I paid* for and passed the cyber-security specialization from the University of Maryland. Overall I think it was worth it since I learned a lot and met some interesting people. Half of the courses were substantially less useful than the other half (Hardware Security / Usable Security were not as informative as Software Security / Cryptography). I added the specialization to my LinkedIn profile & Resume but I've never had anyone ask about it.
Coincidentally at my old job I was the cyber-security expert for my domain (HW), which only meant that I would be assigned to security relevant programs if we got any (we didn't), and they paid to send me to Defcon. They didn't even know I was taking the specialization, just that I like to talk about security.
*I say paid because I just got a refund since apparently there are some issues with migrating courses to a new format and not offering enough of them this year.
Coincidentally at my old job I was the cyber-security expert for my domain (HW), which only meant that I would be assigned to security relevant programs if we got any (we didn't), and they paid to send me to Defcon. They didn't even know I was taking the specialization, just that I like to talk about security.
*I say paid because I just got a refund since apparently there are some issues with migrating courses to a new format and not offering enough of them this year.