Security Basics: RE: Security Certs

["Nick Duda" <nduda () VistaPrint com>]

I'd like to just throw in my situation. It's kind of weird but its been good to me. I have 9 years exp in IT. Started 
as a hardware guy then network engineer/admin, now security admin. I feel that I know my share of things ranging from 
MS and *nix , Cisco, hardware, and most of all security. Up until last Dec I had one certs (1996 Win95 MCP lol), my 
exp. has been the plane I've been flying on. I've tried certs and for some reason I just cant focus on these multiple 
choice questions but rather know how to just "do stuff in real life". I am only certified Security+ and CCSA 
(checkpoint). I plan on doing more certs, if I can somehow learn the patience of reading a book and sitting an exam 
instead of 14 hour days of hacking away at stuff till I know the hands on way to do things. So without any well known 
certs I've keep stable full time work through this economy (knock on wood).

- Nick

-----Original Message-----
From: David Gillett [mailto:gillettdavid () fhda edu]
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2003 1:21 PM
To: 'Chris Berry'; security-basics () securityfocus com
Subject: RE: Security Certs


> ....  To me they represent a minimum level of knowledge about a 
> subject, so that for example, if the person is an MCSE and I 
> ask them an active directory question, they shouldn't say 
> "active what?", though it's no guarantee they'll actually know 
> the right answer.
  A few years back, I interviewed an MCSE for a network engineer
position.  Our environment was strictly 100-BaseT/Cat-5, so one
didn't absolutely *need* to know anything else, but he was coming
from working (as a civilian contractor, as I recall) on some Air
Force base where they had a mix of 10-Base2 (co-ax) and UTP at
10 and 100 Mbps.
  So between having apparently passed the Networking Fundamentals
requirement, and working daily with the mix, I figured he ought 
to be able to name at least *one* characteristic difference between
10-Base2 co-ax and 10/100 Cat-5.  I would have taken almost any one.
  He couldn't, and that was one of two reasons he didn't get the
job.  (The other was that he considered himself too valuable as a
"network designer" to crawl under a desk to plug in a cable....)

David Gillett



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