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What is the value of a CISSP certification?

What is the value of a CISSP certification?

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Column: (ISC)2 at a crossroads: CISSP value vs. security industry growth
(ISC)2 wants to dramatically swell its CISSP ranks in the next few years. That plan does not sit well with some CISSPs, who say their numbers are already growing too fast and putting CISSP value in question, even though the organization itself believes it’s not growing nearly fast enough.
Sept. 23, 2011

The CISSP remains one of the most widely-recognized of all information security certifications. It is mentioned more frequently in job postings, classified job ads, and so forth, more than any other information security certification. Likewise, the most recent top Certification lists like the one on CertCities include the CISSP. CISSPs tend to come out well in IT salary surveys as well.

All of that said, beware of trying to sell yourself as a security expert with little or no relevant job experience or without a strong practical working knowledge of the subject matter. (Theoretically, you shouldn't to qualify for the CISSP without four or five years' worth of such experience anyway.) People with CISSP certifications make good money and find good jobs, because many have more than 10 years of strong IT experience and more than five years of direct, hands-on infosec experience. It's not so much the certification, per se, as the kind of people it identifies.

This was first published in January 2004

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