RE: University Degree or CISSP

["Craig Wright" <cwright () bdosyd com au>]

I would hope for something more than GSEC. At least one level 5 SANs
Cert, a CCSP or CCNP.

If you are reliant on a certification - I would hope for more than GSEC
alone unless this person is to be placed into a junior position.

Craig

-----Original Message-----
From: King, Stephen [mailto:sking () chnct org]
Sent: 2 February 2006 6:00
To: Al Sutton; security-basics () securityfocus com
Subject: RE: University Degree or CISSP

This thread appears to be going on for sometime and has obviously
touched us all personally. Aside from the philosophical justification of
either position, the fact remains: The employer decides what credentials
they want from a hire. (end of story).  Furthermore, the CISSP
designation is a security generalists certification aimed at management
level professionals; and if you are management 99.9% of the time you are
required to have a degree anyhow. If you are to be a practitioner of
"hands-on" technical controls and other "front linesman" work you most
likely want a certification like a GSEC or something.

Just my two Cents.

Stephen CISSP, CISA  

-----Original Message-----
From: Al Sutton [mailto:asutton () argosytelcrest com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2006 6:37 AM
To: security-basics () securityfocus com
Subject: RE: Re: University Degree or CISSP

I've also been holding fire on commenting, but as someone who has worked
in a univeristy and for large corporates I hope I can make a useful
contribution.

Degrees are about teaching people how to teach themselves. They're about
taking someone who has usually had years of spoon fed education (i.e.
"here is the books you need to read and here are the pages that have the
answer") and teaching them effective ways of researching a problem for
themselves and finding a solution (i.e. "I want to do X, find me the
solution"). The subject of the degree gives you knowledge of a subject
field and helps you know where to start looking, but at the end of the
day pretty much any graduate should be able to take a problem and start
to find a solution using the resources available to them (even if it
means asking other people for help).

CISSP is about giving you specific knowledge. It's not about showing you
how to learn, its about giving you the knowledge to know where to look
when someone asks you a question about IT security.

Knowing which one is more applicable depends on the job you want to do.
If you can demonstrate to others that you can do research on your own to
find solutions, and others have commented that you're good on it, you
may not want to go down the degree route. On the other hand if you think
that your abililty to find solutions effectively can do with a little
help, and you can find a degree in a relevant subject, then you'll
probably find a degree is of us.

Whichever you decide, I wish you good luck, because initially finding
the right job at the right time that pays the right salary is sometimes
as much about luck as qualifications.

Al.
--
Al Sutton
Argosy TelCrest
W: www.argosytelcrest.com


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EARN A MASTER OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION ASSURANCE - ONLINE
The Norwich University program offers unparalleled Infosec management
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