GMON and GNFA
Another four years gone and time to renew certifications… but since there's no budget, I'm faced with the choice of renewing out of pocket or just letting them lapse. Each certification costs $479. That's not nothing. What would I actually get out of it? I'd have active certifications, which might give some people the impression I know what I'm talking about in those areas. Maybe lead to a pay rise, etc.
The problem is I've never actually experienced that. I've never been paid more for upgrading qualifications, nobody at interviews has ever cared whether they were active or lapsed. And if I'm spending nearly $1,000 of my own money, the only benefit I'd really get is updated study materials. Which is probably the only tangible benefit anyway.
So I'll let both certifications lapse. My employer clearly doesn't consider it important — otherwise they'd have $1,000 in the budget — and personally it's not something I can't live without. The material itself is interesting and does broaden your horizons, at least at the time. But you need to keep learning and developing continuously regardless.
Which is also, incidentally, why I don't have GCIH — when I attended the SEC504 training, the content wasn't new to me. Yes, I saw things from a somewhat broader perspective and got to look at them from the attacker's side, but the added value wasn't really there. And I see these certifications the same way now — they don't add enough value for me personally.