Ford's Notes Newsletter #2
Some of Ford's thoughts about maintaining and using your credentials.
Maintaining your Certification
Once you have invested all that time and effort into maintaining a tech certification, you should consider how to keep it. One way that may work is to earn another certification. Remember that different certifications from the same source are like ladders. You can advance by moving up the ladder. Earning a similar or lower-level certification doesn’t help.
Using you Certification
If you haven’t already created a LinkedIn account and profile, you should. LinkedIn will help you build a better resume that is much easier for prospective employers to view. List all of your training that relates directly to your desired jobs. Credly (part of the testing company Pearson) provides a one-click method for including your certifications in your LinkedIn profile.
Never Stop Learning
You can view These online resources to learn about new technologies and solutions. Two recorded webinars from Brighttalk demonstrate how a market leader markets vulnerability management solutions, such as Tenable.
Making the transition from Vulnerability to Exposure Management, Tenable, Kevin Flynn, August 2023, 42 minutes.
Finally Know the Whole Truth About Your Attack Surface Risk, Tenable, Jeremiah Grossman & Jerry Hoff, July 2022, 58 minutes.
Make sure to collect and save your downloadable viewing certificate that can be applied for CPEs to renew your certifications.
What I’m Working On
I’m currently studying for the AWS Security Specialty exam (SCS-C02). I’m using three different resources to prepare for the exam. I am using the free AWS Skill Builder resources. Skill Builder provides learning paths with ‘E-Learning’ modules. Those modules are developed so that one generic module can be plugged into different learning paths.
I’m using the ‘Ace your Certified Security Specialty [SCS-C02] with Practice Test included’ video course by Neal Davis, an AWS Instructor on Udemy. This is a very structured, detailed delivery. I also purchased the ‘AWS Certified Security Specialty Practice Exams SCS-C02 2024’ by Jon Bonso from Tutorials Dojo. AWS exam questions are often scenario-based, and I wanted to get more practice with these more extended, detailed questions. I plan to test within the next two weeks.
Have you submitted CEUs or CPEs and been audited? I'd like to hear about your audit experience.
I tell all my clients and students that I get a lot of personal satisfaction from what I do, not because of the paycheck but because of the impact. I encourage clients to keep in touch with me. If you find this newsletter helpful or if you have something you want to share with others, please don’t hesitate to message me.
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