Dumaguete Info Search


Government & Education Security+ and CCNA Security Certifications

Discussion in 'Businesses - Services - Products' started by Rye83, Nov 25, 2018.

  1. Rye83

    Rye83 with pastrami Admin Secured Account Highly Rated Poster SC Connoisseur Veteran Army

    Messages:
    13,106
    Trophy Points:
    451
    Occupation:
    FIRE
    Location:
    Valencia
    Ratings:
    +16,069 / 3,795
    Blood Type:
    O+
    Interested in obtaining these certifications. I know of some guys that obtained these certs in Manila. In Manila:
    • Security+ cert / $1,896 (5 days)
    • CCNA Security / $2,200 (5 days)
    Both courses were scheduled over the same 5 days at Global Knowledge.

    I will be in the Philippines sometime around January for a vacation and, if at all possible, would not like to waste 5 days in Manila obtaining these certifications. Do any of the local colleges/universities in Dumaguete offer these certs and, if so, what are their prices?

    I remember being told that FU has some CISCO certification courses but I can't remember the name of the guy who put that out there. Any information/contact information would be greatly appreciated. @AndyG @TheDude
     
  2. TheDude

    TheDude DI Forum Patron Highly Rated Poster

    Messages:
    1,907
    Trophy Points:
    351
    Ratings:
    +1,465 / 822
    I'm a bit under the weather right now, but I'll point you to some resources now and see if I can did anything else up later.

    Don't take anything certification tracked for security. It's the wrong way to go for security and could even count against you in certain situations.

    Cisco is a different situation because you're more likely to run into a situation where a cert actually means something.

    Go to Hacker News and do a search for everything security this guy has to say...

    https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=tptacek

    There's probably a ton of posts on there in general (not tied to the above user) about Cisco certs.

    Sounds to me like you just want to mess with a lot of networking. Security covers a lot of areas, but just learning networking well will probably give you all sorts of evil ideas. There's all kinds of networking simulators out there. There's lots of cool toys for Security as well. You'll probably be spending a lot of time at Github.

    I would also look out for good communities of people you can interact with. Find and follow people on Twitter. Find communities on Reddit you can read and post to. Mention what your interests are and talk about how you are progressing. The above mentioned user (one of the highest rated on HN) says right in his profile that it's okay to contact him. Send him a message! Also write about your experience in a blog or something. Summarize what you are learning and post it on that blog (as if you were explaining it to someone else.) You'll likely get tons of helpful feedback. As people get to know you and hear from you, then opportunities will pop up. Look at it as a process, portfolio and profile you are building on over time rather than just getting certifications.

    I don't know what the learning track is like for these things, but hitting this hard in something like web development could lead to job offers in less than a year.

    Between security and Cisco, I would go security. As you can see every day in the news, security is a massive problem and getting worse.

    There's really no courses worth a sh*t for any of this. Better to do a search for suggested learning tracks and do this on your own. Classes are just a waste of time. If you have military school money you are looking to burn off, then just find classes with the hottest chicks.

    If you wanted to try your hand at something development, then I have been hearing some good things about this place...

    https://lambdaschool.com/

    30 weeks. Pay nothing until you land a job over 50K. Then they take a percentage of your earnings for a couple of years (or you can pay up-front if you prefer.)

    Sorry if that doesn't answer your question. Just relax for the 5 days. :wink:
     
  3. OP
    OP
    Rye83

    Rye83 with pastrami Admin Secured Account Highly Rated Poster SC Connoisseur Veteran Army

    Messages:
    13,106
    Trophy Points:
    451
    Occupation:
    FIRE
    Location:
    Valencia
    Ratings:
    +16,069 / 3,795
    Blood Type:
    O+
    The specific certs mentioned are a box that needs to be checked for certain defense industry job(s). The quality of the school/course is not a major concern that I have, with the nature and propriety of the equipment I would be working on the company would offer all of the real training. The location and price for the certs is all that I'm really looking at right now. I also have several other people that are interested in knowing if the certs are offered outside of Manila as well (because nobody really wants to go to that cesspool of a city).

    $20k for 30 weeks, that's not too bad...though I can't seem to find exactly what certifications they are offering on their website (which is all I'm really concerned with). If you are looking at ~$2k/cert at that school in Manila, I'd like to see how competitive they are with their prices. Though I do like that Lambda does allow you access to all future material released by the school for life.
     
  4. TheDude

    TheDude DI Forum Patron Highly Rated Poster

    Messages:
    1,907
    Trophy Points:
    351
    Ratings:
    +1,465 / 822
    Oh, I should have guessed that.

    Then just grab the simulators and books and take the test in Manila. Classroom time isn't required? There's probably tons of Youtube videos which go over "what to focus on for passing Cisco cert tests". There's probably a lot of paid online courses as well.

    I have never heard anything about courses for those certs being offered here. If they were, I imagine there would be FB posts which mention them.
     
  5. TheDude

    TheDude DI Forum Patron Highly Rated Poster

    Messages:
    1,907
    Trophy Points:
    351
    Ratings:
    +1,465 / 822
    You don't get certs. You get the knowledge. :biggrin: It appears that people who go through that school do land jobs though. Which is the other part of what you are interested in.
     
  6. TheDude

    TheDude DI Forum Patron Highly Rated Poster

    Messages:
    1,907
    Trophy Points:
    351
    Ratings:
    +1,465 / 822
  7. OP
    OP
    Rye83

    Rye83 with pastrami Admin Secured Account Highly Rated Poster SC Connoisseur Veteran Army

    Messages:
    13,106
    Trophy Points:
    451
    Occupation:
    FIRE
    Location:
    Valencia
    Ratings:
    +16,069 / 3,795
    Blood Type:
    O+
    Well I want the certs, they can keep the knowledge. Can I get a discounted rate for that? lol

    Their big marketing ploy of "pay nothing upfront" seems to be the appeal most people are going for and talking about online (judging from reviews and topics I've read). I'm simply not in that demographic. I understand that the school will be highly motivated to actually teach their students and get the word out that they are a legit school to employers with this payment setup, but it doesn't seem to fit what I am looking for and I don't think they are in the same job market as I am.

    There is a very good reason why the USG and the defense industry are interested in CISCO certifications; they rely almost exclusively on the company for their networks.
     
  8. TheDude

    TheDude DI Forum Patron Highly Rated Poster

    Messages:
    1,907
    Trophy Points:
    351
    Ratings:
    +1,465 / 822
    You're right, they aren't in the same job market. But if you could get similar pay to try something different for a short, cheap school, then why not. You might even find software dev jobs which pay a premium for people who have a security clearance. Premium on already well paying jobs could be huge. Maybe take a look at Palantir for example. That's a silicon valley company which does work for the government.

    For the Cisco certs, here's your first lesson. You don't need to cap Cisco, it's not an acronym. Cisco isn't the cert, it's the name of the company. You are likely looking at CCNA, which is an acronym. You might fail the test if you get this part wrong.

    Couldn't you just check the box that you have the cert and then get the cert if you get the job? Why bother with stuff you don't even need right now? I would just jack around with the emulation tools to learn networking in general. Then maybe you'll get good enough that you can just do a light review and knock the test out when you need to.
     
    • Funny Funny x 1
  9. cabb

    cabb DI Forum Patron Highly Rated Poster ✤Forum Sponsor✤

    Messages:
    1,430
    Trophy Points:
    341
    Ratings:
    +1,106 / 241
    Why not just do it online, on your schedule, or get a test prep and cram? There are sample test available to gauge your readiness. You said you just want to pass and don't care about the knowledge.

    This site talks about preparing and offers an online service.
    https://www.simplilearn.com/clearing-ccna-certification-top-study-tips-for-exam-rar272-article

    I hear a lot about Cyber Security which isn't specific to Cisco.
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2018
  10. OP
    OP
    Rye83

    Rye83 with pastrami Admin Secured Account Highly Rated Poster SC Connoisseur Veteran Army

    Messages:
    13,106
    Trophy Points:
    451
    Occupation:
    FIRE
    Location:
    Valencia
    Ratings:
    +16,069 / 3,795
    Blood Type:
    O+
    I have been shown the required path to the job I may be interested in if option 1, 2 and possibly 3 fall through.

    Yeah, note the original post. :wink:

    I suppose I could lie on a resume and to a potential employer...but I wouldn't. I'm bothering because I can foresee a situation in which it would benefit me. I'll definitely play around with the emulation tools, I wouldn't go into test without understand what I was being tested on....even though the school in Manila is one of those that claims a 100% pass rate. :meh:

    Yeah, but NIPR, SIPR and JWICS operate almost solely on Cisco products. I don't care about the civilian sector at all. If I ever work in it again something has gone horribly wrong.

    Something to look into. Thanks. (But, I may be able to justify an extended vacation for cert(s) that I have to physically attend. :wink:)
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2018
Loading...