SecureSet Academy

I am rating the school highly, but first you need to know this…

As the title alludes to... if you don't put yourself into it; you will get anything out of it. Prior experience is nice. Being smart is good. Knowing how to turn on a computer helps...BUT;... Read More passion, desire, drive and persistence are what you need to be successful here. Show up early; leave late and do what they tell you. If you don’t, then be the best burger flipper you can be. Anything worthwhile needs to be achieved or else everyone would be doing it.
Don’t hide from life’s opportunities…

I was probably the second oldest student they ever had… I asked. So with old-people vitamins in hand, I went back to school. Old?…I was in the workplace before computers were common, let alone networked and I learned how it all works in 20 weeks. The understanding of not just the “nuts and bolt”, but the industry best practices, laws, policies and risk management is a huge part of it. There is a technical portion too; network security, cryptography, systems security and more…YOU WILL BE CHALLENGED!

It can be intimidating, but then you realize the other students in your cohort (yes, cohort) are in it with you. The instructors are also in it with you and the career advisor will be knee deep in your business to get off your rock and meet and greet the hiring organizations THEY BRING INTO the school to meet you. Kinda like your fist high school dance so don’t hug the wall.

When you finish, you will feel like you need more time…education…something. You will not feel ready. Here is the shocking truth, if you did all the things I wrote about; then you are industry entry ready at a minimum.

What about me. I just graduated 12-20-2019, got fat on the holidays, I have some meetings coming up with a company I am interested… and, well. The next paragraph hasn’t been lived yet. Make a plan and stick to it, and when you finish then maybe we will be working together in the future.

Cyber Willy

This was the best decision I could have made as I decided to retire after a 20 year career in the military. The curriculum in the CORE Engineering program covers such a broad range of subjects that it really allows you to decide what path you want to... Read More take once you start a cyber job.
Having a cohort of students that all have different views and outlooks, gives you the ability to get help for those subjects that are not your strengths and allows you to help on the subjects that you are stronger at. The hands-on portions are by far more than you will see in any other program. Everyone of the instructors is willing, able and give up their personal time to help you accomplish any task you have been given.

Kimberly and the Career Services portion of the course is by far one of the most valuable tools you will get while attending SecureSet. There are programs and degrees that can give you close to the same education. But, no one is offering the services, connections, and network that Kimberly can.

Overall, I am glad that I decided to use my last few months in the military to attend SecureSet as I transitioned.

Couldn't be more satisfied with Kimberly Hessler and the career services I received! Listen if you keep to yourself and make no effort to build relationships or help yourself maybe no school is for you. As far as people who will actually try, this school... Read More is amazing! I have never been more looked after, loved, and guided, ever. These people care, a lot. Do your part and they will do theirs, this isn't a magic button. Teachers were top of the line! PHD's, or have worked with the NSA or FBI at one point. Very intelligent but fun teachers. Not your typical boring lectures, this is a family, IF you want it to be. I'm sad I'm no longer there and think about it often. Also did I mention the career services? It's top notch! As long as you don't think it's their job to GET you a job. They will do an amazing job assisting you to GET YOURSELF a job. Please understand the difference.

I attended the PREP program July 2019, started the Hunt in Sep 2019, and graduated in Dec 2019. I loved my experience so much and would encourage anyone interested in transitioning from the army or changing career to check SecureSet academy. It’s amazing... Read More program that can help you so much in this transition, Hands on is great, the whole curriculum is really intense but it’s so awesome and you learn so much from amazing instructors who really care and invested so much in us.
Also Kimberly, she is awesome! She bring lots of different companies to visit and get to know us and see the opportunities that is out there!!
She does a fantastic job!! We appreciate her hard work!

I am so glad I did this course specially at SecureSet! You will thank yourself for investing in your future and in an industry that has tremendous growth and tons of opportunities specially in Colorado Springs!

Listen if you keep to yourself and make no effort to build relationships or help yourself maybe no school is for you. As far as people who will actually try, this school is amazing! I have never been more looked after, loved, and guided, ever. These people... Read More care, a lot. Do your part and they will do theirs, this isn't a magic button. Teachers were top of the line! PHD's, or have worked with the NSA or FBI at one point. Very intelligent but fun teachers. Not your typical boring lectures, this is a family, IF you want it to be. I'm sad I'm no longer there and think about it often.

The curriculum covered a broad array of information. We were guided through coursework and labs which gave us a great range of skills and techniques to work in the Cybersecurity space where we could use more talent. I feel fortunate to have been able... Read More to attend and complete the program. The staff, instructors, career services personnel, and students were all amazing people and helped me learn more than I believed that I could. SecureSet and the people there are amazing! As for the cons, if you are nit ready to dedicate time and effort to accomplish the work, it may overwhelm you. It is not a commitment to be taken lightly.

This program was introduced to me at a crucial period in life where I'd recently lost my job and worried immensely about my future and that of my family. Having shunned the technical aspects of computers and their operation for most of my life and having... Read More the inherent intimidation, it was the stories of success that were enjoyed by new friends that had me change my game and dive in. At numerous times throughout the program when I was in over my head, the faculty went way above my expectations with encouragement, guidance and opportunities for extra technical help and lab time.

Of the Pros I discovered - some highlights(and there many) were having instructors with decades of industry experience, as well as having some of them literally coming straight from high-stake incident responses and able to relay crucial perspectives aligning with the lessons at hand. The curriculum is not entirely technical as there are also classes on Strategy and Threat Analysis which brought critical thinking to eye-opening topics, and there were daily discussions of the most recent breaches which helped highlight the need for industry professionals. Understanding that this is a fundamental learning program, all the instructors regularly pointed out additional resources for deep-diving into topics as well as giving their input into the reputability of the different books, classes and optional certifications. The last Pro I'll mention here is the Career Services part, where not only incredible employers came in weekly for talks and interview classes, but extra credit was given for attending career fairs, conferences and local Cyber-Industry meetups and workshops.
The only Con that I would state was that sometimes labs wouldn't work exactly as written or the Virtual-environment for the labs would not allow for all the students to "get on" it at the same time. Though frustrating for students and instructors alike there were always alternatives to do the labs more from scratch on personal virtual machines, that ultimately forced extra learning opportunities to remediate the same issues - which I believe may help the less technical students like myself when it comes to applying the knowledge in an actual workplace. I also realize that the curriculum is dynamic in that it is still evolving and will continue to do so in response to the needs of the industry, and that the school seems willing to keep upgrading the infrastructure and labs to meet those demands.

I feel the bottom line in undertaking a program at SecureSet is that if one puts in the hard work, and is open to being active with Career Services - that this is a great way to get a broad-based and fundamental understanding of enough topics to get into the Cybersecurity industry, and make some high-quality friendships in a Cohort environment.

Huge disappointment. First off, a lady there will force you to go to networking events and listen to “speakers”(who are ex-alumni who kiss up to her), and then will refuse to help you if you do anything to make her mad. She picks favorites and will shun... Read More you if you offend her. Keep in mind she is a TEACHER and supposed to help out all students, not just her favorites. This is part of the reason the tuition is so high.
Near the end of the semester, everything falls apart and teachers don’t come in, so there is a lot of wasted time. I found myself not sure of what was going on with assignments, and feeling very neglected.
I will say that if you only care about money, this is the place to go. They will make it VERY CLEAR that money is the focus and that is what they care about.
Also the school is EXTREMELY military focused, not recommended for civilians. Most of the classes has the teachers talking in military lingo and making confusing analogies.
Overall, I hoped to have a fun time and learn and further my education, which I did, but at a high cost and with nothing to show after. I excelled in my classes and had an incredible GPA, but it turned out that it doesn’t matter in the end with this school. They only care about the people that will give them a good name and boost their ratings.
I do not recommend this school.

I came to SecureSet Academy a year or so after obtaining a technical Bachelor's degree and having trouble finding a career position. Compared to college this school is much more intensive. Expect to devote anywhere from 8 to 12 hrs each day for classes,... Read More labs, and social events. The time spent paid off for me, I received a cybersecurity related position offer shortly after graduation. Unlike a typical school, SecureSet is focused on helping you find a job to start your career in cybersecurity and they have many connections within the industry. Make sure to utilize these connections and follow the career advice that is provided, this is the area which they provide the most value. You can learn all the technical skills you will be taught on your own with enough practice and drive but you cannot duplicate the professional network they offer which is ultimately what gets you a job. My one complaint was regarding the labs, some were out of date and most had problems getting them to work properly.

The pros: I left the program half way through after finding a job. Scott, head of career services, offered sound advice and went above and beyond in helping me with my resume. I did have some industry experience which allowed me to leverage contacts and... Read More shoehorn my previous role into a new path. I started applying within the first few weeks of the course and hit every single event I could. In regards to this outcome, I am satisfied.
The cons: I should mention that the entire class wrote a letter to the management requesting a refund for all the wasted time between teachers outright not showing up to class and one instructor that did not care and was wholly unqualified to teach. I left right as this request went out which requested $2000 in refunds to each student. In the end, $500 credit towards testing and certs were awarded ON THE CONDITION THAT AN NDA WAS SIGNED. In private conversations with ex-classmates, it was mentioned that most of the students accepted the offer so please consider this in your evaluation of SecureSet. 

My biggest issue was with the curriculum. The lab directions and powerpoint slides were wildly out of date and had many typos. The labs required you to work within a system called "Cyber Range" which had ongoing issues making it difficult to impossible to use at times. More often than not, the first 30 to 60 minutes of lab time was directed towards deciphering the directions/ intent of the exercise. I was disappointed that the instructors did not review the labs beforehand so we worked through these troubles together during time that we, the students, had paid for. 
There was lots of turnover with instructors during the program which was due in part to the acquisition by Flatiron School. The quality of instruction overall varied heavily. There were a few teachers that were excellent (partly because they diverted from the assigned curriculum), some that were incapable instructors and a separate lot that were thrown in to teach a subject that they had no expertise in (due to the sudden turnover).
As mentioned previously, career services offered me a good deal of help on my resume which worked for me. Speaking more generally, I did not feel that the connections with employers were that solid and SecureSet was not being tapped directly for talent. The salaries for the graduates I spoke with were very low ($45k-$50k) and were mostly for analyst positions. In regards to this, it seems to make more sense to do the HUNT program which is cheaper, shorter and apparently offers a similar outcome.

The disorganization within the curriculum and management was apparent to me after the first week. I was very aggressive searching for positions in hopes that I would not waste money here (you pay-as-you-go, so if you quit half way then you only pay half). I learned a lot about systems from one excellent instructor and cannot discount that but I do feel like I was grossly cheated out of what was promised. I hope that the acquisition with Flatiron School will fix these issues since there is a huge gap in cybersecurity expertise and this experience could be a great opportunity for those with the skills.