My 45-Day Journey to CISSP Certification ( How I ate CISSP with Tocino for breakfast)

"They told me it cannot be done and that is why this one is for the books for 2022, a milestone unlocked, an achievement that inspires me and hopefully others who are in the same journey."

I have always been encouraging my technical folks to get training and certifications for domains related to our industry, one of which is the CISSP. For folks who are not familiar with this certification, this is like one of the holy grail of cybersecurity certifications largely because of its passing rate ( approx 20%) as well as the massive amount of domains that you need to learn and understand ( 8 security domains). Thus, you can imagine that this is something that most people try to shy away from due to the amount of time it takes to prepare as well as the intense pressure of passing the exam where most folks fail the first time around, and understandably so. Juggling work and learning has never been an easy feat, it is a balancing act that requires a clever and smart way of managing one's time especially when you throw in family time in the picture.

However, one afternoon in October, I dropped the bomb that my tech folks was not ready to hear. I challenged them to a 60-day CISSP journey. As expected, they thought I was not serious. Usual preparation time in the industry is 6 months and a 2 month journey seems out of reach. Thus, to make sure they know that I am really determined, I gamified it and told them if they can do it in 2 months, I will give them a reward and alongside that I will embark on the CISSP journey as well - now at this rate I know they are thinking I am a bit crazy. Well, even my husband thought so. He can't fathom how I will do it in 60 days as he sees how busy I am juggling CEO work, Stanford Learning , family time and to throw this in seems crazy. What he did not even know is that I had set a personal goal of accomplishing it in 30 days. (Yes, I know, nutcase!) I understand all their worries and concern , I really do , but the moment I wanted to achieve something, I know I have to scratch that itch or it will always bug me and rub me off my peace of mind.

Because of this, there had been an air of fun and challenge in the office -

"Will the tech folks and CEO be able to do it?"

There were countdowns:

" 30 days and counting to awesomeness..."

It had been a buzzword in the office and we find ourselves discussing what we have been learning in this CISSP journey. I thought this journey alone is already worth it, with or without certification. The path to learning is what I am most interested in for my team to embark on. I wanted them to challenge themselves and not be hindered by fear .

I want them to know that it is all right to be vulnerable sometimes - I opened myself up as an exhibit of taking BIG THINGS on, even if it looks impossible.

The moment I started on the journey is when I realized how crazy I was - it was really difficult. Admittedly, I did not anticipate that there was a book that I had to read more than 1200++ pages long, a book thicker than my calculus books in college. I thought I just had to watch x hours of video online and I can already do it.

However, here's the thing - something that I tell my team.

Once I make a decision, I always ensure that I make that decision right.

To make that decision right means I have to be very very smart in managing my time as well as in how I approach the preparation. That is the first thing I have done - I have reassessed and readjusted based on new data on my hands. I calculated the time I need for each domain to be able to reach my goal and my timeline that I had set for myself.

I woke up earlier than usual and literally ate CISSP for breakfast. My 8-5 was still meant for meetings and CEO stuff. My evenings and car rides meant I had to listen to Kelly Handerhan's videos ( she is too awesome btw) . Weekends meant also waking up early in the morning crunching every page of Mike Chapple's book so that I can still spend time with the kids for most of the time. I had dated each chapter so that I know when I can finish the whole book which meant I had assigned one day each for most of the chapters ( there were a total of 20 chapters).

Here's the thing though, just when you are really trying to do something is when challenges pour in --

"COVID Struck. Uh Oh!"

COVID may come but I did not let it get in the way between me and my overly ambitious CISSP Goal. Though I had some down time as I was really very sick at that time, the moment I started to recover on Day 4 was when I started to really get back on track . Since I could not be in the office as I needed to isolate still, I used the setback as an opportunity to focus on this undertaking.

Then came the moment of truth. I had finished all my preparation and I was contemplating if I should already take the exam or prepare some more. This was again another decision point - should I push it now or should I prepare some more? At this point, I was already on my 38th or 39th day. I was talking to some of my leaders and just telling them my options - postpone it until I get back from Singapore ( Govware) or schedule the exam before I leave. In the end I decided to take the latter. I wanted to focus on the Govware without thinking of anything else, and I cannot be spending more time on this as I had other endeavours to fulfill. Thus I scheduled it on Oct 14th, the 45th day of my journey.

October 14 came and I was really nervous. I do not usually get nervous on exams. As nerdy as I am, I usually look forward to some exams. This one is different. Before taking the exam though, I prayed and lifted it all up to God. For me , I have done my part - I had done my preparations and it is now up to God's will if it will be part of His plan to give it to me. And there it is :

After the 125th question , the computer showed this: "Your exam has ended. Please go to the counter to claim your results."

Now this can mean one of two things:

One - you had so many mistakes that the computer determinded that you don't need to finish the 175 questions because you will surely fail

OR

Two - the computer determined that you had already passed the exam at 125 questions and there is no need to continue to the 175 questions.

When I went to the counter the examiner looked at the Results and then looked at me without smiling. I was thinking. "Oh shoot . That can't be good" When I saw the letter, it says

Congratulations! You have provisionally passed your CISSP exam

I went back to the office , gathered the team and told them about the results. It was my 45th day from the day I started to prepare. Their reaction was priceless - I knew at that time that they know they can set big goals for themselves. Even if it may seem impossible , they know that it is possible to achieve them , as long as they focus and put their heart into it.

I would not have done it without God's guidance, my team's encouragement and trust, and my family's understanding of my busy times during that period. This journey is something that I will always remember. To God be the glory. =)

Note: To anyone who have some questions on my journey and want to know some preparation tips , do know that I am not an expert on this , but I can try to answer them as best I could. You may send me a message and I would gladly share my approach and the resources I used.