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Security Certifications

Cybersecurity Certifications and Career planning

Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc.

Beginner to intermediate content levelBeginner to intermediate

Which is best for you? +AI

In this course, you’ll:

  • Learn how to stack certifications successfully
  • Build a career plan for choosing the right certifications
  • Collect the tools you need to acquire certifications

Course description

Today, there are more than 436 cybersecurity certifications, 220 of which are vendor-neutral, and 33 in penetration testing alone. Certification confers a competitive advantage in a cybersecurity job search, but with all these choices, how do aspiring security professionals navigate which certification is best for them?

Join Dean Bushmiller, an expert in the cybersecurity certification field, to make a plan for your certifications and education. You’ll identify your career goal and learn how to reach that goal by choosing the most appropriate certification and positioning yourself in the market. Come prepared with your career and certification questions; there will be plenty of time for Dean to answer them throughout the presentation.

What you’ll learn and how you can apply it

  • Understand and navigate the cybersecurity certification landscape
  • Learn which certifications to avoid and why
  • Know what it takes to be a true security professional

This live event is for you because...

  • You’re interested in the cybersecurity profession.
  • You have questions about specific certifications.
  • You want to avoid the training sales pitch.

Prerequisites

Recommended preparation:

Schedule

The time frames are only estimates and may vary according to how the class is progressing.

How to get the most from Dean (10 minutes)

  • Presentation: Introduction to the course
  • Group discussion: Your tools; your goals and expectations
  • Q&A

Certification or professionalization (20 minutes)

  • Presentation: Beginning certifications; top certifications; What’s NICCS and why do you care about it?
  • Q&A

Career planning (30 minutes)

  • Presentation: How to study and also have a life, family, and fun
  • Q&A

Problems with certifications (20 minutes)

  • Presentation: What’s wrong with certifications?; getting out of the trap; life-learning
  • Hands-on exercise: Make a choice and commit to a strategy

Wrap-up and Q&A (10 minutes)

Your Instructor

  • Dean Bushmiller

    Dean Bushmiller is a virtual CISO, a penetration tester, and a global incident responder. His work with the Z9M9Z think tank impacts many Fortune 500 companies. As an instructor, he won O’Reilly’s Engager Award for 2023, so be ready to learn and have fun. He’s been teaching cybersecurity since 1999 and has achieved more than 34 major cybersecurity certifications and passed over 100 certification exams. Though Dean is nonmilitary, he has had the honor to train the US military since 1999. In recognition of his outstanding service in the Information Assurance field, he has received eight mission coins.

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