In my inbox today is the reminder from ISC2 that my CISSP certification is up for renewal this fall. I haven’t been very diligent about tracking my credits so I have some work to do there. I found myself questioning whether or not I should spend the $105 and renew it. Thinking back over the 8 years since I passed the exam, I can’t remember an instance where this certification has helped me. Maybe it has along the way..I just cant think of when. It has never come up specifically during a job interview or similar discussions. With all of the boot camps / study guides out there I can’t help feel that this cert is being watered down a bit. I’ve never been that big into certifications anyway, CISSP is the only one I have.
I just don’t know. Given my career path as of late (a couple of CTO gigs), I’m just not sure it’s worth it. Then again, I would hate to have to sit down and memorize the difference between a wet pipe and dry pipe sprinkler system or how many rounds in an AES CBC cipher all over again.
Thoughts?
–Chris
Technorati Tags: cissp, certification, isc2, security
July 10th, 2007 at 10:50 am
Chris, I know there is a big debate now about the worth of the CISSP cert. I have been one for 6 months now and I know it has benefited me. I landed a new position a couple of months ago and if I did not have my CISSP I would not even been considered.
You have to weigh the cost vs the benefit. $105 is a small price to pay verse having to spend time studying, paying $500 to take the exam and the possibility of failing. I’m sure it has played a bigger part than you realize.
July 10th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I’m pondering the same thing. I got it last year because I knew a lot of HR people screen for it. Now that I have it though, saw the test, etc. I’m not so sure I feel like keeping up with it.
There isn’t much benefit to my employer for the cert, but they will pay for me to remain certified I suppose.
Hmm….
July 10th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
We had a lively discussion about this same topic back in March. Maybe something of value in the comments:
http://blog.ncircle.com/blogs/sync/archives/2007/03/do_you_still_value_your_cissp.html
July 12th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Chris,
I would recommend to renew it.
They made me resit the exam because i forgot to pay the renewal (was moving country at the time) so they cancelled my certification. Wouldn’t recommend to redo the exam again if you can avoid it. Funnily enough I found quite a few mistakes in the exam which I commented on in the feedback forms.
To top it off, they wanted me to pay the renewal fee for the time that I didn’t have the cert due to the non-payment. It took many emails to them to understand that they wanted me to pay for maintenance for a non-existant cert… Anyway it’s all sorted and I don’t plan to resit that exam again.
August 11th, 2007 at 9:49 am
The question I always wonder about: what is the difference to a recruiter/hiring manager of “CISSP” versus “Former CISSP.”
If the goal of maintaining your cert is to demonstrate you are staying active and growing in the field - and you can demonstrate that through you blog, your actions, your professional attitude…
I often wonder this myself - so I am curious as to what you decide.