CISSP is a totally different animal than CEH or OSCP. CISSP has a management spin and is less technical, however you're expected to know technical details in some areas.

I actually just took the CISSP exam 2 days ago. Do NOT underestimate this cert. I always looked at it as a "read a book and pass the exam" type of cert. The reality is that there is a lot of information to remember for that exam. Quite frankly, if you don't have a decent amount of practical work experience in more than a few of the domains, its going to be even harder. Dedicate serious time to CISSP if you're going to do it because you really have to understand all the concepts and how they fit together. That test was a bitch. Then again.....our buddy H1t M0nkey cranked out CISSP in 17 days which is pretty amazing.

CISSP is beloved by HR and hiring people. I just did a quick search on dice.com and there were 1361 jobs across the country. This is a valuable cert for your career. In comparison, there were 6 jobs for OSCP and 92 for CEH

I wont get into the debate on which is more valuable for your brain....we'll leave that for another thread.

Look at the 10 common bodies of knowledge for CISSP, do you have at least 5 years experience in at least 2 of them? Another CISSP will have to vouch for that experience. If you don't have that, you'll be put into CISSP purgatory until you satisfy the practical work experience. If you do, I would say go for it because as you can see by the job numbers, there are plenty of them.

Yes, at least. The test is a bear. If you don't have the FULL time experience required, at least you'll have the ISC2 Associate and that is....well, it's something. 

max

The only thing I would recommend is making sure that you don't rely on the cccure tests. This may seem obvious, but understand the CONCEPTS behind the questions because none of the practice tests you'll take are like the real exam. Those tests DO help to a certain degree, but by no means the end all be all. The exam requires you to understand concepts for the most part. Of course they sprinkle in some specific/granular stuff just to make you crazy.

I think you're being smart by reading multiple sources and being methodical and diligent. That is a recipe for success.

Benefits of becoming a CISSP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DZkpynFhak
 

LOL!

LOL - nice video - funny thing is he looks like my lawn guy

Thanks for all the pointers guys! The biggest reason I'm not rushing to get this cert it to make bloody sure I get the concepts as well as I can. I know this isn't a Micro$oft exam...

I have 3 testing areas relatively close so I'm good on the test dates, the one available in November should work out well.

I'm using the various practice tests to help me round out the subject matter more than anything else. Taking the end of chapter test from each book is nice but they ask alot of specifics I know I won't be seeing in the same form on the big 6-hour hell-grind. That's one thing I'm dreading a lot - the LONG sit and sweat. I was uncomfortable when I took the CCNA for that very reason. After almost 3 hours sitting there and I so stressed I would have punched a nun in the face just to end it!  Poor little nun...

Anyhow - thanks again for the help! Back to the joys of telcom...

Max