After multiple starts and stops I finally was forced to take the CISSP November 23rd as I was not able to postpone the cert further.
I have been working as a sysadmin/security analyst in a single location for over 20 years. When working at the same job for so long, there is a risk of not growing and learning to help keep up with the industry. I take certs to help fill the gaps.
I started studying for the CISSP two years ago but life continued to get in the way. I thought I was prepped and ready to go when COVID hit and I was forced to postpone. After rescheduling multiple times I was forced to take it because pearson vue wouldn’t allow me to reschedule any later.
Users in the reddit.com/r/cissp group recommended taking 3-4k questions and using multiple study guides and resources. Although that seems like overkill it ended up being about right for me to understand the material well enough.
I hear a lot of complaints about the CISSP, but I found it to be valuable coming from a purely technical role all these years it helped me fit the various “pieces” together. Being forced to spend more time looking at security from a management point was very valuable. CISSP gave me value due to the preparation required to sit and pass the test.
I used the following resources.
https://reddit.com/r/cissp – This is a valuable resource helping me to know what to study and what resources.
https://thorteaches.com/ – Thor does a good job of breaking down the material and giving a good overview. I watched all the videos and answered all the questions. The questions were slightly repetitive but still good.
Sybex official study guide and questions. – This was one of the better resources read the book twice and go through all the question in the online test bank.
https://www.cccure.education/home – Good questions used this towards the end of my preparation.
https://www.studynotesandtheory.com/ – I like Luke’s videos, his questions are very challenging but may be of value.
Boson CISSP Practice questions.
Eric Conrad’s 11th hour and CISSP study guide books were a good review and worthwhile to read once or twice.
Glad to have it over now I am looking into Azure certifications or Offensive Security AWAE certification.