About how to maintain CompTIA certification without taking next level certifications

newguy2000

Dear all,

I have sat CySA+ / Security+ last year and passed, but now the certification expiry date about to come.

# tried out CASP+ / Pentest+ a couple of times to extend the validity period but could not pass it and not much enough time left to prepare for it for personal reasons....

Just would like to know that how you all maintain such as CEUs required for CompTIA certifications? Looks like it requires a lot of money and time to fulfil the yearly requirement of CEUs...Any tip or good approach to maintain this?

itdept

From my last time which was 2.5 years ago it was $150 or $50 for each year (x3). You need to keep up the CEUs but I never get around to it and more worthwhile time wise to pay. You do a skills learning part which tests you on the various competencies and then you get upgraded for 3 more years.
You can maintain by doing workshops, seminars, watching certain podcasts. Here is the link https://www.comptia.org/continuing-education

Mike7

I do not actively maintain my CompTIA certifications. Couple of reasons. CompTIA certs are not recognised on this side of the pond in south east asia. When I look at job postings, the usual requirements are CISSP, CISM and GIAC so I maintain those certs. I did took and pass the beta CySA+ and PenTest+ exams. 

JDMurray

I do not maintain my CompTIA certifications for pretty much the same reason. Nobody really cares if any of my CompTIA certs are current and renewed or not. The one instance I have encountered is a few educational institutions that require their instructors hold the latest certification they are teaching and that their certs are not expired. That requirement in a teaching context is reasonable and prudent but rare in most business contexts. Contractual obligations to have personnel working on a project be actively certified also exist, but are rare for CompTIA cert.

newguy2000

JDMurray said:

I do not maintain my CompTIA certifications for pretty much the same reason. Nobody really cares if any of my CompTIA certs are current and renewed or not. The one instance I have encountered is a few educational institutions that require their instructors hold the latest certification they are teaching and that their certs are not expired. That requirement in a teaching context is reasonable and prudent but rare in most business contexts. Contractual obligations to have personnel working on a project be actively certified also exist, but are rare for CompTIA cert.

Thank you for your response and didn't know about this.
I thought many cert holders actively keep the certifications active like CISA and PMP....thank you!!

newguy2000

Mike7 said:

I do not actively maintain my CompTIA certifications. Couple of reasons. CompTIA certs are not recognised on this side of the pond in south east asia. When I look at job postings, the usual requirements are CISSP, CISM and GIAC so I maintain those certs. I did took and pass the beta CySA+ and PenTest+ exams. 

Thank you for your response and didn't know about this.
I thought many cert holders actively keep the certifications active like CISA and PMP....thank you!!

newguy2000

itdept said:

From my last time which was 2.5 years ago it was $150 or $50 for each year (x3). You need to keep up the CEUs but I never get around to it and more worthwhile time wise to pay. You do a skills learning part which tests you on the various competencies and then you get upgraded for 3 more years.
You can maintain by doing workshops, seminars, watching certain podcasts. Here is the link https://www.comptia.org/continuing-education

Thank you for your response and appreciate it.
It may be better off to try this path but may focus on other stuff if this won't work....seems to take so much time and energy.

trojin

I'm not renewing them in any special way. Just doing all possible CompTIA betas. After pass my certs are renewed. Cost is very similar to pay CEU but do not require any additional work

newguy2000

trojin said:

I'm not renewing them in any special way. Just doing all possible CompTIA betas. After pass my certs are renewed. Cost is very similar to pay CEU but do not require any additional work

Wow still manage to pass all of them...amazing!! 

RickyJo

I know this is an old thread; sorry for the necromancy.

Some will choose to renew their certs, and since most responses were suggesting simply not bothering (I understand that point of view, especially if you have lots of other credentials) I want to chime in for those that choose to renew. In my case my best certification is a CompTIA cert (CASP+), so I plan to keep it renewed. Obviously the beta test approach is awesome and great advice (@trojin)! The simplest and cheapest way to renew CompTIA certifications I've found is Pluralsight. Annoyingly, many of their courses are short classes just over two or three hours where you seem to have to round down, but it's so convenient, and cheap in other respects, and the course quality is pretty good with tons of security-concentric content. I'm using it for the majority of my CASP+ (75 CEUs!), so you should have no issues finding Pluralisight content for CompTIA's mid-tier security certifications. In fact, they specifically have lots of CySA and S+ content and you can also use their CISSP/Azure security/AWS security, and maybe even Cisco security courses to hit your exam objectives. I found that in CASP's case (I can't speak to CySA) the exam objectives are so broad it's pretty easy to justify most security-related courses, and even some you wouldn't expect. .

I'm new to the cert renewal game, but I found 75 CEUs pretty intimidating, but found studying for Azure/365-related topics for work, and studying for CISSP (sort of half-heartedly, more for skills than the cert itself) got me much of the way there without really actively working on CEUs. Next thing I know, with work experience, and SonicWall security configuration training I took for work, I'm well over halfway there.

If you, like me, are relying largely on your CompTIA certs, this is probably worth it. Going forward, I don't really intend to leave the CompTIA ecosystem so I can more easily keep my credentials up-to-date. If I do, it'll probably just be CISSP. The CEU requirement is pretty reasonable if you aren't juggling a million certs on different topics and vendors. 

FluffyBunny

JDMurray said:

The one instance I have encountered is a few educational institutions that require their instructors hold the latest certification they are teaching and that their certs are not expired.

That is exactly why I do upkeep on my CompTIA certs: I'm a trainer and I want to be current on my certs. 

Besides, most of the CEU I submit for CASP+ ad the others, I can also apply to my CISSP so that's a double whammy.

Oh and I'm a bit of an idiot because I keep paying for both the Beta exams and my CEU renewal fees. That's not needed, but okay.

That is exactly why I do upkeep on my CompTIA certs: I'm a trainer and I want to be current on my certs. 

CASP has 75, versus 120 for CISSP. And even 120 is very do-able every three years.

JDMurray

I attend security conferences and get 8 hours here, 24 hours there, etc. so collecting CEUs are usually not a problem for me--especially with all the free security conferences during the past two years because of *cough cough*.

RickyJo

DefCon is finally going to have optional pre-registration! I get the cash-only appeal, but some of us need to prove we were there. Kinda incompatible with the cash-only model.

JDMurray

Most employers that will reimburse for attendance of events can handle cash-only events with no formal receipt given. (Usually it's a sign-off by a C-level.)

DEF CON could have included online badge purchases years ago and made money off of it. With online purchase you only get a ticket in the snail; you still need to participate in #LineCon to get your badge. There's a $9 "processing fee" and a $34 refund fee if you can't attend and you want your online badge money back. And badges are always first-come-first-served, so there's no guarantee you'll get a badge even if you pre-pay online. I don't need a receipt, so gonna stick with paying cash in person.

RickyJo

I was just talking about documentation for CEUs. Not sure if an employer's say-so is acceptable for CONs? I'll pay the $9 and stand in line with a smile on my face if my employer pays for the rest.