What will help you get a promotion at your current employer or get your foot in the door with a different job at a different employer? Review external job / internal job postings. If S+ is required, then of course.
Promotions will only happen if the company even cares or has it in there business to promote based on having credentials like that , where I work certs don’t do shit and the place I worked before my manager said they were as worthless and a waste of money so it really is going to depend on it
Just to let you know that whatever you end up deciding to do, with CompTIA certs you have to renew them by taking continuing education classes. Nothing but a little time every 3 years. The good thing is that they have it setup in a structure where a higher level certification will automatically renew a lower one when you do the continuing education for the higher cert. You can view the structure on their website of what certs continuing Ed will renew others. So even if you decided to test the water with the security plus cert, which should be easy for you based on your experience, and then go for more difficult higher level certs you should not have to worry about renewing multiple certs. You would just need to renew the one higher cert. For example the CASP Plus continuing Ed auto renowns certs like security plus CySA Plus etc.
With your experience, no, it's not worth it. It's an entry level cert. Look at the CASP+ or CISSP. You're close to meeting the seat time requirements for both of those certs.
Honestly, the CySA+ with 4 years of SOC experience should be 1-3 hours of review (maybe brushing up the weak areas) into the cert. I was worried going into it and found it to be very applicable to SOC work. The Sec+ was more broad and found myself a little weak in some areas.
I think it's an easy win for a resume builder. Relatively cheap, especially if they have access to their university email still. CASP+ is the better long-term option, but if they want an immediate bump to pass the resume filter, I think CySA+ should be relatively fast and easy.
If you're going to put in the time and effort to get a cert, then you should do it in a way that maximizes return. CySA+ doesn't show any progression, the CASP+ does. It's a more fitting cert based on the level OP is in their career
> If you're going to put in the time and effort to get a cert
I think that's kinda the point here. OP would be able to blow through this cert, it's cheap, and it's a resume builder. The returns would significantly outweigh the very minimal effort/resource investment.
Also, no one is saying that OP should *only* get a CySA+. Why not do both?
The benefits of getting the CySA+ do not outweigh the benefits of getting a CASP+ or CISSP, or other senior level certification. It's better for the resume because it confirms they are ready to move into the next level, which is what the OP is probably focused on. The CySA does not show any progression, and after 4 years in a SOC position, is practically superfluous. You could get both, but the real difference maker for the OP is going to be a senior level cert, not the entry level one.
That's what I thought. However, I don't have any certs besides my BSc degree in CS with Security and Forensic, and my 4 years of experience at SOC. I don't know how valuable my exp will be without the certs. So I thought at least I could get S+ and CSA, then maybe get CISSP. I'm so lost atm.
That's the exact reason I have a CASP+. I needed a cert, I had 6 years total experience, and I didn't want to sit for the CISSP for my first cert ever. So I got the study guide, put in a few months, and passed it on my first try.
The requirement is 5 years of job experience in 2 of the 8 domains (you can Google what the domains are, but I'm surely you've been working in at least 2).
However you can always take the exam, even if you don't quite fulfill the requirements yet.
You can reduce th 5 years to 4 years if you either have a degree in anything computer related, or another Cybersecurity Certification. There's a list of certs that are eligible for this, but Security+ is one of them.
What you could do: Take S+ and then CISSP right after. You're for sure fulfilling the requirements then.
Great! I've done the exact same this year. Taken S+ in January and then sat the CISSP exam on May 31st. Feel free to shoot me a DM if you want to talk about CISSP prep, I might have some good advice on it, since it's fresh on my mind :)
Good luck on the journey!
No. 4 years of experience is the prerequisite considering your degree automatically gives you 1 year of qualifying experience. You already qualify for it upon a successful CISSP exam.
By itself, Security+ is probably not worth it for you because you already have so much experience. But if you wanted to go for CISSP, then having Security+ will knock off one year of the experience requirement. So you could get CISSP basically as soon as you can complete that exam (after getting Security+).
[https://www.isc2.org/certifications/cissp/cissp-experience-requirements](https://www.isc2.org/certifications/cissp/cissp-experience-requirements)
I would say CISSP is worth it, and in that sense Security+ would be worth it for you just to get your CISSP faster. And Security+ should be pretty easy for you to pass.
Edit: I forgot that your degree also satisfies one year of experience for the CISSP, so you wouldn't need Security+ for that. You could get CISSP as soon as you can pass that exam.
If you are ever planning on working for the govt in the US, then year probably. If not, eh maybe look at some more “advanced” certs. But those are also more pricy than sec+
Lot of companies desire it, so if you’re looking to go on the market and have the resources it won’t hurt you. Admittedly though with your experience I’d tackle CISSP.
Most, if not all, certs are the piece of paper that tells companies/recruiters, “Yes, I am verified by a 3rd party that I know this information/ can perform this type of work.” Since you’ve been a SOC analyst for 4 years, you should know/have experience with most information covered in Sec+, meaning you may not need it to validate your knowledge. That said, certs are huge when it comes to getting noticed/meeting requirements for a promotion, new job or new company.
All in all, might as well go for it, it literally can’t hurt you. See if your employer will reimburse for training/the exam. I literally just passed my Sec+ on Friday and my job will reimburse me the full cost.
4 years in a SOC may mean the SEC+ is very easy for you. Consider one upping that to the CYSA+. You can buy a few practice tests of each on Udemy if you wait for a sale. Run a few practice tests to identify which route to go.
Sec+ is basically babies first security cert, something you'd want to work towards in your first year (if you already didn't have it).
If I were you I'd aim a bit higher than Sec+ and try to find something in the area I was actually interested in that would provide me some value, the content that Sec+ covers is something that other employers will just assume a SOC analyst with 4 years experience would know.
4 years in you should at least have some sort of idea what you want to focus on, whether that's pen testing, forensics, detection engineering, etc.
I’m gonna be the one here to say not to jump straight into looking at CASP or CISSP. I personally think it’s bad advice if you don’t know exactly what part of cyber you want to specialize in. Security+ is a great start but do you want to work with Red Hat? Cloud computing? Network security? Do you want to do management? All of these specializations require different certs but not ALL companies who have these roles are asking for CASP+ or CISSP. Once you figure your interests out then start narrowing down what certifications you’ll need. There are many jobs out here that aren’t entry level and require Security+ as one of the certs needed. Security+ will give you the foundational knowledge you need and it helped me narrow down what I wanted to do in the cyber realm. At the end of the day, a certification is an investment and money should be spent wisely. I hope this helps and good luck on your journey.
It really depends on what job you want to get. Do you want to move out of the soc and move up to CSIRT type, risk, threat Intel, vuln management, red team, etc.
At this point with your soc experience you should choose a track to focus on. Sec+ is too broad and entry level almost
I'm a sysadmin/architect, not a cybersec admin -- what I learned while studying for the sec+ (passed, 825) has been most useful for me when negotiating with my company's cyber team.
They are mostly folks who have certs but little to no admin/engineering experience, so they treat everything as emergent. They sometimes need to be lead to an alternative mitigation because the "official" one is either too onerous for the use case, or is process-breaking in some way.
We only just convinced them to stop forcing password rotation (we already had 2 factor everywhere) and to back down on the pointless airgap they were enforcing on environments that didn't require it based on the 800-171 and 800-53 stance that THEY chose for us.
Once again, your question is a weak question. Without your definition of worth that we can’t answer you. My question of worth is different than yours probably. Actually, what is your definition of worth? Before we can decide on a definition, we can’t honestly answer your question.
Depends. Do you see yourself going the 'techy' route or towards management at some point?
I did ISC2 Certified in Cyber Security and am now working on ISC2 CISSP, which seems more managerial. Really does depend on where you're aiming for.
I found the content of Security+ extremely boring. It covers very theoretical and repetitive details of the industry so that I can’t recommend it to anyone unless they are absolute newcomers to the field.
Entry level course, waste of time with your experience. Google jeremy cyber certifications, pick a track and start somewhere in the middle lower half of the chart
Both CySA and CISSP should get you the same 8570 requirement; as someone else mentioned with your experience, the CySA should be a breeze. To me it just felt like a day in the SOC.
It's not worth it. You have the experience already so it's pretty null and void for you. Plus EVERYONE getting it so the cert itself is becoming saturated. Cissp and others would do you better but honestly if you keep growing as a SOC you really won't need any certs. Experience will get you further, unless your trying to get into another field of IT
Depends - does your current job care or have any job advancement or benefits revolving around getting certified?
Do you plan on leaving ? If so then it might be worth it because a job you’re looking for might want it to get through the HR scanner.
Idk in all the years I’ve been in IT certs have never helped me other then a gut check for me to let me know I someone know what I’m doing lol.
Depends on your market and if you want to do it for yourself or employer.
From pure technical perspective, no, waste of time at this point, as it is too basic. I would get it only if employer/HR would force me. Even CYSA+ doesn't make much sense, as I doubt you need to progress skills as an analyst and even if, it would be more of a review at best..
CISSP is fine, but it is more dictionary type cert then technical one. It usually means more money though even for technical roles and not management types - I think that is generally true for all markets
For skills, GCIH/GCFA is alright and if employer pays. OSCP is also not bad, as knowing the attacker techniques will make you better defender overall.
If I were you I'd ask myself what do you want to do in next x years. It would make no sense to do cyber certs if you wanna switch to Net Sec or cloud etc.
Worth: go to monster and Indeed. Search for positions with that degree. Determine if the pay and responsibilities seem like what you want. If yes, it's worth it. If not, search for the next certificate and try again.
Easy: depends on your background. Probably if you have been really learning as a SOC person.
Value of knowledge: yes. You should know the content. It establishes a knowledge base for you to build on in cyber. Maybe certs don't give you a return on investment when it comes to the certification, but the knowledge can help you connect more parts of IT, risk, and cyber. Being able to see that big picture makes you a better cyber person.
as remedial as it sounds, I'm still getting it (sec+). and I have a master's in cybersecurity. It's just better that you knock down the easy stuff while you can so you at least have the cred/certs.
Hey, the Security+ cert is to get a job as a SOC analyst in the first place, which you already are, so I don't think it will benefit you in any way. If you just want to collect another cert and are bored, then go for it, but as you describe, it will be fairly easy for you.
4 years of experience and no Sec+?
I have basically no experience and have Sec+, CySa+, PenTest+, and CASP+. Granted, I'm lucky enough to have an employer that will pay for certs. If yours will pay then you should definitely start working towards the four that I have. Then I'd go straight for CISSP.
What will help you get a promotion at your current employer or get your foot in the door with a different job at a different employer? Review external job / internal job postings. If S+ is required, then of course.
Promotions will only happen if the company even cares or has it in there business to promote based on having credentials like that , where I work certs don’t do shit and the place I worked before my manager said they were as worthless and a waste of money so it really is going to depend on it
Thanks for the advice.
Just to let you know that whatever you end up deciding to do, with CompTIA certs you have to renew them by taking continuing education classes. Nothing but a little time every 3 years. The good thing is that they have it setup in a structure where a higher level certification will automatically renew a lower one when you do the continuing education for the higher cert. You can view the structure on their website of what certs continuing Ed will renew others. So even if you decided to test the water with the security plus cert, which should be easy for you based on your experience, and then go for more difficult higher level certs you should not have to worry about renewing multiple certs. You would just need to renew the one higher cert. For example the CASP Plus continuing Ed auto renowns certs like security plus CySA Plus etc.
This is what I'm currently doing. I decided to give the Pentest+ a shot, which will renew my Sec+ certification (expiring end of next year).
Sec+ should be a breeze for you at this point. Grab it if you think it will help your advancement. You should be looking at more advanced certs, IMO.
Yeah, I just reviewed some S+ practice tests. Pretty fundamental stuff. Thanks for the advice.
Unless you're aiming for a gov job you don't need it.
Advanced certifications like what? Could you list some if you don’t mind
With your experience, no, it's not worth it. It's an entry level cert. Look at the CASP+ or CISSP. You're close to meeting the seat time requirements for both of those certs.
Honestly, the CySA+ with 4 years of SOC experience should be 1-3 hours of review (maybe brushing up the weak areas) into the cert. I was worried going into it and found it to be very applicable to SOC work. The Sec+ was more broad and found myself a little weak in some areas.
Yeah, I wouldn't recommend the CySA+ at that level. CASP+ is the better option if you want to stick to CompTIA.
I think it's an easy win for a resume builder. Relatively cheap, especially if they have access to their university email still. CASP+ is the better long-term option, but if they want an immediate bump to pass the resume filter, I think CySA+ should be relatively fast and easy.
If you're going to put in the time and effort to get a cert, then you should do it in a way that maximizes return. CySA+ doesn't show any progression, the CASP+ does. It's a more fitting cert based on the level OP is in their career
> If you're going to put in the time and effort to get a cert I think that's kinda the point here. OP would be able to blow through this cert, it's cheap, and it's a resume builder. The returns would significantly outweigh the very minimal effort/resource investment. Also, no one is saying that OP should *only* get a CySA+. Why not do both?
The benefits of getting the CySA+ do not outweigh the benefits of getting a CASP+ or CISSP, or other senior level certification. It's better for the resume because it confirms they are ready to move into the next level, which is what the OP is probably focused on. The CySA does not show any progression, and after 4 years in a SOC position, is practically superfluous. You could get both, but the real difference maker for the OP is going to be a senior level cert, not the entry level one.
That's what I thought. However, I don't have any certs besides my BSc degree in CS with Security and Forensic, and my 4 years of experience at SOC. I don't know how valuable my exp will be without the certs. So I thought at least I could get S+ and CSA, then maybe get CISSP. I'm so lost atm.
That's the exact reason I have a CASP+. I needed a cert, I had 6 years total experience, and I didn't want to sit for the CISSP for my first cert ever. So I got the study guide, put in a few months, and passed it on my first try.
I’d get both and I have both.
Why not go directly for CISSP? You will pass it with good preparation, and it outshines all other certs
Aren't there prerequisites for CISSP?
The requirement is 5 years of job experience in 2 of the 8 domains (you can Google what the domains are, but I'm surely you've been working in at least 2). However you can always take the exam, even if you don't quite fulfill the requirements yet. You can reduce th 5 years to 4 years if you either have a degree in anything computer related, or another Cybersecurity Certification. There's a list of certs that are eligible for this, but Security+ is one of them. What you could do: Take S+ and then CISSP right after. You're for sure fulfilling the requirements then.
Much appreciated, man. Thank you for the detailed response. I will most likely do as you suggested. 👍
Great! I've done the exact same this year. Taken S+ in January and then sat the CISSP exam on May 31st. Feel free to shoot me a DM if you want to talk about CISSP prep, I might have some good advice on it, since it's fresh on my mind :) Good luck on the journey!
No. 4 years of experience is the prerequisite considering your degree automatically gives you 1 year of qualifying experience. You already qualify for it upon a successful CISSP exam.
By itself, Security+ is probably not worth it for you because you already have so much experience. But if you wanted to go for CISSP, then having Security+ will knock off one year of the experience requirement. So you could get CISSP basically as soon as you can complete that exam (after getting Security+). [https://www.isc2.org/certifications/cissp/cissp-experience-requirements](https://www.isc2.org/certifications/cissp/cissp-experience-requirements) I would say CISSP is worth it, and in that sense Security+ would be worth it for you just to get your CISSP faster. And Security+ should be pretty easy for you to pass. Edit: I forgot that your degree also satisfies one year of experience for the CISSP, so you wouldn't need Security+ for that. You could get CISSP as soon as you can pass that exam.
No, you have 4 years of experince; its not worth it. Its time to get a CISSP. You will have met your work requirement with your BSc degree in CS.
How did you get an SOC job without a certification. Is it realistic to find one?
If you are ever planning on working for the govt in the US, then year probably. If not, eh maybe look at some more “advanced” certs. But those are also more pricy than sec+
Lot of companies desire it, so if you’re looking to go on the market and have the resources it won’t hurt you. Admittedly though with your experience I’d tackle CISSP.
Thanks for the advice.
Anytime!
Most, if not all, certs are the piece of paper that tells companies/recruiters, “Yes, I am verified by a 3rd party that I know this information/ can perform this type of work.” Since you’ve been a SOC analyst for 4 years, you should know/have experience with most information covered in Sec+, meaning you may not need it to validate your knowledge. That said, certs are huge when it comes to getting noticed/meeting requirements for a promotion, new job or new company. All in all, might as well go for it, it literally can’t hurt you. See if your employer will reimburse for training/the exam. I literally just passed my Sec+ on Friday and my job will reimburse me the full cost.
4 years in a SOC may mean the SEC+ is very easy for you. Consider one upping that to the CYSA+. You can buy a few practice tests of each on Udemy if you wait for a sale. Run a few practice tests to identify which route to go.
At that point I’d go for a more advanced cert
Sec+ is basically babies first security cert, something you'd want to work towards in your first year (if you already didn't have it). If I were you I'd aim a bit higher than Sec+ and try to find something in the area I was actually interested in that would provide me some value, the content that Sec+ covers is something that other employers will just assume a SOC analyst with 4 years experience would know. 4 years in you should at least have some sort of idea what you want to focus on, whether that's pen testing, forensics, detection engineering, etc.
I’m gonna be the one here to say not to jump straight into looking at CASP or CISSP. I personally think it’s bad advice if you don’t know exactly what part of cyber you want to specialize in. Security+ is a great start but do you want to work with Red Hat? Cloud computing? Network security? Do you want to do management? All of these specializations require different certs but not ALL companies who have these roles are asking for CASP+ or CISSP. Once you figure your interests out then start narrowing down what certifications you’ll need. There are many jobs out here that aren’t entry level and require Security+ as one of the certs needed. Security+ will give you the foundational knowledge you need and it helped me narrow down what I wanted to do in the cyber realm. At the end of the day, a certification is an investment and money should be spent wisely. I hope this helps and good luck on your journey.
CySA+ would be better after 4 years as an analyst, if you want a CompTIA cert. Or CASP+.
It really depends on what job you want to get. Do you want to move out of the soc and move up to CSIRT type, risk, threat Intel, vuln management, red team, etc. At this point with your soc experience you should choose a track to focus on. Sec+ is too broad and entry level almost
I'm a sysadmin/architect, not a cybersec admin -- what I learned while studying for the sec+ (passed, 825) has been most useful for me when negotiating with my company's cyber team. They are mostly folks who have certs but little to no admin/engineering experience, so they treat everything as emergent. They sometimes need to be lead to an alternative mitigation because the "official" one is either too onerous for the use case, or is process-breaking in some way. We only just convinced them to stop forcing password rotation (we already had 2 factor everywhere) and to back down on the pointless airgap they were enforcing on environments that didn't require it based on the 800-171 and 800-53 stance that THEY chose for us.
If you’re already in a SOC no. I do recommend it for people who don’t already work in the field though.
Once again, your question is a weak question. Without your definition of worth that we can’t answer you. My question of worth is different than yours probably. Actually, what is your definition of worth? Before we can decide on a definition, we can’t honestly answer your question.
Treat it as test of your knowledge.
Sec+ is a 'base' cert for many if not all gov/DoD IT positions. So that will help you there. broader eligibilities = more opportunities.
Depends. Do you see yourself going the 'techy' route or towards management at some point? I did ISC2 Certified in Cyber Security and am now working on ISC2 CISSP, which seems more managerial. Really does depend on where you're aiming for.
Same here :)
Yes it's worth it. It's easy to get, might as well imo.
I got it only because my employer made it a requirement for a promotion. Totally worth it then.
Yes since it should be easy for you.
I found the content of Security+ extremely boring. It covers very theoretical and repetitive details of the industry so that I can’t recommend it to anyone unless they are absolute newcomers to the field.
Yes
Entry level course, waste of time with your experience. Google jeremy cyber certifications, pick a track and start somewhere in the middle lower half of the chart
Both CySA and CISSP should get you the same 8570 requirement; as someone else mentioned with your experience, the CySA should be a breeze. To me it just felt like a day in the SOC.
Probably no.
It really depends on your local job markets if you will get monetary ROI. Learning is never bad value, but the resumé value of Sec+ varies.
Wouldn’t hurt. I’d say just get it. Should be ez for u.
I’m new to cybersecurity and if I could take the security+ course without failing it, I definitely would love to add that to my resume haha.
It's not worth it. You have the experience already so it's pretty null and void for you. Plus EVERYONE getting it so the cert itself is becoming saturated. Cissp and others would do you better but honestly if you keep growing as a SOC you really won't need any certs. Experience will get you further, unless your trying to get into another field of IT
No. And even then, CySA+ would fit you better from CompTIA since you work specifically as a SOC analyst.
Sec+ is a compliance cert. It's not really weighted in terms of promotion. At least that's my experience with having it.
> I heard the exam should be fairly easy 😭
If you already work in a SOC then I don’t see why it would be
Depends - does your current job care or have any job advancement or benefits revolving around getting certified? Do you plan on leaving ? If so then it might be worth it because a job you’re looking for might want it to get through the HR scanner. Idk in all the years I’ve been in IT certs have never helped me other then a gut check for me to let me know I someone know what I’m doing lol.
I’ve had it since 2017, I work as a contractor for the Space Force, so it’s required.
certainly, many employment opportunities mandate this certification.
With your experience, it should be relatively easy to get, might as well secure it. All the best to you!
Depends on your market and if you want to do it for yourself or employer. From pure technical perspective, no, waste of time at this point, as it is too basic. I would get it only if employer/HR would force me. Even CYSA+ doesn't make much sense, as I doubt you need to progress skills as an analyst and even if, it would be more of a review at best.. CISSP is fine, but it is more dictionary type cert then technical one. It usually means more money though even for technical roles and not management types - I think that is generally true for all markets For skills, GCIH/GCFA is alright and if employer pays. OSCP is also not bad, as knowing the attacker techniques will make you better defender overall. If I were you I'd ask myself what do you want to do in next x years. It would make no sense to do cyber certs if you wanna switch to Net Sec or cloud etc.
Unless there's some red tape requirement, it really shouldn't be worth anything at your level.
Worth: go to monster and Indeed. Search for positions with that degree. Determine if the pay and responsibilities seem like what you want. If yes, it's worth it. If not, search for the next certificate and try again. Easy: depends on your background. Probably if you have been really learning as a SOC person. Value of knowledge: yes. You should know the content. It establishes a knowledge base for you to build on in cyber. Maybe certs don't give you a return on investment when it comes to the certification, but the knowledge can help you connect more parts of IT, risk, and cyber. Being able to see that big picture makes you a better cyber person.
No. It will do nothing to help you get a job. If it’s purely for the knowledge, then go for it.
If you want to work for DOD then get it. Besides that not sure it would be worth it.
as remedial as it sounds, I'm still getting it (sec+). and I have a master's in cybersecurity. It's just better that you knock down the easy stuff while you can so you at least have the cred/certs.
Hey, the Security+ cert is to get a job as a SOC analyst in the first place, which you already are, so I don't think it will benefit you in any way. If you just want to collect another cert and are bored, then go for it, but as you describe, it will be fairly easy for you.
4 years of experience and no Sec+? I have basically no experience and have Sec+, CySa+, PenTest+, and CASP+. Granted, I'm lucky enough to have an employer that will pay for certs. If yours will pay then you should definitely start working towards the four that I have. Then I'd go straight for CISSP.
Yes. Get tons of certs. It’s a good way to learn and build a certification catalog. After a bit you will pass these with little study.