing fine hard surgery last week!.

shimasensei

+1 for the CCNA / CISSP combo.

Thank you for your service, best of luck to you and kudos for being a single parent while studying full time!