I am looking to get my Security+ certification this month. Is this cert below me? Yes, no doubt. Is it nonetheless good for my resume? Yes, again no doubt. And at a one-time cost of about $200, CompTia certs are a real no-brainer and if I ever get beyond them on the resume, I can just leave them out.
For the past couple weeks over lunch I’ve been slowly paging through the latest edition of Exam Cram’s Security+ Practice Questions. I’d buy the book, but I don’t think I need to. I just do a few dozen questions every day. I’m glad I did it this way too, because some of the questions are poorly worded and even more poorly laid-out. As an example, in the section Retention Policy, the answer to the single question in the section is, yup, Retention Policy. Great, I learned a lot there! There are frequent blatant mistakes as well, despite this being at least the 2nd edition of the book. The one I was using was a 2006 release.
In the end, though, I did learn enough. I learned that I need to definitely review the Cryptography domain of the material. I probably could have said I was weak in that section before paging through this book, but at least now I know I know the other sections pretty well. Hopefully by the end of this month, I will have at least taken the Security+ exam once (yeah, I know, I’ll likely pass but I don’t typically get my hopes up on tests, despite a very good track record with them from school/college).
The hidden benefit to this cert is it is, in my mind, a direct precursor to the CISSP which I also qualify for and should be getting sooner than later. Likewise, my weakest area in the 10 domains would be Cryptography.
One of my university professors (D. Barrett) was a co-author on the Security+ Exam Cram 2 book. She even told me if you have the practice questions, you don’t need the book. You can just do some research on your own to find the answers.
I haven’t taken the Security+, but I know people who hadn’t studied for it, went in, and passed. I’ve seen the practice questions and have flipped through my instructor’s book… and just haven’t been able to justify spending $200 (college budget) on the certification.
..and like you said, you can always put these certs on the down-low when you get more advanced ones.. 😛
LonerVamp,
This cert is not much for resume candy, however it is a good overview. or $200, do it, and, as mentioned, a good ‘prep’ for the CISSP.
I recommend the “Sec+ Passport”, it is what I used and it worked very well. Try out half.com (currently selling for under $9).
-Steve