Earning CEUs through non-CompTIA certs - Rant

thomas_

I really hate how CompTIA manges this part of your CEU program.  You go look up a cert on a page and it’s accepted one day, but not accepted another day.  It’s listed over many years, but it’s magically removed from the page after you passed the certification.

To top it all off they make you sign an agreement in their CEU section with ten different statements about how as a certified person you’ll treat people/businesses/agencies fairly and act with ethics..yadda..yadda..yadda.  It would be nice if they followed their own guidelines.  I really don’t think arbitrarily removing certifications from the CEU page without providing notice is being ethical, treating people fairly, elevating the industry, etc.  I imagine there are some certified people in CompTIA that are involved in this CEU process that are, in my opinion, violating the standards of conduct/ethics that CompTIA requires certified inviduala agree to when they submit their CEUs.

wd40

Which certificates were removed form the list?

thomas_

LPIC-1/Linux+ at one point gave you 12 or 13 CEUs for Security+.  CCNP R&S and CCDA at one point would give you 25 CEUs each for Security+. There are probably more that they have removed from different certifications.  

I get that they can change their mind on certain certs if they don’t think it’s relevant, but I really think they need to publicize the removals with a sunset date well into the future.

It’s funny that have statements like the following in their “Code of Ethics” that you have to agree to to participate in the CEU program, but they find it perfectly acceptable to remove certifications that could be used for CEUs without notice.

• A Certified Person shall perform professional services in a manner that is fair and reasonable to clients, principals, partners and employers, and shall disclose conflict(s) of interest in providing such services.
• A Certified Person will always conduct themselves in a manner which enhances the image of the profession.

I don’t see how they are currently managing this portion of the CEU program as being “fair and reasonable” and it certainly doesn’t seem like they’re enhancing “the image of the profession”.

yoba222

In my opinion non-CompTIA certs aren't the most efficient ways to get CompTIA CEUs. Easier low-hanging fruit out there, like online training (cybrary.it comes to mind) or attending some online security vendor webcasts 1-2x per month. If you can access FedVTE, you're set for all 50 CEUs.

thomas_

@yoba222 - I agree, the fastest and cheapest way would be to pay for CompTIA’s CertMaster CE course.  It’s $199 and “depending on learner knowledge” only takes “4 to 6 hours” to complete and you din’t have to pay any additionel CEU fees.

I was only going to the non-CompTIA cert route because I was planning on getting those certs anyways.  It just sucks having the carpet pulled out from underneath my plans.

I also find it funny that CompTIA’s certmaster course will renew your Security+ with only 4 to 6 hours of work while the other methods to renew it would take 10 to 100 times the amount of time.