New Cert Existing Member

[MitchGarvis]

I am a full member of ISC2 - I passed CCSP in December and was endorsed immediately, and was confirmed as a member in January. I am now preparing to take my CISSP exam in a couple of weeks and was curious to know if I need to go through that entire endorsement process again, or will I immediately be CISSP certified (assuming I pass the exam)?

Thanks in advance!

[Kaity]

Hello @MitchGarvis!

Yes, there is an application process for the CISSP that you will need to go through in order to be certified once you pass your exam. It's the same process as what you experienced for the CCSP, and requires you providing documentation that you have the necessary work experience in at least 2 of the domains of the credential. You'll also need to provide an endorser - another ISC2 member - to vouch for your experience and background, or ISC2 an be that endorser for you. 

As a CCSP, though, you will not have to pay another AMF if you earn CISSP or any other ISC2 credentials. Only one AMF is required 🙂 

Best of luck in your study journey!!  

[MitchGarvis]

Thank you Kaity!

[nkeaton]

@MitchGarvis   It is nice to see someone else that did it in the "wrong" order.  When a person has a CISSP, they only go to the endorsement screen to accept the code of ethics for the CCSP.  Since we did not do them in that order, we have to get endorsed both times.  I will recommend reading Luke's How to Think Like a Manager for the CISSP.  It really helps to frame mindset need to answer the question correctly.  Congratulations on your CCSP and best wishes on your CISSP.  I did the CCSK a month after my CCSP which was a personal goal, and my CISSP was about a year later.  It is a beast.  

[MitchGarvis]

I do a lot of contract training for a company that paid for me to get the CCSP, and once I had that they offered me the opportunity to get the CISSP... afterward they want me to get CGRP next. I have been in cyber for years but only came to ISC2 about 8 months ago so I have a lot of work to do!

[nkeaton]

@MitchGarvis   That is great.  Thank you for sharing that.  I had been looking at the CCSK for years (more of a personal goal).  When I found out that one of our folks was going to just let a CCSP exam voucher expire, I decided to recover it and at least try.  I mostly used CCSK (CSA documents) and NIST no cost materials.  For the CGRC, I used NIST documents.  It is good that you have an employer that supports you like that.  I have a lot of respect for ISC2.  I also earned certifications from ISACA and CompTIA and a certificate from CSA.  I sat for the CCSK a month after my CCSP.  I thought that could do it sooner but felt like I needed to decompress the cybersecurity out of my head as the CCSK assumes that the person knows that.     

[MitchGarvis]

I confess, I needed to look up the CCSK - I'd heard of it but with all of the acronyms flying around in my head some of them started to leak out. The company is not my employer but a training company that I do a lot of work for, and I guess they see me as a good investment? i spent a lot of years working in IT (primarily Microsoft-focused) but always making cybersecurity a huge priority, so when another company asked me a few years ago to teach Sec+ I did... then I got certified in it and decided to keep going. I have a long way to go before I sleep, and am happy to hear of other professionals' certification experiences so that I can focus my direction in the right place!

[nkeaton]

@MitchGarvis  I am not necessarily recommending the CCSK.  It was more of personal (long story) thing for me.  The positive though is that the organization CSA (Cloud Security Alliance) helped ISC2 develop their CCSP and ISACA their CCAK.  Their materials are no cost and only concentrate on cloud concepts and terminology.  They assume that already know cybersecurity.  The CCSP is about half and half on what need to know.  I believe that the the CSA materials are what actually helped me.  I was studying for the CCSK 1.0 (5.0 now, mine is 4.0) when got an offer from CompTIA to do the beta for their first Cloud+.  With no exact study materials, I know that the CSA and NIST documents are why I passed it.  

[MitchGarvis]

It sounds like a great journey. I spent so much of my professional career 'bleeding Microsoft blue' and while I still enjoy their ecosystem, I am much happier teaching and consulting in cyber than I was evangelizing Windows. I have a long way to go before I consider myself an expert in anything... I have too many friends and colleagues whom I consider so much smarter than me to ever be that. After the life I have lived, it is nice to have so many reasons to be humble and to study harder and to work harder.

My desk is littered with sticky notes... one of them has the CSA and ISACA certs on them. I will be adding CCSK as one to look at and see if it will be of value to me. For now? My next two exams are CISSP (this week) and then I have to choose one more exam to get my Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect cert... although believe me I cringe at the thought of anyone equating THAT role with an actual Architect! (Of course, we used to call ourselves Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers... until the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec sued Microsoft and ended that).

Have a great weekend!