Help with "How to"

[nayaseed]

Hi all,

I am looking for advice on this CISSP.
I have nearly 10 years of experiance in Application/Web and Datwarehouse development experience with an MCSD.
And i am bored with i am doing right for 2 reasons 1)Its getting routine 2)The rates are getting lower and lower daya by day.
Well i had always this fascination for getting into this security field.And in my research i found this CISSP would be a good step forward to persue my goal.
But i still have no clear idea where i am going to start and how tough my path is going to be? Are there any good training classes for this? Is just Self study is enough to take the test? Will my current experience would help anyyway for getting through this certification? Typically (on a average) how much time it would take to prepare for the exam?
And lastly how good is the value for this certification in the market? What is the range of salary for an fresh CISSP to an experianced?
I really appreciate for the advice in advance.
Thanks a lot.

 

[SimonDavies]

I thought I would add something for you, I am not a CISSP but I hope that this advice will help you.

The CISSP isn't an entry level certification, it's the pinnicle of the Security arena. It's an area that has lots of different responsibilities and you should know a lot of different practices. The CISSP covers 10 Domains, each domain covers a specific area of knowledge (called Common Body of Knowledge). It's highly unlikely that you are going to know all 10 Domains but for the exam you need to.

To become a CISSP you have to prove prior experience, if they audit you and you fail then you don't get your CISSP.
The exam is a 6 hour one. I would suggest having a look at

https://www.isc2.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi

for more information on the CISSP requirements.

I would say that no company will hire a CISSP with no experience (infact as I mentioned you need to prove prior experience it's doubtful you would get the accreditation without that experience). As for salary expectations, they can be very good for someone with the experience to back it up, this is a certification that's worth it's weight in gold, it's in no way a paper certificate.


I would suggest that if you want to get into the security arena that you have a look at something like the Comptia Security+ or even the ISC2 SSCP which cover less Domains (5 for the Sec+). I would also have a look at the some of the books out there on Security for example Shon Harris' CISSP Study Guide, The Security+ Guides (Syngress or Osbourne).

This is large area to specialise in, you have to know it all.