Cybersecurity Mentors Podcast
In this podcast we discuss mentoring in cybersecurity, information for those that are looking to get into cybersecurity, and tips for those that are looking to advance their careers.
Check out our community: https://www.skool.com/the-cybersecurity-mentors
Cybersecurity Mentors Podcast
We Tested ACI Learning’s Security+ Bundle — Here’s What We Found
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Send us Fan Mail and we can reply directly!
In this episode of the Cyber Security Mentals podcast, hosts Steve and John delve into effective strategies for studying cybersecurity. They discuss the importance of structured learning, hands-on labs, and consistent practice, while exploring the challenges of self-paced learning. The episode highlights the benefits of programs like ACI Learning and the value of certifications such as A+, Network+, and Security+. Engaging, interactive content and practice tests are emphasized as key to maintaining motivation and momentum in the learning journey.
Why Structure Beats Motivation
SPEAKER_01The best learning program is the one you follow and finish. So experience may vary, but it's one that we think is a good one that we we have interacted with, gone through the training, and it's it's a recommendation.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. We've said it again and again, right? Learning has to be fun. It's not fun. It's gonna be very hard for you to continue that momentum and keep moving forward.
SPEAKER_02Could you teach me? Half of us learn stand, then learn fly. Make your old dungeon, not the mind.
SPEAKER_03I know what you're trying to do. I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it. What is the most inspiring thing I ever said to you? Don't be an idiot. Changed my life.
SPEAKER_00We aren't here to waste your time with buzzwords. In IT and cybersecurity, what you know and what you can do makes all the difference. We are ACI Learning. Training built for novices and pros who need measurable results. Hands-on labs, real-world checks, courses that get you certified and ready for what's next. Build confidence, strengthen defenses, achieve more. Visit acilearning.com slash simply cyber to learn more.
Beginner Study Challenges In Cybersecurity
SPEAKER_04Today we're talking about something almost every beginner asks us, and that is, how do I study for cybersecurity in a way that actually works and actually gets me to the finish line? And there are a ton of resources out there. We mention that almost in every single episode. We are big uh pushers for hey, you can do this alone if you would like. But there is a problem, right? There's just so much out there that sometimes you just people get overwhelmed, they're bouncing between YouTube videos, random courses online, and just eventually lose momentum. There's just too much at one time. So today we're focusing on what actually helps you stay on track and pass things like structure, consistency, hands-on labs, accountability, and knowing when you're when you're actually ready to take those exams or take those next steps in your career. So if you're starting in cybersecurity, restarting, or trying to figure out what the best path is for you, this one's gonna help you. So let's jump in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's a great uh lead up. So I mean, everybody knows there's so much content, and as as Steve just said, it is overwhelming. There's two it's a good problem, but it is a problem. It is, it's there's so many options, so many courses, so many YouTube channels, so many, so many, so much content, right? So much, so much. Um, which which is good. That means you have options, but obviously you can easily get lost. You can get overwhelmed and lost and and uh not know how do I move from A to B? How do I make sure that I'm making progress on myself and in my learning? Um, do I choose this certificate? Do I choose that certificate? And how do I know when I'm ready for those exams and and ready to take the the exam?
Structured Vs DIY Learning Paths
SPEAKER_01Um, so this is kind of us talking about structured versus unstructured learning. I mean, generally, um, you can just like DIY it, just like Steve said, right? You can go through and all right, I'm gonna I'm gonna pick Linux and I'm gonna learn Linux, I'm gonna get get to that certificate level, go take that test. I'm gonna do Windows and maybe Windows system administration, I'm gonna go do that and go take that test. And then generally you're kind of building your foundations and your curriculum as you go. Um, but what we see when we talk to learners is they lose momentum, they lose mo you know, they lose motivation. Life happens. If you're you know switching careers and you've got normal family stuff, and you're trying to make that progress each day to make sure you're moving forward, um, it it's challenging, and you will likely get paused. Like something's gonna happen, and not bad necessarily, but something's gonna happen, and you're gonna have a break in your training, and then you're kind of rebuilding that all over again. You're trying to get that momentum going again of like, okay, where did I where did I leave off? How did I uh how do I keep moving forward again after I've paused in what I was doing? So um, you know, we're trying to kind of look at this in different two different ways. You definitely can do that and do it yourself, but an option is to find something that has more structure to it that basically gives it all out to you, lays it all out there. Here's what you need to do from A to Z, whatever, and you know, you can step through each pay each part of that training. And so our sponsors, ACI Learning, shared their training platform with us, and we we jumped into it and got in there and played around. They
Vetting Courses And Avoiding Hype
SPEAKER_01gave us a little walkthrough, and um, and that's basically their big their big selling point is that they do offer you this structure, structured learning. And that way you don't have to think about it. You can think about what what I'm trying to learn. I'm trying to learn this topic, I'm trying to memorize these concepts, I'm trying to get ready for this exam. Um, and I think that's that's a big bonus with their platform is how they take away that extra stress, because it is, it's it takes energy from you, takes it takes just the brain power to like, okay, am I following a plan? Does what does it look like and does it make sense? So, Steve, what are your what's your take on that?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, no, I completely agree. I think some of the other uh pain points are, you know, how like like if I'm if I'm new, if I'm new to the field, I'm trying to get, I'm trying to take my first steps in and I'm trying to figure out where to start, you know, we talked about it. There's so many options, but how do I know the option I am picking is actually a good one, right? Like how, like, if I don't even know, you know, kind of where I I want to take my career or how do I want to, you know, evolve it, how how am I expected to know that the YouTube video or YouTube videos that I'm picking to to learn from are actually good, are actually teaching me legit content. Like, how do I know that? I mean, it's tough, you know, you have to kind of roll the dice sometimes. And you know, nowadays people like nice things, people like fancy things. If you have a video with a person that spends the money to make it flashy and make it nice, good video quality, lighting, all that, you're going to like that. But if their content is trash, you're just hurting yourself. When if you go to watch a different person who may not be spending all that money, time, and effort making their video super nice and beautiful, but they actually have hands-on real-world experience and they're they're teaching you based off what they've experienced and what they see day in and day out. You don't know the value that that person is giving you. You're solely focused on the production. And that's a lot of the things that happen, right? I've seen some people on YouTube, they go all out on production, they do a lot of things. But when I actually watch their videos and listen to the advice and content they're giving people, I'm like, oh this is horrible. This this is not gonna get you where you want to go. But I get it, you know, like how how are we expected, or how are people, new people starting, expected to know if they are actually getting real, legitimate, honest, good content from someone if they're just getting started. And I think that's where working with a company like this or someone who's established, someone who has the reputation, who has good reviews, who who you can go and and verify and confirm that what they do actually works is a huge plus. Because that's another, that's one less stress you have to worry about.
Building A Solid Cert Sequence
SPEAKER_04Because that's another thing, you know, we've heard it. We've heard, hey, I found this course on Udemy, or I found this this group of videos on YouTube, and I thought that's all I needed to go get my security plus certification, and I failed horribly. And it's like, you know, they just wasted time, money, and effort when they could have just gone to a reputable platform and been able to, you know, save themselves time, money, and effort.
SPEAKER_01You know, that's the difference between a somebody that puts a bunch of videos on YouTube and a company that this is all they do, right? This is it. This is what they're built to do, this is what they built their platform on, the investment they've made to share and make sure it's good quality content. It's a difference, right? You can tell the difference. It's not just the production quality, but it's the here's everything you get, right? Here's all the stuff you need to prepare to learn this concept or learn this topic. Um, which I I do I don't I don't think should be understated. It's it's like, hey, you know, you can go find this for free, or you can go take something that spend a little investment in, invest in yourself, and and get more out of it that you know is going to help you get there. And this kind of what we do, right, when we help others that are learning, is we try to help give them that structure. We use different things, it mostly free things, but we try to at least give them structure so that they know what their steps are. All right, here I am, here's what I've done. And a lot of times we have to shift those based off of what's going on in their life. Like, okay, I I I got so I got sidetracked on this thing, and now I'm back to it, right? And so it it is challenging to keep up with that the plan. Basically, we're always keeping updating the plan and make sure everybody has a good plan that they're following. One statistic that we have here is um 80% of self-paced drop out uh drop out of courses, right? So if you're self-paced, but you don't follow in, you don't follow up on the training that you're doing, and you get stuck or you get lost or you just kind of give up, right? Now, from our experience, I could definitely see that where it you just lose momentum, you lose your, you know, you know, you just get burned out. I don't know. What do you think, Steve?
Conversational Teaching And Engagement
SPEAKER_04I think I mean from the conversations I've had with individuals who have reached out to us to ask us, hey, this is kind of what I've started to do. Can you just give me some thoughts? Give me a thumbs up, thumbs down, give me your thoughts if this is this is gonna help me get to where I want to go. And when we're having those conversations, I think a lot of the issue is they start down a path, but they deep down, they kind of need that like reassurance from someone, right? Like, yes, this is going to help you, right? Because, like I said earlier, you're kind of just rolling the dice. Like, if you don't know if you're coming in brand spanking new and you're just trying to get into the field, again, so many options. It's hard to just pick one. And I think part of the problem is just not having that like reassurance, like, am I wasting my time? Like, is this actually gonna get me from A to B? You know, like the person I'm watching is telling me, but like, how do I know? Again, it goes back to the credentials, it goes back to like, how do I know that this is not just BS, right? Um, and I think part of part of the reason why we're talking about this now is we want to help people succeed. I mean, that's that's bottom line, right? And based on what we've seen, yes, you can get to where you want to alone by yourself using free resources, but it requires a lot of time, effort, and dedication. And some people who are transitioning into the field, they don't have that, right? That is just stress and work. That why even bother when there's something structured that works that you can go into at a reasonable price and have a lot of additional benefits and a lot of support too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and they gave us access to like
Hands‑On Labs And Skills Practice
SPEAKER_01their, I think it's the security plus bundle, which includes A plus, network plus, and security plus. So everything you need to learn those. And that's basically what we tell people. Like, look, we pretty much tell people, hey, start with your A plus, get that done, because if you don't understand some of the fundamentals of computers and network a little bit of networking, and especially with the network plus that adds on top of that, to build that base and then add on top of their security, then you really are going to struggle when you just jump into security plus. You're not gonna be able to connect the dots between, okay, this is what the security side of that is, but what does that mean for the end user? What does that mean from the networking perspective? So I I think that the way that that is a good bundle. That's pretty much what we tell people. Hey, go do your A plus. If you've never done anything, get your A plus, get it done, right? Because now you understand the nuts and bolts. Then the add on top of that, the networking piece of that. You can maybe do security plus and then networking, but just make sure you do the networking. I mean, networking is is is king in different ways. Um, but it it is, I mean, ideally, it's it's a great combination to have those three and then keep adding, you know, it's not done. All right, I'm done, I'm good to go, now I can go get a job. It's a good base foundation, and so that's what they gave us access to, which I think is a great way to bundle it. What do you what do you think?
SPEAKER_04No, yeah, I think that was another reason why we decided to work with ACI Learning and partner with them because a lot of the stuff that they were offering were things that we were recommending people to do, right? And there was a lot of um putting things together for individuals that we would recommend things when I saw kind of went through their walkthrough and saw everything that they had, right? From the actual videos to the to the the quizzes, the the practice tests, the labs. I mean, a lot, a lot, a lot of the stuff that we tell people, hey, you should do this, you should do some form of this. Here's a couple things that we recommend. They were already doing it. It was already bundled into this like pre-made package that has basically everything you need. And yes, if we personally could meet with everybody and walk through things with people and show them and kind of hold their hand through the beginning of things, we would do it. Unfortunately, we can't. But working with a program like this, I feel like they actually do that. They they are there to support you and help you answer your questions, guide you. So I I think I think it worked out great. Going from A to Network Plus to Security Plus, though that's the fundamentals. And it's working with CompTIA, which has been around for forever. Every entry-level position would require some level of certification from that company. I mean, that
Step‑By‑Step Labs And Real Tasks
SPEAKER_04that's just kind of where we are right now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'll talk about Comptia right quick. So I know I'm old. I got I got my A plus certification. I want to say this is probably 19 Man, 1997. Maybe 98 is when I've got my uh Comptea certification. A plus, sorry, A plus certification. So it was um, you know, I was in I did do I do an in-person class. They didn't have online learning like we do now, um, back then, but basically went to a class, I think it was two weeks, and they went through the material, went through the content, and um studied for it, and then had to do additional studying, right? But but it was nice to do the hands-on part in class, um, and then went and took the test, you know, and it was great. I mean, it was a great fundamental thing. I still think it's great, and they keep updating it, which is good. Um, but on that side note, on just like the way that ACI presents their content, and you see a lot of these courses that are out there, there's so many courses, right? It's mostly a speaker presenting to you. So there's not really connection, it's just most of the time, it's like you know, a person talking, talking at you, really. Like they're not really talking with you, there's not really interaction. So one thing that I like that they do uh with ACI is it's two people having a conversation about whatever the topic is, and it makes it more enjoyable to listen to. You know, if you're just listening to somebody drawn on and it's just one way and they're just telling you facts and figures and notes, it gets boring. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, right? It gets boring. So I do like this approach that they have of having a conversational style where these they're just back and forth and discussing a topic, trying to make sure they cover everything. They also give you the transcript for the whole conversation as well. But that's just a unique approach that they have
Practice Tests: Learning And Exam Modes
SPEAKER_01in their training that I think is beneficial.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I think I I definitely agree with you. That was one of the things that I noticed was it's kind of like uh like a talk show, right? You have two people having a conversation about a topic and you're just you're just kind of like the third person kind of watching. Um, and it is it is different having somebody, again, like you said, talking at you, uh trying to teach you, trying to describe things when you have two different people kind of talking about it together and giving their thoughts, their opinions, and just phrasing it in a way that would make sense to me if I was outside looking in, kind of like listening to two people discuss a topic, like, oh, I get that, you know, like that that actually makes sense. So simplifying it and kind of breaking it down. Um, and it's not just you trying to do that yourself in your head when you're hearing or seeing someone talking at you, you know, they're kind of doing that already. So I thought that was pretty neat. Um, and I like kind of like that. Also, just the way the production, again, we kind of talked about production, right? Like very professional, different camera angles, like you can kind of just see that it's it's entertaining, and that that's that's also one of the reasons why I like them because some of the stuff that you find on YouTube that is very just one person talking at you can be boring, just like you said, John, right? And this is more of a production, like actual, like kind of like a show, which in my opinion, I would enjoy watching that and learning it from in that environment than I would just one speaker PowerPoint slide on the screen, just kind of very like dull.
SPEAKER_01So, yeah, um, and
Knowing When You’re Exam Ready
SPEAKER_01speaking of that, you know, when we did our our training course, that's what we did. It was us together talking about the the topics, you know, and maybe not quite like a TV show, but but I do think I like doing it with another person with you. Um, I think it adds some flavor to it, it makes it more um enjoyable than just a person. On the hands-on part of what they do, and and we obviously we preach hands-on, right? Hands-on and get reps with hands-on as much as possible. I think they they have a cool way to approach it when we play with their labs and their skills lab. And the skills lab is unique. I haven't seen other platforms do something similar with the Skills Lab specifically for the A plus training, right? Because it's a virtual course, so it's gonna be tough to, unless somebody ships you all these parts, to build or replace a keyboard in a laptop or change the battery or whatever, right? Um, it's gonna be tough to do that. So they try to give it to you in a way that's fun. It's easy to kind of go through all the steps, but you get some kind of hands-on reps with it, right? So this morning I was playing with it, and it was just that it was there's a keyboard for a laptop that needs to be replaced, and you have to go through, and it gives you the way they make it interactive is is neat, it's different. It's it's easy to click through and pick things. So you had to take the screws out of the back, you know, flip the laptop over, take the screws out, and then flip
Bundles, Pricing, And Vouchers
SPEAKER_01it back over, take the keyboard out, remove the ribbon, and then get the other part, put that in, plug in the ribbon, you know, flip everything over to put the screws in. So pretty simple. But that, oh, okay, that's what it's like. Like you could read about that in the book, and maybe even watch a video on this is how you change a keyboard for a laptop. But it's cool to be able to, like, oh, okay, I can see here the snapping of the ribbon, right? There's a piece here that I need to do, and it's not, is it as same as doing it in person? No, it's not, but it is a cool way to get some practice with it, and you've seen it in a lab setting. My recommendation was be try to also incorporate as much hands-on as you can, but you can do both, you know, having that as a platform that you can walk through it. Oh, okay, let me go get something that I could also try to get some hands-on experience with, too, like in-person hands-on. But I think that's a cool um setup. And then I also played with their lab labs, like their normal labs, that you go in and spin up virtual machines. And what I liked about theirs, and this is similar to other platforms, but I like that it seemed faster to me, like it didn't take a long time to spin up these virtual machines. They give you very direct steps, which I liked a lot. Like a lot of these, you know, platforms are like, hey, go figure it out. You know, here's your question, figure out the answer. But that's fine. But you know, for me, I think it was very nice of like to go through, it's more important to get the reps in. I preach this all the time, than it is for me to sit here and and puzzle out what you're trying to get me to do. I could sit here and look at this question and be like, I don't know, I'm gonna go click five different things and and maybe I get stuck, versus like do this, then do this, then do this, then do this. And so going through those steps, I thought I found it very responsive. I found it fast, I found that they were good concepts that they did.
Wishlist: Community And Instructor Access
SPEAKER_01Um, it was like two Windows machines and a Cali box and a little network. Perfect, right? Um, I the way I equate this to is kind of like walkthroughs, and I and I recommend using walkthroughs as a way to learn like offensive security, for example. You get a capture of the flag, you know, somebody's already done this this scenario, like a hack the box type scenario. Here's the walkthrough. That's great. Use that walkthrough, do what they did, right? And go through each step, and then you get those reps in. You're not sitting there stuck of like, man, I don't know what to do here, then you give up. So that's kind of the way that they structure the labs. It's it's a step this, step this, step this, and very descriptive, which I like that approach versus other platforms where it's like spin up the VM or VMs and they give you some general guidance, maybe a hint if you get stuck, but they're asking you questions versus do this. Yeah, that's it. What you got?
SPEAKER_04No, I completely agree. I think uh going back a little bit to what how you started talking about kind of like the hardware simulations for the A plus labs, that was very interesting. That was unique. And I think, yes, obviously, the best thing you could do is actually get actual hardware, get yourself a little workbench in your your home, office, wherever, and break things and try and put them together. That's the best thing you can do. The next best thing is something like what they offer, which is their virtual um kind of labs. And, you know, some people may starting brand new, they may not have multiple uh laptops or other hardware equipment that they can use to break apart and put together and kind of learn. So this is definitely another solution to be able to still achieve some level of practice and hands-on visual kind of learning instead of all doing is just video or book knowledge and not actually seeing how the parts
Final Advice And How To Get Help
SPEAKER_04work, how things move around and stuff like that. So I thought that was actually very fun and and unique. And there were some cool Easter eggs that they showed, so some interactive elements to keep uh things interesting and fun. So I thought that was that was a nice little twist that you know they didn't have to, but they went above and beyond to do that. And I thought it, I thought it was nice. I thought it was it was cool. Um, going back to what you were talking about, the hands-on virtual labs, I completely agree. Part of the issue we have with things like try hack me or hack the box is like you said, they just throw you in there and say, figure it out. I need you to answer this question, figure it out. With this, they actually give you step-by-step instructions on how to do how to do things. Uh, you still have to answer some questions, but it's like it walks you through it more in more detail than just throwing you into the fire and telling you to figure it out. And like you said, John, I completely agree. I myself learn more by doing than spending an hour or two trying to Google or chat GPT how you know how to do certain things that they are wanting me to do, or even how to figure it out. Because sometimes they don't even give you that many instructions. So I thought that was very unique. I also like just how quick they were. You you mentioned that as well, and it was pretty straightforward. And from the ones that I saw when we were in there playing around, a lot of the tasks that they are having you do are things that you will actually do in the real world. So that was another plus for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the Easter eggs, I was gonna say, yeah, those are cool, right? There's this little things in the virtual environment, you're like, oh, this is kind of like I'm working in a real environment that I thought that was cool. Like, like you said, they didn't really need to do that, but it adds a little bit of fun and flair to it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I those are the things that I think matter, right? Like yeah, when you are learning something new and you are learning something, period, you want it to be fun. If it is just dull and just boring, like that's gonna be a little harder for you to come back for more. And I think that's one of the big things here. The other thing I wanted to bring up was practice tests, the practice test and kind of how their whole practice test setup worked, where they had two different kinds of modes that you can do, which was one, uh, I believe it was the learning mode, where you uh you attempt to answer questions and you get instant feedback on your responses, whether you got it correct, whether you got it wrong, and why. And then they had the actual exam mode, which was very realistic. It was timed. You get so many questions out of this question pool that they have, and it's more realistic and more prep for like, hey, I think I'm getting ready to go and take my actual exam. You know, I'm gonna use this exam mode for these practice tests to really test myself. They're gonna be very realistic and again, coming from a large pool of questions that they offered. So I thought that I thought having those options available to you from the get-go just by having this bundle, a huge plus. Because a lot of the things that we recommend people to do is try and find different resources to get you your the training that you need. But really, what's going to help you the most is those practice tests, getting you used to that mindset because you might know the knowledge, you might know the information. But if you're not able to quickly kind of read through a scenario or read through a question and spot what's not a good answer or what is a good answer, then you may be knowledgeable about the topics. But when you go into that test environment where you're timed, you got so many questions you need to answer, and they're being asked the same questions being asked three, four, five, six different ways. Like that is really where whether you're a good test taker or not, that will affect you. So being able to do that from the very beginning when you're going through your training before you go and attempt your actual certification exam, huge plus.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um, I mean, I think that was one of the things I was looking at too, is like how do you know when you're ready? And I think they give you enough tools to understand. You can obviously you can take the test as many times as you want to. Um, and I would recommend it, right? But drill in after you take the test, you're like, all right, I'm I'm I'm lacking in this gap. Go back to the content, go back to the labs, you know, rehash that stuff just like normal. But I felt like it it felt organic in the way the exams are and and easy to kind of see clearly where you are, what you're missing. But it's big it's built into the bundle. You don't have to go pay for another thing that's separate, right? So you got your training, your labs, and the exam that's all baked into the bundle, which is nice. It's a one one-stop shop.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. And the good thing about this bundle, like we were talking about earlier, is you're getting three certifications out potentially at once, meaning you're getting the training and knowledge that you need for A, then you're getting the training and knowledge that you need for network plus, and then for Security Plus. Now, all these are very important because depending on where you land in terms of if you're brand new, you're transitioning, you have some IT experience, or you don't, will depend which one of those certifications. Maybe you already have some, maybe you don't, where you start. But we are we're talking about the bundle, but they offer these individually as well, with the same type of learning structure, the labs, the the realistic uh experience. exam questions and practice tests. So just wanted to make sure that everybody was aware of that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And just a couple things. I mean, it's not just some recommendations. You know, if we were going to add some things to what they offer, um, I think are nice to have. They're not must-have, but I think it would be nice is some part of community that you could add to the bundle or to the course that you're taking where you could interact with others. It gets a little hairy, right? It can be a headache trying to manage community as we know, trying to keep up that community and monitor that community and deal with it. But it but a forum or something that you could uh work with or to ask questions with peers and and maybe meet peers that are on the same journey as you it's a nice to have it's not a must-have but it it could be nice. And then you know the if you get stuck I think they do a really good job of giving you everything you need but maybe more interaction with the the the teachers or whoever right like hey I'm not understanding this concept can I phone a friend you know from ACI and just get a question in there.
SPEAKER_04I don't I don't think I saw something specific there they do have a help desk but that's more like if you something's not working right so that's kind of part of that community thing having a way to not like a hey go teach me this thing because I get that's not part of the way they're structured and the way their learning is but um again a nice to have would be hey can I just interact with um somebody that could help me talk me through this concept or ask questions too I think would be nice as well yep I would agree I think one of the other things I wanted to bring up was you know yes we absolutely enjoyed the walkthrough we absolutely like how ACI learning is tackling this what they bring to the table what they offer for a very very reasonable price and that that was another great thing that we liked about them was I mean you guys know us here, right? We preach like hey there's a lot of stuff out there that you can do for low low low price and this is definitely one of them that they offer a great value for your dollar. They absolutely do. And at the end of it you know you are prepped and ready to go and take your exams. One of the questions we did ask them was if they had any sort of um potential uh discount or any sort of assistance or anything when it came to actual testing vouchers for these exams and we're waiting to hear back but we will hopefully by the time this goes live we'll have an answer for you and we'll put it in the description of the video but that is something else that I would I would recommend if we if the answer we get is no, that is something where they could also improve their value and improve kind of what they're offering to their students by having some level of either discount or some assistance or something like that, right? I mean they're doing all the heavy lifting they're prepping you for it. If possible it'd be nice to add that at the end again when you're gonna go and take your exam to take some sort of a discount. But yeah so going back to what I was saying though there is a lot of solutions out there that people can use to help you get from A to Z, like John was saying this is one that we've vetted. This is one that we've reviewed this is one that we've uh gone through and checked out ourselves and we absolutely agree with we like how they do it. We like what they are all focusing on because it is absolutely things that we recommend people when they come to us and ask us individually what should I do? What should I do next? How should I do it? So that is kind of why we we decided to work with them and we are talking about them specifically now there are a lot of other options out there so definitely do your research see what you like see what what what your learning style is but this definitely has our thumbs up for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I mean the best learning program is the one you follow right and and finish. So experience may vary but but in our you know this is one that we think is a good one that we we have interacted with gone through the training and it's it's our it's a recommendation especially for this bundle so check it out you know take a look at it um we like we said we want you to be successful and the best way you're gonna be successful is to be consistent and if you have something that helps you work through the structured part of being consistent to get to the goals that you have then we're all for it.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely we've said it again and again right you people will not come back to something that is boring right learning has to be fun. And if you are trying to learn something completely new like cybersecurity there's a lot of new things that you're going to come up and be like what in the world is this and if you have uh or if you're learning it and it's not fun it's gonna be very hard for you to continue that momentum and keep moving forward.
SPEAKER_01Yep absolutely so you know check them out we'll have links in the description for the bundle um you know let us know your comments if if you have used them before any thoughts that you have I think they're they're definitely open to feedback. I gave them some feedback I gave them that feedback um that I mentioned earlier in our conversation and they appreciated it. So um you know just looking to continue to work with them and we thank them for for working with us.
SPEAKER_04So if you have any questions if you'd like to learn more or have any questions about kind of what we experienced or kind of what things on um the ACI platform that we would recommend outside of the security bundle let us know. So let us know kind of if you have any questions need any more specifics recommendations. But yeah other than that I think that's it John yep thanks everybody and a huge thank you to our sponsor for season five of the Cybersecurity Mentors podcast ACI Learning you can check out ACI Learning at acilearning.com slash simply cyber. Thank you for tuning in to today's episode of the Cybersecurity Mentors podcast.
SPEAKER_01Remember to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform so you get all the episodes. Join us next time as we continue to unlock the secrets of cybersecurity mentorship.
SPEAKER_04Do you have questions or topics you'd like us to cover or do you want to share your journey? Join us on Discord at Cybersecurity Mentors Podcast and follow us on LinkedIn. We'd love to hear from you.
SPEAKER_01Until next time I'm John Hoyt and I'm Steve Higaretta. Thank you for listening