Any Skillsoft opinions?

MitM

Any opinions on certification video courses from Skillsoft?

To be more specific, the courses I'm thinking about viewing are CySA+ and CISSP

airzero

Not sure about CISSP, but I watched the CySA+ series. I thought they did a good job cover a breadth of material, however I'm not sure how well it actually prepared me for the exam. I passed in Dec. but I had a lot of extra references and had about 3 months of blue team experience going into the exam. I would say study the course but still use toher resources, compliment by a study guide book and read a lot of online blogs and articles about the various topics.

joshuamurphy75

SkillSoft is kind of a mixed bag. I've gone through some of their CCNA Security, Service Provider, and CCNP Route stuff, as well as some Juniper, and Linux+ videos. I think they do a good job at teaching those, but didn't go nearly into enough detail to be able to pass. I'd say it's a good review before the final exam after you've already done something else.

I forgot what class, but one of my business classes at WGU used a SkillSoft course that was absolutely terrible. It was poorly written, and they didn't even bother having a real instructor read the scrips. I guess they decided a computer program reading it would do just as well.

In both cases, the test questions are garbage. Some give you the answer in the question and aren't nearly hard enough to judge if you can pass. Others are worded so poorly that you don't know what they are asking.

BlackBeret

Specifically the CISSP course (or as it was 3 years ago), the MCSA 697 course, LX103/104, and having been through a few others they're all about the same. They provide a high level overview of all of the material and introduce everything, but it's just a start. My self-study plan actually follows this path: SkillSoft videos - To get exposed to everything within the topic at a level I can understand it all. Cert Book - cover to cover - to get the technical details. Labs/Hands-on as needed, reviewing any areas I can't figure out on my own.

tldr; It's a great starting point for an overview of all of the material.

scaredoftests

I get it for free, so I like that part of it. Some of the courses are outdated.

tedjames

We have it at work. I haven't gotten much out of the video training, but having access to the books is great.

alan2308

I'm pretty sure it was the CISSP series I was watching, but I couldn't stop thinking about Vince Offer the whole time. I had to stop watching.

joshuamurphy75

I forgot about the books. The ones that are related are ones I already have through other sources, but yes, they are good books.

MitM

thanks for the responses. Its included in a subscription I have now, I'll give it a try

technogoat

I have it for free but rarely use it

it has the benefit of pre-quiz and after video quizzes

my team lead said it ranked low for IT training videos

I just jump straight to CBT nuggets and then hit some books

yoba222

Trying find that CySA+ course on Skillsoft to see who the author is, etc. and I literally can't. Either you have to pay for it first to see those details (no thanks) or it's simply because Skillsoft's website interface and design isn't good (no thanks).

I get the vibe that many companies/government pay Skillsoft in bulk for subscriptions and as a result Skillsoft is less caring about staying competitive and offering curated, top quality content with an excellent web interface. Good enough for government work sort of thing, just like the CEH. I could be wrong. Just a hunch.

Unless it's a live lab like they offer through Cybrary.it, I wouldn't spend more than $15 on the material because you can just get it on Udemy.

I bought this for $80. It's not perfect, but for the price I recommend it.
https://www.cybrary.it/catalog/practice_labs/comptia-cybersecurity-analyst-csa

tedjames

yoba222 wrote: »

Trying find that CySA+ course on Skillsoft to see who the author is, etc. and I literally can't. Either you have to pay for it first to see those details (no thanks) or it's simply because Skillsoft's website interface and design isn't good (no thanks).

The author of the training is Dan Lachance.

MitM

yoba222 wrote: »

I bought this for $80. It's not perfect, but for the price I recommend it.
https://www.cybrary.it/catalog/practice_labs/comptia-cybersecurity-analyst-csa

I was thinking about getting this too. Based on the description, it looks like the exact product that is sold on Boson.com but for much less

CompTIA CSA+ CS0-001 Practice Lab

You mentioned that it's not perfect. What's wrong with it?