My first certification, CISSP! (go me!)
Like many of you, I spent time really trying to figure out which
cissp course, online training or live training would be best for me. It wasn't as much about which would be best for HOW I learn because I do think I can learn from various forms. I was more concerned that the training would be "flat" and simply be the course reading the material that I could otherwise read myself.
All of the places I called were very helpful, very polite and did not mind answering questions about their program. Then came TrainingCamp.com, which I had heard mixed reviews from. Because I was paying for it myself, I really wanted to make sure that I was going to LEARN the material. I spoke to a rep, and they gave me a quote, seemed professional and open to my questions. Great. Well, not so great as it turned out. When I called back in after my research, that rep wasn't there any longer, they gave me to a new person. That person was abrupt, rude, and quoted me substantially higher price! Now, you can imagine I was both confused and very surprised, but I remained calm and collected and thought "hmm, there must be a misunderstanding, maybe they are speaking about a different class, type- SOMETHING". Instead of answering my questions, the rep kept barking questions for me, almost like I was the one being interviewed/considered. They seemed much more interested in knowing 1) marketing info like how I found out about them, who referred me, all those details and 2) who was paying for it (why did that matter?), what location (they later told me it's the same price no matter the location). The first rep told me "we dont recommend that location because it never gets "made"... but then he abruptly transferred me to another rep who told me that he would have to "check that location to see if we have any more spots?" (very very confusing). As I mentioned, the one rep transferred me to the second rep - why? I have zero clue - who answered and seemed as if he had listened to everything from the way he spoke to me, but kept interrupting me when I started explaining the situation. The quote was 3800, which was less than the online price, but still higher than the quote I was given - and I have that quote that was sent to me. I then spoke to the first rep again, and found out there was supposedly a "change in pricing". But what is weird is, the first rep had told me "I can give you better pricing than is on the web" if you book through me.
I'm guessing that most people have their companies pay for it, they don't really care what the pricing is because what is a $500 dollar difference to big companies. But to me, it's a lot. Just as importantly, we all know that life has surprises and sometimes things change for thew worst. But I expect a level of professionalism when we are dealing with these types of numbers. Heck, I get more respect when signing up for a $99 Crossfit Trainer course than I do when I am spending 3-4000 dollars?
So, again, I'm new to certifications, this is my first one, so maybe I'm missing something. I'm also still paying off my college loans, I'm at a small, private company and need to watch my finances, so maybe I'm taking the process too seriously, but I guess I just feel like a training course is no different than my 3500 car. If it's worth buying, it's worth doing right.
Oh, speaking of which, what are some of the other training companies you guys have used for other certifications.
I'm very interested in the cloud certification as I think with my MIS degree, I've learned the foundations of cloud and it would be fairly easy to learn. Am I wrong?
Thanks for listening, hope my first post wasn't uninformative.
