Since Thanksgiving is now in the rear-view mirror, we can start talking about what’s next for the end of the year. And for a lot of people, that means shopping for Christmas.
One of the things I remember about being a kid was that one of my friends in particular used to get all the cool toys. He had the Space 1999 space ship. He had the original Millennium Falcon. He had the Death Star play set…an X-Wing…both T.I.E. fighters…a Snow Speeder…and he had just about all the 2nd-gen G.I. Joe toys.
Going to his house to play was basically like going to a toy store, in fairness. And, naturally, it wasn’t enough to just play with all these cool toys at his house. Since I didn’t really get to go very often, like…it wasn’t every day, or anything, I wanted to have all those toys too.
Well…maybe not all of them, but at least all the cool ones.
So I’d go to the mall, and go to the stores’ toy departments, and I’d look at all this stuff. And this was also back when a Sears Christmas Catalog was something super special.
But the problem was, I knew my parents would get me probably one big toy for Christmas every year, but the rest came out of the money I’d make helping my dad on the farm. And, yeah, even when I was small, I’d drive tractors, run the unloading and weighing of the trucks full of corn, soybeans, wheat and oats—not to mention help feed the cows.
So some of these toys were like $30-50 a pop, and in the ‘70s and ‘80s, this was pretty big money. There was no way I could afford one, let alone the “pirate booty” toy box that my friend had.
While the impact was pretty light in the grand scheme of things, this is not a story with a happy ending. Eventually, I got some of the same ones he had, but I had to pick and choose carefully—I mean, after all…there were comics and books to buy too!
I never did match his toy collection simply because I ultimately didn’t have the money, and while my parents could’ve bought me loads of toys, it wasn’t how things worked. Some was enough, and that worked out to be totally fine. 🙂
The point of all this rambling is actually that over the last year or so, I’ve gotten several inquires from either independent contractors or people who had to mostly fund their own security skill development themselves. A common request was whether or not there was some kind of discount – or “lite” versions – for people who weren’t able to put our standard training and coaching programs on the company tab.
Ordinarily, the answer to this is that no, there isn’t a “solo practitioner” discount.
But, what I can do for anyone who has been interested in some of our security architecture training, and in particular, our flagship, 7-week Building Effective Security Architectures training program, is that I can offer a hefty 60% discount if you register early for the next run of the course in February.
Now, if you don’t remember me talking about this course here and there, this course isn’t your typical online training course. It’s run as a cohort-based hybrid that gives you some of the best of an online course, e.g.,
…no travel, on-demand access for life, setting your own schedule (to a degree).
And the best of live workshops, e.g.,
…live access to the instructor (um, that’d be me), so you can make sure your questions are answered, feedback on your individual learning progress and skill practice and a chance to network with fellow security architects.
It’s based around teaching you how to build effective security architectures using The Agile Security System™, and, of course, the SABSA concepts and fundamentals on which it’s built.
But a couple of warnings:
- It’s a lot of material (between 35-70 hours of lessons and exercises),
- It’s hard work.
And it also ain’t cheap. Starting the 1st of January, one of the available 20 slots in the cohort will go for $4,375—assuming that there are any left by then.
However, so you can potentially avoid your own version of “security envy” because your organization has exhausted its training budget this year, or your professional development is self-funded…
…if you sign up between TODAY and the 13th of December, you can join the February cohort for just $1799. That’s about 60% less than the full price.
Now, I don’t know if that puts it in your budget as a solo practitioner or not, or if your organization might still have some unused 2019 training budget lying around you can request…
…or even if this is a course that makes sense for you at all.
If it doesn’t, there’s always other ways to learn about building security architectures the best way I know how after doing it for almost 20 years (and SABSA since 2005):
- You can just read these emails and implement what you see (which some of you have told me has worked wonders)
- You can subscribe to the monthly Security Sanity™ print newsletter
- You can buy the forthcoming book, The Definitive Guide To The Agile Security System™ (which some of you already have done),
- You can join our premier Effective Security Leadership coaching and mentoring program (which costs much, much more), or
- You can spend seven, pretty-intense weeks working with me in a virtual classroom environment where you can learn the fundamentals of the system and get practical, hands-on skill development in putting it to use as part of the course.
If you’re curious about what we’ll cover, you can head on over to the sales page and read all about it:
If you’re wondering how to get practical, hands-on experience building security architectures – and applying SABSA in practice – all in an environment where you can “fail safely” and learn with real feedback, then this might just be the right time to give it a go. However, I urge you to read the sales page pretty carefully to make sure you’re really prepared for what’s involved. If you’re not, then it’s just going to be a waste of your time and money.
Stay safe,
ast
—
Andrew S. Townley
Archistry Chief Executive
