Cyber Security Certificate Tier List – UPDATED (2023)

Summary

The video offers an insightful evaluation of various cybersecurity certifications, highlighting their usefulness in landing jobs and the importance of practical knowledge over theoretical memorization. It emphasizes the value of CompTIA Security Plus and SANS training, the practicality of ethical hacking certifications like OSCP, and the limitations of vendor-specific and GRC-focused certificates. The speaker shares personal experiences and industry insights to guide viewers on their cybersecurity career path.

Takeaways

• 📚 The speaker's personal journey with cybersecurity certifications highlights the struggle of finding relevant and practical training early in their career.
• 🚀 CompTIA certificates are popular for beginners, offering vendor-neutral, foundational knowledge, but may involve memorization over practical skill development.
• 🔒 CompTIA Security Plus is considered a good introduction to cybersecurity, providing a broad understanding of the field.
• 📈 CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (SECA+) is more challenging and covers useful concepts for cybersecurity analysts, despite being theoretical.
• 🤔 The speaker questions the value of CompTIA PenTest+, comparing it to learning to drive by reading a book, and suggests it may not be worthwhile.
• 🌟 SANS Institute training is highly regarded in the cybersecurity industry, offering practical, up-to-date training from experienced professionals.
• 💡 ISAO certificates focus on governance, risk, and compliance (GRC), but may not provide practical training, and require significant experience.
• 🔥 Ethical hacking certificates like OSCP are favored for their practical approach, testing real-world ethical hacking skills rather than theoretical knowledge.
• 🛠️ Vendor-specific cybersecurity analyst certificates from Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Splunk aim to introduce cybersecurity basics to those without IT experience.
• ☁️ Cloud security certifications are in high demand, with specialized vendor certificates from AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud being particularly valuable.
• 🔑 The effectiveness of a single certification in securing a job depends on experience and the job market, but certifications can serve as a starting point for a learning journey in cybersecurity.

Q & A

What is the speaker's main goal in creating this video?

The speaker's main goal is to provide an honest, no-nonsense rating of cybersecurity certifications and help viewers understand which certifications are useful for both learning and landing a job in the cybersecurity industry.

What was the speaker's experience with CompTIA A+ and CCNA certifications?

The speaker found the process of learning for CompTIA A+ and CCNA certifications extremely boring and felt that the knowledge gained was irrelevant to ethical hacking and web application servers.

What does the speaker think about the CompTIA Security Plus certification?

The speaker believes that CompTIA Security Plus is a good introductory certificate that teaches the general foundations of cybersecurity, making it a valuable starting point for beginners.

Why does the speaker criticize multiple-choice exams for cybersecurity certifications?

The speaker criticizes multiple-choice exams because they believe that they encourage memorization and cramming of concepts rather than a deep understanding and practical application of cybersecurity topics.

What is the speaker's opinion on the CompTIA PenTest+ certification?

The speaker does not believe that the CompTIA PenTest+ certification serves any practical purpose, as it is based on theoretical knowledge from a multiple-choice exam, which is insufficient for learning ethical hacking skills.

What are the advantages of SANS Institute training and certifications?

The advantages of SANS Institute training and certifications include high-quality, up-to-date material, experienced instructors, practical components, and broad coverage of cybersecurity topics. They are also well-respected within the cybersecurity industry.

What is the main disadvantage of SANS training?

The main disadvantage of SANS training is its high cost, which is typically around eight thousand dollars, targeting companies to pay for their employees' training.

What does the speaker think about the OSCP certification?

The speaker highly regards the OSCP certification as it is fully practical and tests the candidate's ability to perform ethical hacking, rather than just passing multiple-choice exams.

Why does the speaker rate CISSP certification as a B?

The speaker rates CISSP as a B because, while it is a well-known certification, it is more suited for cybersecurity managers and does not deeply cover specific domains. It also requires memorization of concepts, which may not reflect practical cybersecurity skills.

What is the speaker's view on vendor-specific cybersecurity analyst certificates like Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Splunk?

The speaker views these vendor-specific certificates positively, especially for beginners with no IT experience. They provide a good introduction to cybersecurity and come with hands-on labs, which are beneficial for learning and confidence building.

How does the speaker feel about cloud security certificates?

The speaker sees cloud security certificates, particularly those from major cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, as highly valuable due to the increasing demand for cybersecurity professionals with cloud security knowledge.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Introduction to Cybersecurity Certifications

The speaker shares their personal journey and experiences in the cybersecurity industry, highlighting the importance of understanding the value of different cybersecurity certifications. They discuss their initial steps with CompTIA A+ and CCNA, and their realization that these certifications were not as relevant to their desired ethical hacking path. The speaker also notes the surprising fact that some friends secured cybersecurity jobs without any certifications, prompting a reevaluation of the certification process.

05:01

📚 CompTIA Certifications: Pros and Cons

The speaker delves into the advantages and disadvantages of CompTIA certifications, emphasizing their vendor-neutral approach and the foundational knowledge they provide, especially for beginners. They appreciate CompTIA Security+ for its introductory nature but criticize the memorization-based learning style of multiple-choice exams. The speaker also discusses other CompTIA certifications like Cybersecurity Analyst (SECA+), CASB+, and PenTest+, with a critical view on the latter's theoretical approach.

10:02

🎓 SANS Institute and ISACA Certifications

The speaker highly recommends SANS Institute training and certifications, noting their industry recognition and the practical, up-to-date content provided by experienced instructors. They mention the extensive range of topics covered by SANS and the respect it commands in the cybersecurity field. However, the high cost of training is a significant drawback. ISACA certifications, focusing on governance, risk, and compliance, are also discussed, with the speaker appreciating their community events but criticizing the experience requirement and lack of practical teaching.

15:04

💻 Ethical Hacking and Vendor-Specific Certificates

The speaker expresses a strong preference for ethical hacking certificates, particularly the OSCP, for their practical approach to testing real-world ethical hacking skills. They also mention other entry-level ethical hacking certifications like EJPT and PJPT, praising their focus on practical training. The speaker is less enthusiastic about the CISSP, viewing it as more suitable for cybersecurity management roles and criticizing it for its focus on memorization rather than practical skills. They also touch on the value of vendor-specific cybersecurity analyst certificates from companies like Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Splunk.

20:05

☁️ Cloud Security and the Role of Certifications

The speaker discusses the growing importance of cloud security certifications, particularly from major cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. They highlight the AWS Security Specialty and Microsoft Azure Cloud Engineer Associate as highly valuable certifications, while noting the lesser demand for Google Cloud certifications. The speaker also critiques vendor-neutral cloud security certifications like CCSP and CCSK for their theoretical nature and lack of practical application, suggesting they do not fully prepare individuals for cloud security roles.

🚀 Beyond Certifications: Practical Experience and Projects

The speaker acknowledges that while certifications can be a starting point, they are not a guarantee for landing a job in cybersecurity. They emphasize the importance of practical experience and suggest a list of progressive projects that can help build confidence and skills. The speaker offers a roadmap for those who have completed some cybersecurity certificates and are seeking the next steps in their learning journey, promising more details in the video to come.

Keywords

💡Cyber Security

Cyber Security refers to the practice of protecting systems, networks, and data from digital attacks. It is the main theme of the video, which discusses the importance of certifications in the field and their relevance to landing jobs in cyber security. The video provides an overview of various certifications and their utility in building a career in this domain.

💡Certifications

Certifications are formal qualifications or credentials that individuals earn to demonstrate their skills and knowledge in a specific area, such as cyber security. In the context of the video, certifications like CompTIA, CISSP, and OSCP are evaluated for their usefulness in the job market and their role in advancing one's career in the field.

💡CompTIA

CompTIA is a non-profit trade association that offers a range of IT certifications, including those related to cyber security. In the video, CompTIA certifications like Security Plus and Cyber Security Analyst (CySA) are discussed as foundational and introductory qualifications for those new to the field.

💡Vendor Neutral

Vendor neutral certifications teach general principles and practices that are applicable across multiple systems and technologies, rather than being specific to a single vendor's products. The video highlights the advantage of vendor neutral certifications like CompTIA, which can be beneficial for individuals new to cyber security as they cover a wide range of topics without focusing on a particular brand or system.

💡Penetration Testing

Penetration Testing, often referred to as ethical hacking, is the practice of testing a computer system, network, or web application to find vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit. The video discusses certifications related to penetration testing, such as CompTIA PenTest+, and critiques the effectiveness of theoretical certifications in practical scenarios.

💡SANS Institute

The SANS Institute is a well-known organization in the cyber security field that offers intensive training courses and certifications. The video praises SANS for its high-quality training, experienced instructors, and comprehensive coverage of cyber security topics. The SANS trainings are highly respected and can be a significant boost to a professional's credibility in the industry.

💡Experience

In the context of the video, experience refers to the hands-on, real-world application of skills and knowledge in the field of cyber security. The speaker emphasizes the importance of practical experience over certifications alone, suggesting that actual work in the field is more valuable to employers than theoretical knowledge gained from certifications.

💡Cloud Security

Cloud Security involves the protection of data, applications, and infrastructure in cloud computing environments. The video discusses the growing demand for cloud security professionals and the importance of certifications from major cloud providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.

💡Vendor Specific Certificates

Vendor specific certificates are qualifications that focus on the products and services of a particular vendor. In the context of the video, this refers to certifications offered by companies like Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Splunk, which aim to educate individuals on the security aspects of their respective platforms.

💡Practical Projects

Practical projects are hands-on assignments or tasks that allow individuals to apply the knowledge and skills they have learned. The video suggests that completing practical projects is a valuable way to gain real-world experience and enhance one's cyber security skills beyond what is learned from certifications alone.

Highlights

The speaker shares their personal journey in the cybersecurity industry and offers an honest rating of cybersecurity certifications.

CompTIA A+ and CCNA were found to be boring and irrelevant for ethical hacking by the speaker.

Some individuals managed to land cybersecurity jobs without any certifications, questioning the necessity of these certificates.

CompTIA Security Plus is considered a good introduction to cybersecurity, delivering foundational concepts.

CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (SECA+) is appreciated for its harder content and practical concepts for cybersecurity analysts.

CompTIA PenTest+ is criticized for being theoretical and not effectively teaching ethical hacking skills.

SANS Institute is recognized for its high-quality, up-to-date, and practical cybersecurity training.

SANS training courses cover a vast range of topics and are well-respected in the cybersecurity industry.

ISAO focuses on governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) with limited practical teaching, requiring five years of experience.

Ethical hacking certificates, such as OSCP, are favored for their practical approach to testing cybersecurity skills.

CISSP is seen as less valuable among cybersecurity professionals, often being a target for those outside the field.

Vendor-specific cybersecurity analyst certificates from Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Splunk aim to introduce cybersecurity basics to beginners.

Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud platform certificates are in high demand for securing respective cloud environments.

Vendor-neutral cloud security certificates like CCSP and CCSK are considered less practical and less valuable in the job market.

The speaker provides a tiered list for different cybersecurity certifications, with 'S' being the best and 'F' being the worst.

Practical projects and intermediate cybersecurity certificates are recommended for those starting their learning journey.

The video aims to save time and money for individuals looking to enter the cybersecurity field by providing an informed perspective on certifications.

Transcripts

this video might be controversial but my

goal is to help you understand the cyber

security industry better so in this

video I will give you my honest no BS

rating of cyber security certifications

in terms of which ones are useful for

you so you can man a subject but also

land the job this is from my own Journey

when I was trying to break into cyber

security 20 years ago but also from what

I see in the market both as a hiring

manager but also as a cyber security

consultant where I help organizations

run the cyber security division when I

was trying to land my first cyber

security role I thought I had it all

figured out people gave me the advice

that I needed to do CompTIA a plus and

CCNA to build that Foundation before I

can begin to learn how to do some

ethical hacking activities but as I was

going through these certificates I

noticed that I was getting extremely

bored learning both the a plus and the

Cisco CCNA but not only that I noticed

that the things that I was learning were

completely irrelevant I didn't know how

learning The Cisco command line will

help me out in doing ethical hacking for

web application servers it just made no

sense but then things got worse I

started noticing that some of my friends

got their first cyber security job

without even doing any of those

certificates in fact I've even met fresh

University graduate who got their first

cyber security role without having any

certifications or experience whatsoever

so I started questioning the part that I

was on which turned out to be a blessing

in disguise because it led me to a

journey of doing so many cyber security

trainings and certifications which gave

me exposure to so many cyber security

certification programs and if this video

manages to save time and money for one

person then I consider my goal

accomplished let's get into it CompTIA

certificates are extremely popular among

people who don't work in cyber security

and among people who are extremely

Junior and early in their cyber security

Journey the main advantage of the

CompTIA certificates is that it's vendor

neutral which means instead of teaching

you how to configure Palo Alto firewalls

they teach you in general what firewalls

are and what they do but they don't

teach you how to configure a specific

vendor firewall which can be useful for

someone who's new to the field so you

get to learn the generic concepts of how

things are supposed to work the other

big advantage that I personally like

about CompTIA is the CompTIA Security

Plus is a beginner introductory

certificate that will teach you the

general foundations of what cyber

security is this was quite revolutionary

because in the past we didn't have many

cyber security certifications that will

introduce you to the field so Security

Plus was and still is a good

introduction to cyber security now there

are many problems with CompTIA

certificates the biggest disadvantage of

CompTIA certificates is that the exams

are multiple choice exams which means

when people study for these certificates

they end up memorizing and cramming a

bunch of Concepts so they can pass the

exam which is not the best way to learn

a topic in my opinion we will use this

popular tiering system so the S tier is

the super tier and then comes the a b c

d and then the f is the worst tier in

the list so the company certificates

that I will look at is Security Plus I

think it does a good job introducing

people to the field of cyber security it

delivers on the promise that it will

teach you the foundational concepts of

cyber security it's not going to make

you an expert it's not going to make you

an all knowledgeable hacker man but it's

definitely a good introduction to cyber

security then we have the seza plus

which is the CompTIA cyber security

analyst certificate I actually really

like this one because it's a lot harder

than the Security Plus and it introduces

you to an extremely useful Concepts that

you will use if you work as a cyber

analyst it will teach you about security

operations incident response

vulnerability management and even

reporting unfortunately the same

disadvantage that apply to all companies

certificates apply here it's extremely

theoretical so you will end up

memorizing and cramming a bunch of

Concepts to pass a multiple choice exam

but nonetheless I still think the

information in there is valuable the

next one is the cast B plus this is

meant to be a tier above the sizzle plus

it's a little bit harder it touches on

Concepts such as architecture and

operations again GRC engineering and

cryptography and then we have the

CompTIA pen test plus this is the

penetration testing certificate I

honestly don't think this certificates

serve any purpose because trying to

learn ethical hacking from a theoretical

multiple choice based exam is like

channeling to drive a car by reading a

book yes you can learn all about the

traffic Rules by reading a book but you

still have to actually try and drive the

car to learn driving so in my opinion

pen Test Plus doesn't serve any purpose

to put them in our tiering list I will

put all of the company certificates as

tier B because they have good

theoretical information but

unfortunately they have the practicality

that we need in cyber security except

the pen test plus I think it's rated as

F because in my opinion it doesn't serve

any purpose it will just waste your time

and money now before we move on to the

next section I didn't forget the popular

CompTIA a plus and network plus and even

things like CCNA in my opinion these are

not cyber security certificates these

are General it certificates and for

cyber Security Professionals I don't

think it's a great idea to do them now

if you've already done them that's great

but if you haven't done them then there

are so many options that are cheaper and

faster that will teach you the same

Concepts and I talked about all of them

in this video so please check it out the

next one is the GX certificates the DX

certificates have an Associated Sands

training the sense training institute is

the most popular cyber security training

institute in the cyber security industry

sure your it manager or network admin or

even your Hotshot Junior cyber analyst

may not have heard about the Sans

Institute but those of us who work in

cyber security are extremely familiar

with the Sans Institute they are not

only a training provider but they've

actually set some industry standards

that we use in our day-to-day cyber

security jobs the way it works is you do

a sense training that is four to six

days of training depends on the course

and then you study and pass the

associated Jac exam the Sans Institute

has world-class cyber security training

for a number of reasons they are

extremely selective on who the

instructors are so a stand instructor is

usually someone who have a lot of

experience in cyber security they are

actively working in cyber security so

they are not a full-time instructor and

they are not an academic so they have

the hands-on experience and to become a

sense instructor it's a very very

demanding process so they maintained

this high quality of instructors

throughout their use now compare that to

your PhD University Professor who have

never worked a day in their life and

they're trying to teach you how to

become a cyber security professional

there is a huge difference the other

good Advantage about Sans is the

material is so high quality it's always

up to date their courses reflect

problems that we face today in cyber

security other great thing about sense

training is usually most of their

courses have a practical component that

you will do in the training the other

underrated advantage of sense training

is that they cover every topic Under the

Sun they've got a training course for

every topic you can imagine even obscure

things like they'll have a course

dedicated to operational technology they

have courses dedicated to mobile device

forensics they have courses for cloud

forensics so whichever topic you want to

learn chances are there is a sense

training and you know know that the

quality is super high and the final

advantage of sense training is that it's

well respected within the cyber security

industry when people see that you've

done a sense training or a GX

certification they know that you know

something that goes beyond memorizing

and cramming and passing a multiple

choice exam now the biggest disadvantage

of sense training is the price the cost

of the training is about eight thousand

dollars and the reason behind that is

the sense training usually Target

companies so they want your company to

pay for the trading so the employees can

attend the training now bonus tip if you

want to do sales training cheaper go to

the work study program within sense

apply there and you might get a chance

to be an assistant in a sense training

program or you get to do the training

for much much cheaper I've done a few of

those myself I highly recommend it now

there are so many Jax certificates so

it's nearly impossible to rate all of

them but if I was to group them all

together and rate GI can even the sense

training institute all at the same time

they will definitely in the istio anyone

who works in the industry knows that and

they've maintained their quality

throughout the years the next one is

isaka isaka certificates focuses on the

area of governance risk and compliance

or GRC the main advantage of isaka is

that kind of the only GRC certificate

providers so if you want to do an I.T

audit certificate then isaka is pretty

much all you have at the moment the

other thing that I like about iseka is

they earn a lot of free events for the

community so if you go to Google and you

type isaka chapter in your own City then

chances are you'll find a really nice

Meetup that you can attend and you can

network with other cyber Security

Professionals I highly recommend

attending those now unfortunately there

are many disadvantages with isaka

certificates the first one is that to do

isaka certificates you need five years

of experience and I'm talking here about

the popular one Caesar series can see

ISM in my opinion this experience

requirement is not warranted the topics

in season even C risk and cism to a

certain extent are not exactly Advanced

so any Junior IT Auditor should be able

to do and pass this at least the Caesar

certificate so to me they created an

unnecessary hurdle but the main biggest

disadvantage that I personally don't

like about isaka is that the training

itself doesn't teach you anything so

think of Isaac as after you get GRC

experience then you do isaka

certificates to kind of validate your

experience but if you do the isaka

certificate they're not going to teach

you how to do GRC which is a huge

problem in my opinion and because of all

of that my tearing is C I still think

they hold some value but unfortunately

they don't teach you anything the next

ones are ethical hacking certificates

those are my absolute favorite

certificates I wish that the rest of the

cyber security domains have good

training materials similar to ethical

hacking the most popular ethical hacking

certificate is the oscp and it's fully

practical and it's popular for a reason

because it will test that you can

actually perform ethical hacking as

opposed to testing you on how you're

gonna pass a bunch of multiple choice

exams but fortunately we have other

ethical hacking certificates so we have

the ejpt and the pjpt both are

entry-level ethical hacking certificates

that are meant to introduce you to the

field of ethical hacking using fully

practical training and practical exams

which I'm a huge fan of even if you

don't want to be an ethical hacker in my

opinion doing these certificates is

extremely helpful for you as a cyber

security professional so if I was to

tier the ejpt and the pjpt they are

definitely tra now we talked about oscp

but there is ecppt and there is tntp all

are extremely valuable practical ethical

hacking certificates in my opinion they

are tier s because if you do them you

will learn so so much but doing the exam

you will also prove that you have the

skill of ethical hacking I personally

know so many cyber security

professionals who started studying for

the oscp but they never managed to

finish it because it's just hard and

finishing it also communicate to me that

you are passionate about cyber security

as a hiring manager I see so many

candidates who tell me I'm very

passionate about cyber security but to

me this is meaningless instead of

telling me you're passionate about cyber

security show me what work you've done

in the field show me the difficult

projects that you've done because this

will prove that you're passionate it's

really really hard to pass the oscp

without being passionate about cyber

security now there is easy Council and

the certified ethical hacker certificate

this is a multiple choice exam based

certificate in my opinion it's not the

best way to learn ethical hacking it's

extremely similar to the pen Test Plus

so in my opinion I would personally rate

it as F because doing it will not make

you an ethical hacker so it doesn't

deliver on the promise and for these

Reasons I'm tearing it as if the next

one is the ifc2 certificates the cissp

is definitely the most popular

certificate for people who have no idea

how cyber security works so for example

I'll get network Engineers who come and

ask me or should I do cisp to become a

cyber security professional or I will

meet someone who is a university student

who would like to work in cyber security

and the first thing they ask me is oh

should I do cissp the truth is among

people who actually work in cyber

security we don't care about cissp and

there are so many reasons for this the

first thing is the cissp is actually

intended to make you a cyber security

manager this is the goal of the system

ticket so it's meant to be a mile wide

and an inch deep so it touches on so

many domains but it doesn't go deep in

any of those domains so an isc2 came up

with this certificates they thought this

is what cyber security managers need now

the other reason that we don't really

care about cissp is because the vast

majority of server security managers do

not have CI SSP and they don't even care

about it because to be a really good

cyber security manager you need to have

a lot of depth in so many topics but you

also need management skills which the

CIS SP definitely don't teach you other

huge disadvantage of cissp is that if

you can't see issp I know for sure that

you've just crammed a bunch of Concepts

it's all about memorizing the whole heap

of junk in my opinion trust me

memorizing the types of fire alarms have

nothing to do with cyber security no one

cares now is the CIS SP all that bad no

there are few things going on for the

cissp they actually have a group of

cyber security professionals who

contribute to the exams so the multiple

choice questions that you get in the

exam have actually come from some really

good cyber security profession so they

try to emulate real world as much as

possible in a multiple choice exam in

fact one of my close friends sit in that

committee the other good slash bad thing

about the cisp is that people who don't

work in cyber security seem to somehow

know about it so when they do a job

search cyber security they see the ciss

be thrown here and therefore jobs that

Frankly Speaking have nothing to do with

cicssp I have no idea why a security

analyst would ever need a cissp

nonetheless people still copy paste the

CI SSP and they put it there more often

than not this is just a wish list so

they'll put the issb and they'll put a

bunch of certificates that doesn't mean

they absolutely want you to have it it

just means if you have it yep nice to

have whatever what you really need is

the skill of being a cyber security

professional the other advantage of cisp

is that it's a little bit harder than

Security Plus it's not a lot harder I

personally know people who passed it in

two weeks those are professionals who

work in the field who have the

experience so all they did was they just

read the book quickly and went and took

the exam so yes it is harder than

Security Plus but it's not that hard in

fact it's a lot easier than something

like the oscp so don't be fooled by

shiny objects just because I see issb

show up on a job search doesn't mean

it's as valuable as some beginners on

the Internet seem to think in the real

world no one cares so my personal rating

of it is B and that's mainly from what I

see in the industry most people who have

CIS SP usually don't have that much

experience I'm aware that the CI SSP

asks you for five years of experience

but usually what happens is a helpless

experience for example can qualify for

you to meet that experience requirement

even if your experience of help desk had

nothing to do with the security domains

it's it's good it's a level above the

Security Plus but I wouldn't exactly

call it an advanced certificate there

are also two popular certificates from

isc2 which is the sscp that was meant to

be a stepping stone for the cisp in my

opinion it absolutely serves no purpose

so I would rate it as F but then there

is a new one called certified cyber

security this is aimed at beginners who

have no cyber security experience or

skills in my opinion this is useful

because it introduces people to the

field of cyber security although I

personally think it's a little bit

watered down so I would rate it as C

just because there are other alternative

beginner cyber security certificates

that will teach you a little bit more

next up is cyber security analyst

certificates from vendors like Google

IBM Microsoft Splunk and Cisco these are

certificates from Big vendors like

Google and Microsoft they are aimed at

people who have no I.T experience no

technical knowledge and no degree and

they teach you the basics of cyber

security this is fantastic news because

even as far as two years ago we did not

have anything like this in the market so

kudos for these companies for creating a

good quality training that's aimed to

get more people to work in cyber

security now you may be wondering which

one is better the Google cyber security

certificate or the IBM or Microsoft or

Splunk or Cisco in my opinion I wouldn't

be splitting hairs on which one is

better I've explored all of them I think

they're all pretty good there are minor

differences and I will tier them a

little bit different but in my opinion

you can't go wrong with any of them and

they're all quite cheap to be honest so

if you do one or two or even all of them

it's not going to take you a lot of time

but it will also not cost you a lot of

money now some of the advantages of

these certificates is that a few of them

come with Hands-On Labs like the Google

certificate and even the IBM and

Microsoft certificates they definitely

have Hands-On lab where you get to

practice what you learn which is a huge

thing especially for someone who's

completely new to it or cyber security

it gives you a chance to practice but it

also improves your confidence and it

helps you retain the information you

learned so you're not just cramming a

bunch of Concepts to pass a multiple

choice exam now if I look at the

differences between them I think the

Google is a great option because it

teaches you MySQL Linux and python which

are extremely popular tools that you

will use as a cyber security

professional the Microsoft certificates

it teaches you a little bit about Office

365 and Microsoft Azure Cloud platforms

which are extremely useful the IBM

certificate will show you how to use

things like GitHub and snake and the IBM

x4s which are popular tools in the

industry then we have the Splunk

certificate I think is the odd one out

because this certificate will not

introduce you to cyber security as a

field but more so it will introduce you

into how to use Splunk as a tool but

Splunk is an extremely popular tool so

it's definitely useful and then we have

the Cisco certified support technician

again it gives you an introduction to

cyber security as a field which is

extremely useful so in my opinion if I

was to tier these certificates they

definitely deliver on the promise that

they will introduce you to cyber

security as a field so to me that's

definitely a tier a and this goes for

the Google certificate IBM certificate

the Microsoft certificate and the Cisco

certificate Splunk unfortunately it does

not really introduce you to cyber

security it also introduces you to

Splunk as a tool so to me that's

definitely a tier C yes it's useful but

it doesn't deliver on the promise that's

an introduction to cyber security next

up is cloud certificates this is

definitely a hot area in the market

there is a huge demand for cyber

security professionals who understand

and know how to use that cloud the three

biggest cloud providers are Amazon AWS

Microsoft Azure and the Google Cloud

platform Amazon AWS is still the market

leader in Cloud so if you work in cyber

security or even if you work in it

chances are you will run into Amazon AWS

they are still by far the most widely

used and adopted Cloud platform in fact

as a consultant every time I go to help

a company with their cyber security

Journey they always complain about how

they have a huge Amazon AWS setup they

don't have many people who understand

how to secure the AWS Cloud so it's an

extremely useful skill so to explore

Cloud security certificates we have

vendor certificates so certificates from

Amazon Microsoft and Google we also have

vendor neutral certificates as well so

starting with the most popular and most

useful one in my opinion which is the

Amazon AWS security specialty you're

meant to do that after you do something

like the Amazon AWS Cloud practitioner

and the Amazon AWS architect and then

you can do the AWS security specialty

it's extremely useful the information

and knowledge in there will definitely

help you land the role securing the

Amazon AWS Cloud there is an equivalent

to this certificate and from Microsoft

soft which is the Microsoft Azure Cloud

engineer associate again extremely

useful yes in the market there is more

AWS than Azure but Azure is still widely

used chances are you will run into

companies earning at least something

like Office 365 and maybe SharePoint so

it's really useful to know about Azure

security Technologies and less known one

is from Google which is the Google Cloud

security engineer Google has a much

smaller market share however doing it is

still useful because believe it or not

all the cloud platforms are extremely

similar so once you learn and get good

at one of the cloud platforms the same

skills are transferable to other Cloud

platforms you will just find some

differences in the names of the tools

that's all so if I was to tear them in

my opinion both the AWS and the

Microsoft Azure certificates both are

too old because the skills are

definitely highly sought after the

Google Cloud security engineer I would

teach it as serious because it's not as

popular and you're less likely to be

dealing with Google Cloud security

issues at least in the present moment

now looking at vendor neutral Cloud

security certificate from ist2 we have

the ccsp this is meant to teach you

General Cloud security Concepts so the

claim that this certificate will enable

you to become a cloud security

professional unfortunately I haven't

seen this happen in the real world no

one will hire you just because you have

the ccsp as hiring manager we're looking

for someone who knows how to configure

security groups within Amazon AWS or how

to configure identity and access

management in the cloud we don't want

someone who knows generic concept about

how Cloud security should be so in my

opinion this certificate doesn't really

deliver on the promise of making you a

cloud security professional the same

thing goes for the cloud Alliance ccsk

again another theoretical certificate

that claims to make you a cloud security

professional by teaching you a bunch of

Concepts now the cloud security Alliance

have actually used for checklists that

I've seen in the industry where people

use the CSK checklist on how to secure

clouds this can be useful but just

because these spreadsheets and these

checklists are around doesn't mean that

the certificate itself is useful that

security is one of those extremely

practical things so I'd rather you know

how to configure security ability in

Office 365 as opposed to memorizing

concepts of how the cloud need to be

secured so if I was to tier them both

the ccsp and the ccsk are trf because I

would never recommend anyone doing them

now a common question I constantly get

asked is is the Google cyber certificate

enough for me to land the job as the

Security Plus enough for me to land the

job is the cissp enough for me to land

the job is this training sufficient is

this boot camp sufficient and to be

honest the answer is always it depends

on how much experience you have but

assuming you have zero experience and

zero knowledge and all you did was one

certificate or two certificates the

answer is maybe you might get lucky and

get hired with one certificate in fact

I've seen people get hired with zero

certificates it definitely happened but

chances are you will probably need more

the certificates are meant to be used as

a structured way for you to learn a

subject but especially those beginner

level certificates are meant to be the

beginning of your journey they are meant

to introduce you to the field and to get

you started in your Learning Journey but

what ends up happening is after you

finish one or two two certificates

you'll find that you have to memorize

and cram a bunch of Concepts and maybe

you start to forget this concept but

also you may not have so much confidence

in applying to jobs or in landing your

first job so to solve this I curated a

list of practical projects that you can

do progressively so you can go from one

project to the other you start from

beginner level projects all the way to

intermediate projects and then you do

practical intermediate cyber security

certificates I created this roadmap

specifically for people who've done some

cyber security certificates and are

looking for this next step on what to do

all of this is detailed in this video

and I'll see you then