Schooling for CCSP

Tricon7

Does anyone know where one can go to get good schooling toward a CCSP? I'm not talking about a boot camp that lasts a week, but a school that goes in depth and is longer. I live in Jacksonville, Florida, so something near me would be ideal. Thanks.

I've also heard that there's a much bigger demand for CCSPs than CCNPs. True? I mean, there's so many CCNPs out there that the market has to be somewhat saturated with them. Or does anyone know?

mikej412

The Cisco Network Academy Program had been offering a course that mapped to the old SECUR and CSPFA exams, which along with a valid CCNA would get you the PIX Firewall Specialist Certification. Not sure what their update plan is.

Florida Community College at Jacksonville is a Regional Academy.

Tricon7 wrote:

I've also heard that there's a much bigger demand for CCSPs than CCNPs. True? I mean, there's so many CCNPs out there that the market has to be somewhat saturated with them.

Security has been hot, just like Voice -- but if you don't have the skills you don't get the job. I'm still amazed by CCSPs who can't build the network (no CCNP) and "secure the network" by taking the entire thing down. Of course, the flip side is a CCNP who configures a PIX and opens up the entire network to attack.

As for the "glut of CCxxs" -- yeah -- you can't spit without hitting someone who dumped their way to their certifications. We use a CCNA level technical phone interview for everyone.... and dropped an employment agency when they started feeding the answers to their candidates.

Tricon7

mikej412 wrote:

The Cisco Network Academy Program had been offering a course that mapped to the old SECUR and CSPFA exams, which along with a valid CCNA would get you the PIX Firewall Specialist Certification. Not sure what their update plan is.

Florida Community College at Jacksonville is a Regional Academy.

Yes, FCCJ here is great. Only thing is that they only seem to offer CCNP after CCNA. It only exacerbates the CCNP glut. I wish some place offered a good CCSP program not too far away. I'd be there in a second.

Humper

A certification has no real meaning these days.

CCIE is also becoming watered down, I have heard this from many coworkers and CCIE's themselves.

Ahriakin

ModemHumper wrote:

A certification has no real meaning these days.

CCIE is also becoming watered down, I have heard this from many coworkers and CCIE's themselves.

Sorry, I just can't let a blanket statement like that go . There are people to whom it has no meaning, that doesn't imply a generic value. On a personal level it marks an industry standard by which you have been judged that you can use as a milestone in your own personal quest for knowledge. On a professional level there are employers who couldn't give a damn about paper but the average HR person who screens your application (or more likely these days, the database search engine that filters it) will use it as a strong implication of your knowledge. If you want to judge it's value in employment have a look at any job site and you will not find a decent job that does not at least use certifications as a criteria to get you in the door for an interview, no certey-no lookey. After that you better have the actual understanding to backup your certifications.
But a the end of the day it should all be about the knowledge and not having some extra letters on the resume. You could exam-pass your way into a position you will end up hating because you have no real interest or real-world aptitude for. It's very easy to tell those who genuinely like/love their areas of study from those who just did it for the hell of it, I'd hire the former in a heartbeat.

Tricon7

I asked the advisor at my school (where CCNP is taught) about security, and he said there is a security degree offered there. However, he didn't say it was a CCSP track and I don't want a degree - just CCSP certification (I already have a degree). Here's the course outline for this degree. I just don't know if it would prepare me for taking the CCSP exam or not. FYI, a lot of the CCNP classes are included in the mix, which sounds more like adding CCSP stuff to CCNP, not replacing it, and I don't know if this content is sufficient to pass a CCSP certification exam.

What do you think?

CET 2626 Building Scalable Networks 3
CET 1520 Unix Fundamentals 3
CET 2752 Network Administration 3
CET 2687 Security+ 3
CET 2481 Designing and Building Wireless Networks 3
CET 2660 Managing Network Security 3
CET 2665 Advanced Firewall Administration 3
CET 2662 Techniques of Computer Hacking and Incident Handling 3
CET 2521 Unix Administration I 3
CET 2681 Intrusion Detection Systems and Auditing 3
CET 2627 Building Multilayer Switched Networks 3
CET 2796 Securing Windows 3
CET 1943 Internship 3

Credit Hours 39

sprkymrk

ModemHumper wrote:

A certification has no real meaning these days.

Seriousy then, what's up with your sig?
Working on
CCNP
CCIP
CCDA
CCDP

What makes you say something like that?

ModemHumper wrote:

CCIE is also becoming watered down, I have heard this from many coworkers and CCIE's themselves.

How many co workers said that the CCIE is watered down and how do they know? Are these CCIE's talking about the written or lab? Sound fishy to me.

Humper

sprkymrk wrote:

ModemHumper wrote:

A certification has no real meaning these days.

Seriousy then, what's up with your sig?
Working on
CCNP
CCIP
CCDA
CCDP

What makes you say something like that?

ModemHumper wrote:

CCIE is also becoming watered down, I have heard this from many coworkers and CCIE's themselves.

How many co workers said that the CCIE is watered down and how do they know? Are these CCIE's talking about the written or lab? Sound fishy to me.

Maybe I should have elaborated.

The Associate and Professional level certifications anyone can do with a ****. Like mike said you can't spit without hitting someone thats dumped there way through there certifications. If you work in the network field you will see this a lot.

I am working on the above certifications to further my knowledge of the networking field, not because of the piece of paper. I like the certifications because they push me to complete my readings.

I am telling you what I've seen and heard about the CCIE. I am not saying its true for everyone. Go to any **** site and you will see what I am talking about.

Ahriakin

Tricon7 wrote:

CET 2687 Security+ 3
CET 2660 Managing Network Security 3
CET 2665 Advanced Firewall Administration 3
CET 2662 Techniques of Computer Hacking and Incident Handling 3 Kind've
CET 2681 Intrusion Detection Systems and Auditing 3
CET 2627 Building Multilayer Switched Networks 3

The above will help with the CCSP base concepts but by no means could you pass any of the exams with them. Each exam is at least 70% or so Cisco-Centric, e.g. knowing the principals of Firewalls will help you study but to actually pass the exam you have to intricately know the PIX and ASA units (incl. how to configure them from the command line).