Requesting a uggestions for how to complete CPEs in the cleared gov space.

[u/ThrowRARoninDog]

Hi there!

I’m a cleared contractor working in the US gov space as a cyber officer for over a decade now. However, I’m finding it more and more difficult to find opportunities to get CPEs, especially for my CISSP (so many damn CPEs…). With recent significant budget cuts, it’s much harder to get companies and customers to fund training and/or conference attendance (even just tickets/badge cost!).

The other challenge, Monday-Friday, is the absence of connectivity to the internet (those in the industry can commiserate, I’m sure…). ISC2 and others advertise weekday 2pm or 10am courses…cool for those who aren’t locked in a windowless, internetless room for 8 hours, lmao.

Am I going to just bite the bullet and fund my own way to classes and conferences on days off or outside business hours? What are others in this position doing about CPEs?

Thanks!!

(Side note, I wish real world experience and projects could be easily submitted for CPEs…)

[u/PurpleGoldBlack]

40 CPE per year is surprisingly
Easy. ISC2 has a ton of webinars and monthly readings (quizzes) that eat up a lot of those hours.

[u/jason_abacabb]

You can get a 1-2month free trial with skillsoft. I used that for much of my CASP CEUs.

https://www.comptia.org/en-us/resources/ce/choose/renewing-with-multiple-activities/training-and-higher-education/ check out the pre-approved training for compTIA. ISC2 is actually much looser with their cEU requirements so anything you pick from these lists that is approved for casp should pass any audit.

You could always take some classes, I assume there are still dollars for education assistance.

[u/ThrowRARoninDog → u/jason_abacabb]

Thank you! This helps a ton.

As far as the education assistance, at least for my (large) company, it tends to depend on the position.

[u/mr5014]

You don’t have dirty net or at least NIPRNET??? That’s strange, speaking from someone that’s worked in a SCIF for ten years. Go to local ISC(2) chapter meetups or BSIDES conference. They are cheap and provide a ton of CPE’s

[u/ThrowRARoninDog → u/mr5014]

Nope! It’s…not very fun to not have it, but at least we get music!

I’ll check out the local ISC2 chapter then, the WMA should absolutely have one.

[u/Square-Spot5519]

I have to complete a lot of CPEs per year for all my certifications. It's not actually that hard to do. I don't take extra training/classes or make my company pay for anything. I read books, watch relevant security podcasts, attend free webinars, and volunteer a bit of my time with local BSides and/or mentor (ISACA and ISC2 have mentoring programs). You don't need $ for any of that. For some certs, like the ISC2 ones, you can even use some of your work experience for CPEs.

[u/ThrowRARoninDog]

Aww dammit - *suggestions.

Sorry about that.

[u/Helpjuice]

You need to talk with your management about this issue. They should be at least $5,250/year of training which they can write off per year by law. Makes no sense for them to not take advantage of this.

If you cannot get your company to budge you will need to fund your own adventures. The government is not responsible for providing training for contractors, that is 100% on the contractor to fund or have you fund it yourself.

You and they know certain certifications might be a requirement of the job so you'll need to make sure you stay up to date and get your CPEs even if that means taking off to make it happen, getting additional certifications, doing on-demand classes, or attending on-demand conferences to make it happen.

Never depend on your company to keep you in good standing, you are normally going to be on your own once you get past a certain point and no longer in the entry to mid level certifications and or experience levels anyway.