Reward for getting CISSP

TRF417

I have been following this forum for more than 6 months ago, and there are lots who have achieved their goal in passing and becoming CISSPs.

I am curious to know what was your reward for becoming CISSP? Here are some choices (though let's not limit to just these choices):

1) Pay Raise
2) Boss offers to take you out for lunch/dinner
3) Another better compensated job/position
4) Get to keep your current job
5) Big Fat NOTHING

I spent considerably amount of time studying for my cissp. I have given up weekends, instead of spending time with my wife and kids, I spent the time studying. For my reward, I got #2 and #5. So you ask why both of them, well, boss offers to take me out for lunch but didn't .

NetworkVeteran

TRF417 wrote: »

2) Boss offers to take you out for lunch/dinner
5) Big Fat NOTHING

I spent considerably amount of time studying for my cissp. I have given up weekends, instead of spending time with my wife and kids, I spent the time studying. For my reward, I got #2 and #5.

I'm curious.. what was your motivation for studying? My motivation for studying for my certifications is to provide a better life for my family, which helps me keep my perspective sometimes. "Should I cancel date night to pass a couple days sooner?" Naaaah!

Iristheangel

I would say that the CISSP had an influence in getting me my new job but so did my interview, degree, experience, etc. In most cases, you will not get leaps and bounds in your career just because of one certification so you might need to adjust your expectations.

Good luck

netsysllc

Finishing my degree and getting more certifications does not help me in the short term but I do know they will help me in the long run. If I ever need to get a new job they will help put me in front over many of the rest but ultimately my experience and job history will be the most important.

emerald_octane

I don't have full blown CISSP and won't for several years. (perpetual associate)

However i'm salivating at all these new jobs that say CISSP require which I will hopefully be able to apply to one day. In the mean time I find that just being able to say "Associate of (ISC)2 toward CISSP" (which is the official designation for those in waiting) is good stuff. I've gotten entries to infosec related trade shows, access to iPhone forensic tools, and accelerated entry into a few professional development courses.

I did get a pay raise but that's because I started taking on alot more work so I asked for more cash. I've also been made responsible for my organization's firewall and IPS/IDS systems.

By the time my CISSP "vests" I will hopefully have CCNP CISM/A, ITIL and perhaps some *nix certs so it'll be a good mix. But honestly the best part is not all that nonsense, but the sense of entitlement and superiority I get. Ok, not really, but when you step out of the other side of the test having made it, after studying for so long and feeling defeated, it makes you feel like you can do anything; that you've achieved higher order thinking..that you've joined an elite group. This manifests itself into your daily life by influencing how you act. You say "wait, I know about these things, or I know where I can find more, in-depth information about this topic. If I don't have any clue about it, I can post to the ISC2 message boards and world wide security pros who are in the trenches will post back (sometimes getting into arguments with each other) and point me in the right direction." It's great.

kalkan999

Yea, my company didn't give me a raise either. They also didn't change my job title, but suddenly after passing and hanging this cert on my office wall, said company gave me Project Management Assignments that definitely command more money and they advertised me as a CISSP to a new client and they got a whole bunch of money FOR me. My last day with said company is Friday, and I have a full-time work from home PM contract gig.


What was your true motivation for doing this TRF? if you are a self-promoter, then the sky is the limit with a CISSP. IF you expect more than a pat on the back from your current position, chances are you will find yourself dissapointed and/or exploited for their own gain. I am not angry or cynical...it's just the truth of business. You are what you think you are worth. Just make sure that you PROVE it when asked.

JDMurray

How any certification effects your job (short-term) and career (long-term) depends on the perception of the people controlling what you do and your paycheck. There is no guarantee that any cert (or degree) will net you anything positive; it is merely one stone in the road you build yourself towards your goals. What that one stone does for one person won't necessarily happen for another. All you can do is keep adding to it.

Heny '06

Very well said, I like that.

JDMurray wrote: »

How any certification effects your job (short-term) and career (long-term) depends on the perception of the people controlling what you do and your paycheck. There is no guarantee that any cert (or degree) will net you anything positive; it is merely one stone in the road you build yourself towards your goals. What that one stone does for one person won't necessarily happen for another. All you can do is keep adding to it.

erpadmin

JDMurray wrote: »

How any certification effects your job (short-term) and career (long-term) depends on the perception of the people controlling what you do and your paycheck. There is no guarantee that any cert (or degree) will net you anything positive; it is merely one stone in the road you build yourself towards your goals. What that one stone does for one person won't necessarily happen for another. All you can do is keep adding to it.

No lie...I have got to remember to point back to this post whenever I see someone post that cert x or cert y will get them millions of dollars (my exagerration of folks posting cert x or cert y will guarantee them a job.)

I have to rep this...

Thistleback

My reward was the Cert itself - paid for by my employer. They put up $5k for boot camp and the exam. All I had to do was prepare and test. It would have been a lot harder to do without the boot camp, and without it, I may not have been motivated enough to pursue the cert on my own. I also gained appreciation for my hard work and dedication to bettering info security in my company.

GoodBishop

TRF417 wrote: »

I have been following this forum for more than 6 months ago, and there are lots who have achieved their goal in passing and becoming CISSPs.

I am curious to know what was your reward for becoming CISSP? Here are some choices (though let's not limit to just these choices):

1) Pay Raise
2) Boss offers to take you out for lunch/dinner
3) Another better compensated job/position
4) Get to keep your current job
5) Big Fat NOTHING

I spent considerably amount of time studying for my cissp. I have given up weekends, instead of spending time with my wife and kids, I spent the time studying. For my reward, I got #2 and #5. So you ask why both of them, well, boss offers to take me out for lunch but didn't .

Back when I got my CISSP 5 years ago, I got a bonus of 2k, and I got to keep my current job. Fast forward 5 years and I was able to use my CISSP to get a job that pays double what I was making last year, and triple what I was making back 5 years ago.

I did it for the long term benefits and for the challenge. I learned a huge amount of stuff when studying for it, that I still use even to this day. Plus it forces you to constantly learn every year through CPEs.

Think long term - you won't get the big bucks right away from getting the CISSP. All too many people get a certification and expect to get the salary increase that comes with merely having the certification. But what they need is the experience to go with it.

beads

Makes you more interesting to HR "professionals" as they don't really understand much other than its more alphabet soup. Once you get a peer inside the curtain of the ISC2 I think you'll be a bit disappointed as to what prior CISSPs already know: It doesn't make much of a difference as most of us complain bitterly of the level of expertise it really takes to become a CISSP. Still, you "have" to have it.

- beads