DESTINATION CISSP!

Passed the CISSP exam today on first try and the journey to this destination was one of the most fulfilling in my 16 year career.

TLDR; Believe in yourself. Get the necessary support. Study efficiently. Pray.

Re-affirmed through this exam that I need some pillars to build my career:

1)????? Yourself.

It is my belief that to succeed, we must first believe that we can. Have so much firm faith in yourself that even if the whole world says you can’t do it, your ruthless grit and tenacity will guide you to prove the world wrong.

2)????? Family, friends, and work support

I am very lucky to have the best backbone with my wife and kids. They motivate me to conquer new heights when everyone thinks I already plateaued.

John S., ECE, CISSP . thank you brother for showing me the first steps on this journey. Agayamannak kabsat!

Andrew LaBrunda and Jennilyn LaBrunda , you guys are cybersecurity power couple! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on my preparation strategies and your words of encouragement. All those pep talks are worth their weight in gold! Still looking forward to learning more cybersecurity things from you!

Gene Crisostomo and John Angoco , none of this was possible without the management backing and thrust I got from you. Your leadership has fostered serious growth with the people under you. I am thankful to you and the whole GTA leadership!

Benjamin Guerrero , thanks for allowing me to quiz you with CISSP topics. It has helped me scope and tailor my approach in the preparation. Looking forward to your further assistance with the endorsement Sir!

Jeric Hernandez , this guy is a firewall beast! Cisco, Fortinet, Palo Alto, this guy is the guy in network security and defense. Salamat Partner for encouraging me during the days I thought the breadth of content was drowning me.

3)????? Learn from the BEST

If you want to be in the best form during the exam, you should efficiently study and learn from best.

Here are the steps I took during my preparation:

Week1-2

·?????? Started with Mike Chapple videos in LinkedIn Learning. This is the best introduction for those visual learners like me. It is the condensed CISSP Official Study Guide (OSG) in video form. Also watched Kelly Handerhan Cybrary CISSP training which provided a different perspective to the explanations. Watch, jot notes, watch again and soon you will have covered the CISSP domains.

·?????? Read end-to-end Destination CISSP: A Concise Guide from Team Destination Certification Inc. . Rob Witcher , John Berti CISSP,CCSP,CISM,SSCP , Lou H. , Nick Mitropoulos you guys are rockstars! I never thought I would rediscover my love for reading from a cybersecurity book. The book is written to be easily digestible while at the same time providing the best amount of depth to cover all domains. With just the opening chapters, I was so confident that this is the only book I needed to read for this journey.

Week3

·?????? Week before exam, watched Pete Zerger, vCISO, CISSP CISSP Exam cram videos, Andrew Ramdayal 50 CISSP Questions and Destination Certification Inc. Mindmaps to polish and somehow do a spaced repetition the concepts I learned from the book.

·?????? On the day of the exam, I watched Kelly Handerhan Why you will pass the CISSP exam. This video really drilled down the message from my learning that you must approach the exam with a manager’s mindset and not a technical person. I was not there to resolve the issue but to advise senior management on how to best approach the security problem.

·?????? Before and during all of this, I was taking around 2000 questions from Learnzap’s CISSP app. The questions showed my weak areas to focus on.

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4)????? He who is above all else

This should not need much explanation. I exist because of Him and I learn because of His grace. He allowed all this to happen and I am forever grateful!

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The exam was not easy and it is more of a comprehension test. It is a shift of mindset from the exams I am used to in the networking industry. The closest is the CCDE written but it is still a mile apart. Almost all the questions I kept on second-guessing myself. I already accepted that I will retake the exam after it ended at question 125. Luckily I didn't have to and was greeted with the big old Congratulations! All the preparations leading to this was worth it.

Now on to the next challenges and certifications for 2024 after some hours with NBA2K4 and binge-watching Avatar for the week. :)

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#cybersecurity #cissp #2024goals #mambamentality