Renewing the CISSP

The CISSP is definitely a cert that I have been looking at getting in a few years down the road. Out of curiosity I was doing some research into how much time it is going to require. One of the things that I read about were the CPE's required for renewal. How do you guys find the time to complete 120 CPE's every 3 years?

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apr911

Hi Devilsbane,

I havent reached the point where Ive had to do CPE's yet as Im still waiting the processing of my endorsement and ISC2's final sign-off on my certification but my understanding of the CPE's is they are not that difficult to do.

1 CPE is equal to about 1 hour's worth of work and some things count as extra CPEs.

As an example, lets say the exam is held locally every other month. If you were able to get one of the proctoring spots for each exam, you would have 36 hours/yr easily. Actually it might even be 42 as Im not sure if you get 6 or 7 hours for proctoring.

So my understanding is its not as difficult as it sounds. There are so many things that can be counted toward the total CPE for the period.

laidbackfreak

There are loads of free online web seminars etc that count. I try to do one of thse every other week they soon add up (take the quiz to get the cpe). The subscriptions to Infosec counts, the ISC2 online magasine counts (take the quiz to get the cpe)
Self study counts to some extent. It doesnt take much to rack up 40 points a year.

Oh and if you do get on the proctor list I think its 40 points per exam! I've got my name on the list lol.

tpatt100

When I went away for my Army training to reclassify my MOS it was IT related. When I entered it in my CPE
field on the site it gave me enough to cover my three years.

colemic

tpatt100 wrote: »

When I went away for my Army training to reclassify my MOS it was IT related. When I entered it in my CPE
field on the site it gave me enough to cover my three years.

it may be enough for all three years, but you will still have to get the minimum number of 'A' level credits every year, regardless of how many you earned already...

JDMurray

As an InfoSec professional, you will naturally do things that result in CPEs. I just went to an annual four-day security conference and I picked up 24 CPEs for attending. I also take college classes that are worth Group B CPEs. I don't need to look for CPEs; I just need to recognize what things I do are worth CPEs and remember to claim them.

Devilsbane

JDMurray wrote: »

As an InfoSec professional, you will naturally do things that result in CPEs. I just went to an annual four-day security conference and I picked up 24 CPEs for attending. I also take college classes that are worth Group B CPEs. I don't need to look for CPEs; I just need to recognize what things I do are worth CPEs and remember to claim them.

I suppose you do. It just seems like 40 hours of work each year to maintain a certification is a lot of work. I just don't want to get it and then spend all of my time trying to keep it, rather than to explore new areas and learn new things.

Thanks for all of the replies!

dynamik

Devilsbane wrote: »

It just seems like 40 hours of work each year to maintain a certification is a lot of work.

I probably destroy that every month. In fact, I'm currently doing at least 30 hours per month just from listening to podcasts while walking. That'll change once I get caught up, but there's plenty of other things to do (and there's a cap on how much you can get out of those anyway).

If you think you're going to have a difficult time putting up 40 hours per year, security might not be the best direction for your career.

tpatt100

Yeah 40 hours per year is not that much. I spend more than that trying to look stuff up for work alone.

RTmarc

I have a harder time remembering stuff to actually submit for CPEs than getting them done.