What are the best certifications for a retired Army Signal Officer?

I am a retired Army Signal Officer with a Bachelors of Science in Management Information Systems. During that time, I was not required to have Certifications in the Army. What Certifications would you recommend for a retired Signal Officer who would like to transition to the Civilian job market?

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Comments

EANx

Different work will benefit from different certs. Do you have a preference in the type of work you'd like to do? Do you want to do IT or manage people who do IT?

thaiguy314

Currently a Signal officer. Not sure what you're doing now for employment but if you still have an active clearance and would consider defense contract work, I'd look at 8570 requirements. As a starter, I'd pursue Security+. It's a good, all-around, entry-level certification that's generally respected.

https://public.cyber.mil/cwmp/dod-approved-8570-baseline-certifications/

yoba222

Signal officer that didn't have to have certs . . . hmm I usually associate the title signal officer with top secret clearance, and then I usually associate top secret clearance with at least CompTIA Security+ certification at a minimum for DoD 8570. Sounds like you have a different story though?

As far as cert recommendations, going down the technical path and emphasizing the signal side of things will depend on what you want to specialize in. And then going down the management path and emphasizing the officer side of things are different certs as well. What are you into?

advanex1

Skip the Sec+. If you have a background in Signal (was signal for 9 years in the Army) then just go hop into the CISSP and knock it out. The Sec+ as a retired signal officer isn't going to get you managing people which is what you're going to want unless you have the connections and you've been networking well. Just skip CompTIA and go grab CISSP or CISM. CISSP would give you more opportunities than the CISM though.

odomscd

Advanex1 and everybody,

Thanks for the comments and quick responses!

I just got my CCISO from EC-council last month. To clarify, I currently work for the Navy - Software integration. I want to transition back into IT Management or Plans and Policy and continue to work for the DOD. I was a Signal Officer in the Army Reserves for 25 years and I was on Active duty (deployed) for 8 years. For the non-army types, Signal Officers are basically IT Managers. The CCISO is now on the DoD 8570 list. I am wondering if an additional Cert may help or will this be enough for now?
Thanks

EANx

There's a whole host of certs you might want to consider that are focused on the management side, including project and process management. I'm sure other's will add things I didn't think of: Security: CCSP / CISSP, Project Management: PMP, Process Management: ITIL, Six Sigma Green / Black Belt. Any of these would also make you an attractive candidate to a gov't. contractor if you chose to retire and come back.

bigdogz

I think both the CISSP and CISM for management. CISA and GSNA for auditor.
I looked at one of the charts and CISM was pulled.... interesting.

odomscd

bigdogz: Not sure what you mean when you say the CISM was pulled from the chart.
However, CISM is still one of the certs on the most current DoD Approved 8570 Baseline certifications list.

JDMurray

CISM and CISSP-ISSMP are two InfoSec management cert commonly found in the DoD's requirements.

EANx

bigdogz said:

I think both the CISSP and CISM for management. CISA and GSNA for auditor.
I looked at one of the charts and CISM was pulled.... interesting.

Then you looked at one that was unreliable. When you make a bold statement, you should include a link. While other sites can be informative, only a .mil or .gov will have the authoritative list. https://public.cyber.mil/cwmp/dod-approved-8570-baseline-certifications/ shows CISM still on the list for both IAM and Manager.

bigdogz

@JDMurray
I know, I know..... CISM has been on the DoD requirements list for some time..... like eons!!!!

@EANx
Thanks. I will do that going forward. I think I found the CISM NOT on this URL:
https://resources.infosecinstitute.com/dod-8570-iat-certification-requirements/#gref
but when I dig one more step, it was here when the list is more specific....
https://resources.infosecinstitute.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-dod-8570/