Benefits of the CCSK in Your Job Search

Considering whether or not to earn your Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK)? Obviously, we are biased, but Michael Benavidez, a Technical Writer at Securitas, was kind enough to share his experience earning the CCSK and how that impacted his job search.

Michael Benavidez’s Experience Earning the CCSK

In 2019 I had been working at a security contracting company for four years in my first technical writing role. I became aware of and interested in cloud security because my work involved the dealings of a large technology company that was one of our clients. I had been looking for my next step and did some more research on the fast-growing field of cloud security and certificates that could apply to someone with my general experience.

This lead me to learn about the CCSK and Peter van Eijk’s training program. I enrolled in summer and began tackling courses and readings at my own pace, gradually building my knowledge of fundamental CCSK concepts and how they applied (or how they could apply) to my role. I learned just as much from discussions I had with Peter and other classmates as I did from the material itself. By the time next spring rolled around I felt prepared to take the exam, and was quite pleased to pass on my first attempt.

By summer 2020 I had begun interviewing for many roles I felt were more closely aligned with a field where the CCSK would be a benefit. After a month or so of applications, my schedule began to fill up with more and more interview requests, and I feel the presence of the CCSK on my resume was a big help in standing out from the crowd. It was definitely a topic of conversation in the interview for the position I would eventually accept as my next job.

Overall, within a year of earning my CCSK, I was able to negotiate my way into an exciting new role with bigger benefits and compensation at a virtualization company where I support a cloud security product that puts many of the CCSK domains into practice. I highly recommend the CCSK to anyone looking to build a career in cloud security.