Does it worth for this price?

yzT

Recently, the exam prices raises from 197€ to 295€ in Spain.

To take the test, I need to travel. The cheapest option (10€) is to travel to another island where there is a test center (I live in Canary Islands), but the nearest date is in October. The other option is to travel to Madrid (100€+).

When I decided I wanted this certification, the total amount was like 240€. Now this amount has been almost doubled, around 460€.

I'm trying to get this certification for two reasons: knowledge and job. I got the knowledge already, now I need to get the certification and hope it helps me out in my job search (seems bachelor's degree does not count anymore ¬¬).

But for this price, I don't know if it really worth. What do you think? Would you take the Security+ if the price was around USD $600 instead of the actual $284?

Darril

You might like to change your perspective. Instead of looking at it as expending 460€, look at it as investing that money. Another way of looking it is that when you set a goal and lean into it, amazing things can happen.

The CISSP exam is $600 and your post reminded me of it. The test was expensive, but on top of that, I was probably going to have to travel four hours away and stay in the hotel the night before so that I was fresh on test day.

Still, something kept whispering to me to get it and I ultimately set a goal to do so.

As I began studying, multiple reasons popped up on why I didn't need it. It wasn't needed for my job, it was expensive, it was taking up a huge amount of my time, and so on.

However, I set the goal and leaned into it. Ultimately, I took the exam and passed. Interestingly, when I was ready, an opportunity to take it locally popped up so I didn't have to travel after all.

As a result of getting that certification, numerous opportunities appeared that simply wouldn't have been available to me without it. It paid for itself many times over. If I abandoned my goal when I was close to the finish line, I would lost out on quite a bit.

Of course, there's no guarantee that getting the Security+ will open doors for you or get you the job you want. But it will bring you a step closer.

I can't speak to the job opportunities in the Canary Islands, but I'm assuming that something whispered to you that it would help you and you did set a goal to get it. Setting goals are a big deal and I'd suggest that you'll get much farther in everything you do if you persevere and overcome the challenges. Challenges always appear. But they don't have to be roadblocks. They might be opportunities.

One more story. While in the military I knew I wanted my next job to be a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) and teach MCSE courses. I didn't know how, but I knew the first step was to get the MCSE. My last test was cancelled at a testing center, so I rescheduled it and took it another testing center on a Saturday morning. I started a conversation with a gentleman that turned out to be the VP of the training organization. I asked him if they were looking for MCTs and the answer was "Yes!" After I passed that last exam, I worked with him to get my MCT and taught with the company for several years.

This change guiding you to take the exam in Madrid might not be a roadblock. It might be an opportunity waiting for you to appear.

Hope this helps.

yzT

Hi Darril,

Maybe I need to change my perspective, but it's really **** me off that in US with higher salaries than EU (except a few countries) the exam price is the half, $280 (no taxes) vs $466 (295€ exam price + an avg of 21% tax).

About Canary Islands, here there is not a single job in IT security. In fact, I bet that most of the companies here do not even know what it is. My plan was to move to U.S., but that plan vanished as soon as I began to read the immigration requirements. I'm looking now to move to UK, I got an interview as a security researcher already, but despite my skills were good, my written English was not good enough and I wasn't hired.