I managed a training and testing center years ago. I cross-trained our receptionists and admin staff to operate the testing center. It actually worked out really well. Staff worked 4 hours overlapping shifts 5 days a week, and we were often able to offer exams from 10 AM to 2 PM on Saturdays. We started with 4 seats for testing and bumped that to 8 seats after 6 months. It didn't generate much revenue, but it helped us recruit new training students. The revenue we did take in let me boost the staff pay.

The person whom we trained to be the testing center manager went on to work for an AI company and opened a large, multi-room testing center in the basement of a building in a neighborhood full of office buildings surrounded by 2 colleges. They offer a much wider range of exams and draw teachers, real estate, and union workers in addition to the tech crowd. She tells me it's the same basic model: the testing center covers all its expenses but draws people into training programs and allows them to sell the colleges and some employers vouchers in quantity.

Congrats! In your opinion, is this a certificate test something a high school student would be successful with? I am a Teacher trying to determine if this assessment will be a good fit for one of my classes. Best of luck in the future!

Kabelo said:

Hoping it will be a bit lighter, will have to win it over with no doubt.

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Based on the draft exam objectives, I predict SY0-801 will be harder. I noticed several adds (AI) and refinements (some GRC topics have moved to Operations) but few deletes (deprecated protocols). Add to that the trend towards scenario-based questions in all CompTIA exams, and it will be interesting.

Greatly appreciate everyone's advice on certs and their experience with their usefulness (or not). I've been in the field for many years and have only taken cert training/exams when a company will pay for them. I find they're useful when looking for different employment (e.g., advancement, change of responsibilities), but not much else beyond that. Although, as an architect who's constantly having the "why do I need to do this" type of arguments with leadership and non-security architects all the time, there is some value in being able to pull the "because this is what it says in the material for this cert that I have" card from time to time.

I want to point out that my OP mentioned that I "would really like to diversify my skill set" and "am looking for a mix of great training and ideally would love to add a cert or more to my resume." The main goal is to identify good training; cert would be secondary (but nice to have if possible).

Thanks all!

Stephen Schneiter said:

Hi Folks, I will post updates on the voucher distribution in this thread. We did make a few changes in effort to try and speed up the distribution. I will post as soon as I hear a date that the emails will go out with the vouchers.

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That GREAT Stephen. We are WAITing

gonzeey said:

I'm trying to access the On Demand Lessons but I can't access the video. I kept on having the error "Login Failed. Please try again.".
I was able to access session 6 a few hour ago. Now I can't get access.
Am I the only one having trouble?

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You may try another browser if you are using chrome. Try firefox or brave

Masiku01 said:

I passed my SecAI exam, and immediately afterward I fell sick. My physiotherapist said it was due to heavy lifting. I was like, "How? I didn't lift anything!"

This is based on a true story, but I'm recovering well, guys.
Thank you so much, Stephane, for the voucher, and thank you to our instructor for the course and all the support.

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congratulations

Congratulations! I took it and passed the exam recently. The CertMaster Perform course had quite a few issues with the labs, but provided the information needed to pass the certification.

Gregory Childers said:

I concur. I earned over 60 different certifications, mostly paid for by employers, because I thought it would help me in two ways:

1. It would mean more certification exam courses I could teach. It turns out that some of them had zero demand for training.
2. They would add to my overall body of knowledge. Honestly, I had the knowledge even without the certification for many of them.

Figure out what you want to do and which certs will get you closer to that goal. All the rest are just distractions.

--signed "a guy with 17 different CompTIA certifications and 10 stackable CompTIA certifications"

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Exactly correct! I spend SO MANY YEARS when I first got into IT in 2007 playing certification Pac-Man only to realize that it was absolutely a waste of my time. I'm horrified how many VMware Certifications I focused on and the platform is mostly dead now.

Stephen Schneiter said:

Hi Folks, I will post updates on the voucher distribution in this thread. We did make a few changes in effort to try and speed up the distribution. I will post as soon as I hear a date that the emails will go out with the vouchers.

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Thanks
This has been on mind as a curiosity as well.

Stephen Schneiter said:

Hi Folks, I will post updates on the voucher distribution in this thread. We did make a few changes in effort to try and speed up the distribution. I will post as soon as I hear a date that the emails will go out with the vouchers.

Click to expand...

Thanks

BrianFord said:

And just think, sometime later this year you'll be able to sit for the new SY0-801 exam!

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Hoping it will be a bit lighter, will have to win it over with no doubt.

Bruce Weaver said:

The first time around that is a tough one! Congrats!
Is this for personal growth, or are you preparing to start teach Security+ content?

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Personal growth.

Hi Folks, I will post updates on the voucher distribution in this thread. We did make a few changes in effort to try and speed up the distribution. I will post as soon as I hear a date that the emails will go out with the vouchers.

May I check whether any of you have experience in delivering a SecAI+ in class sessions? A request came through and ask for a three days in-class delivery of SecAI+? What is your view and possibility of delivering this in three days? Thanks! Paul Wan

Well, you just have to delete "Cookies and site data" then reload with the new link, it should work without problem, you'll need to do so for all sessions you'll watch, else use private table everytime you want to watch a new session

BrianFord said:

Shea is sooo right here. Before picking up a new certification, you should consider how and when you'll need to recertify to maintain it.

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I concur. I earned over 60 different certifications, mostly paid for by employers, because I thought it would help me in two ways:

1. It would mean more certification exam courses I could teach. It turns out that some of them had zero demand for training.
2. They would add to my overall body of knowledge. Honestly, I had the knowledge even without the certification for many of them.

Figure out what you want to do and which certs will get you closer to that goal. All the rest are just distractions.

--signed "a guy with 17 different CompTIA certifications and 10 stackable CompTIA certifications"

Stephen Schneiter said:

@Abu Afza, yes, I will take a look to see what I can find out.

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Good evening, @Stephen Schneiter. Could you please check it when you get time?

Mandeep Singh said:

Excited to announce that I’ve passed the CNX-001!
Thank you, @Stephen Schneiter and the CIN, for making this possible.

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Congratulations!