Certification Goal for 2021

Hello,

I hope all is well an everyone is being productive during the pandemic.

Currently, my certification goal for 2021 is to complete what's listed below:

1. GCIA
2. GEVA

I have both in my profile, working on the SANS 503 training now. Already went through the book material and video series. Now, going through each book again. When I initially did the training, I was lost. I thought it's no way I am passing this exam. When I went through the video series I started understanding concepts I had 0 clue in before. It was a lot of pausing and playing. Now that I am reading the book (again), I feel comfortable. Currently on Book 1, Page X, IP Header Length. This book has more lab exercises than I have ever seen. This will be the biggest index ever...

The SEC460 - Easy (individual results will vary). I am going to go straight into indexing the books, 1 practice test, then exam (not suggested). I am torn between if I would recommend the course or not. If you are not new to the topics, you'll probably not really *learn* a whole lot. You could probably get more bang (training/career wise) from your buck with another course.

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Comments

Trikery

Picked up the Sec+ last year. Then have pretty quickly knocked out the SSCP in Feb and CySA+ this month. I have the CISSP scheduled for end of April. I'm thinking I'll stop after that. It's a lot of review, I have done a lot of the stuff in the tests over the course of my last job for 7 or so years, just now getting around to verifying it all with certs. On the fence about going for the Net+ / A+ at this point, that would be what I would do after finishing the CISSP, but I don't know if it's necessary with Sec+ / CySA+ already.
Eventually want to grab the GCFA but only if someone wants to pay at a future job.

SteveLavoie

In your case A+ is totally not necessary.. Maybe Net+, if you are really into collecting certification. Have you look at other hands-on security certification like OSCP or EJPT ?

Trikery

I don't really want to collect them, I'm trying to push for ones I think are practical and keep stepping up. Only reason I thought about backtracking was I have read that missing Net+ or A+ might be viewed as a gap in knowledge. I don't necessarily feel I need either one, I think I have the knowledge for both from work / school. But I figured I could pose the question here, I have read enough here to know the advice is good.
OSCP I have read a lot about and have coworkers who took shots at it. I don't know anyone who has passed though so it is daunting. I'll take a look at the eJPT.
Thanks!

thomas_

I passed SVPN and I’m CCNP security certified now. I’m strongly considering taking the rest of the year off.

chrisone

@thomas_ Trust me its not a bad idea! Mental health comes first.

Trikery

Finished out the goals I listed. Picked up SSCP(Feb), CySA+(March), just provisionally passed the CISSP. I think I'm pretty much done for the year, opening another security cert book might make me cry.

DZA_

Taking it easy with the amount for exams that I'll be scheduling this year. The CCSP scheduled for next month and hopefully I can clear that off the table. Otherwise, the company has mandated that I take the Azure Fundamentals certification which will be not a problem.

Stirlitz

I passed COSO ERM (it was nice and useful) and started my MBA program.
I'm going to pass CGEIT at the end of May. Please stop me))

dmaketas

I've decided this year to achieve the OneTrust Fellow of Privacy Technology, mainly for myself, so far I've cleared 5 of them in 2021, plus 2 I've cleared last year, so I'm missing 4.

Otherwise, I must do the Open FAIR certification since I have the coupon from last year and tomorrow I'm sitting for the BRMP, which is paid by my employer.

XiP

dmaketas said:

I've decided this year to achieve the OneTrust Fellow of Privacy Technology, mainly for myself, so far I've cleared 5 of them in 2021, plus 2 I've cleared last year, so I'm missing 4.

Otherwise, I must do the Open FAIR certification since I have the coupon from last year and tomorrow I'm sitting for the BRMP, which is paid by my employer.

I recently cleared all of them. Hello soon to be fellow FPT!

dmaketas

XiP said:

dmaketas said:

I've decided this year to achieve the OneTrust Fellow of Privacy Technology, mainly for myself, so far I've cleared 5 of them in 2021, plus 2 I've cleared last year, so I'm missing 4.

Otherwise, I must do the Open FAIR certification since I have the coupon from last year and tomorrow I'm sitting for the BRMP, which is paid by my employer.

I recently cleared all of them. Hello soon to be fellow FPT!

Thank you very much XiP. In the meantime I cleared two more certifications for OneTrust and I successfully passed the BRMP.

DZA_

DZA_ said:

Taking it easy with the amount for exams that I'll be scheduling this year. The CCSP scheduled for next month and hopefully I can clear that off the table. Otherwise, the company has mandated that I take the Azure Fundamentals certification which will be not a problem.

Wrote and passed the CCSP exam yesterday. One exam goal off the list this year.

chrisone

Awesome work @DZA_ , congrats on your achievement!

FluffyBunny

Almost half-way through the year I've been shuffling my priorities a little bit.

Network+ and AZ400 have been dropped from the should-do list for 2021.
Docker DCA and K8s fundamentals are still on that list.
Python training and a project or two were bumped up.

I'll also be teaching the Pentest+ TTT in October, so that's putting stress on my plans

chrisone

Mine have also changed.

Focused now on EnCase EnCE Forensics certification, Splunk Power User and Enterprise Admin certs, and Azure SC-200, SC-300, SC-400, AZ-500.

Pentesting and red team stuff will have to wait until next year.

malachi1612

Passed AZ-104 a few weeks back. Now onto Vmware 2V0-21.20 cert as my job is paying for it and AZ-500 in November.

E Double U

E Double U said:

Since I completed AZ-303/304 training last month I would like to achieve the Azure Solutions Architect Expert credential in Q1. I hope to start a masters program in September 2021 so if that goes well then I will not work on any other certifications next year. If that does not work out then I will get some more ISACA badges (CRISC, CGEIT).

Update: I did complete the Azure Solutions Architect Expert credential in early Feb. Have not worked on anything else since it has not been necessary for my current role, but based on two potential opportunities I am currently discussing I will either go CRISC or PSPO I in the summer. We shall see.

dmaketas

dmaketas said:

XiP said:

dmaketas said:

I've decided this year to achieve the OneTrust Fellow of Privacy Technology, mainly for myself, so far I've cleared 5 of them in 2021, plus 2 I've cleared last year, so I'm missing 4.

Otherwise, I must do the Open FAIR certification since I have the coupon from last year and tomorrow I'm sitting for the BRMP, which is paid by my employer.

I recently cleared all of them. Hello soon to be fellow FPT!

Thank you very much XiP. In the meantime I cleared two more certifications for OneTrust and I successfully passed the BRMP.

Update: I cleared OneTrust FPT!! Such a relief. Now off to OpenFair and hopefully I'm done for 2021.

Jove

My certification goals:

CCSK

AWS SAA

AWS Security

CISA

Completed this year:

CCSK

Madmaximus

Jove said:

My certification goals:
CCSK
AWS SAA
AWS Security
CISA

Completed this year:
CCSK

How's CCSK? Is it challenging or just enough for a cloud newbie?

Jove

Madmaximus said:

Jove said:

My certification goals:
CCSK
AWS SAA
AWS Security
CISA

Completed this year:
CCSK

How's CCSK? Is it challenging or just enough for a cloud newbie?

CCSK can be challenging if you didn't read the three required documents before taking the exam. I read the three CSA documents four times, created a 120 page study guide, and read a CCSK practice exam guide twice before taking the exam.