IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[Dat Migo]

Guess I have more thinking to do.
Did she have to travel a lot ?

None that I am aware of.

 

[Mainevent_7]

I was offered an SOC analyst role.
Total comp is 10k more than I make now.
I would learn more.

Vs.

Commute would take over an hour each way (current gig is 20 mins away.)
Would have to actually work (all I do is listen to music and study at my current gig )
Would give up the freedom to come in late, leave early, and take 2 hr lunches .
The new gig is technically a step down from my current role. (SOC's are the help desk of cybesecurity )


Had I not found this thread the 'new gig' would have been my only option off help desk.

If you knew better you'd do better. Read the entire thread if you haven't.

10k more is not even worth the longer drive. I know a few people that work in SOC and they hate it. Like you said SOC are the help desk of cyber, doing rotation duties.

I'm currently a Security Consultant and I plan to take the OSCP in August. Because of those two factors I figure it won't make sense to leave for a high stress SOC while I'm planning my pivot into pen testing.

Good luck on the OSCP, that shyt is a beat. I'm preparing for it also right now by taking some elearnsecurity courses and having bi weekly meet up with folks who are currently pen testers.

 

[Lord Z]

I've searched for some positions, majority require experience with IT.

Not sure if IT sales is the route I want to go.

I've been in Cybersecurity sales for a couple of years now.

My experience has been different, it's a small company and I can confirm they don't really rely on Certifications. They are mostly hiring on personality. As long as you've any experience in sales, you might have a shot.

On the side, you can do your certifications and move towards sales Engineering or Solution Architecture role.

 

[Spin]

I've been in Cybersecurity sales for a couple of years now.

My experience has been different, it's a small company and I can confirm they don't really rely on Certifications. They are mostly hiring on personality. As long as you've any experience in sales, you might have a shot.

On the side, you can do your certifications and move towards sales Engineering or Solution Architecture role.

How long is the average sales cycle in security? Does it take a few months to court and close?

I have thought about security sales. However, working contract on the technical side seems more appealing.

 

[Tr0yTV]

I'm preparing for it also right now.

When are you taking the exam?

 

[Poitier]

 

[Lord Bison]

Been trying to shoot my shot at some NOC positions but they won't even call a breh back because I haven't got my CCNA yet. It's all good, I copped that Chris Bryant junt for $10 and just finished it. Time to crack open that Wendell Odom book and CBT Nuggets and get this Cert game popping.

But my god subnetting is like


I've been doing IT helpdesk for too long. I have to find a way out of this purgatory.

 

[Julius Skrrvin]

The new gig is technically a step down from my current role. (SOC's are the help desk of cybesecurity )

Not necessarily bruh it's a lot of really good SOC/monitoring positions out there that teach well and offer higher level skills work in intrusion analysis and incident handling

Most tier 1 SOC is trash no doubt

 

[Tr0yTV]

@Broletariat I agree 100%. If you can find a SOC with a good reputation, has room for growth, and will sponsor your SANS training then you winning.

I was more so referring to my situation. It would be a gamble to leave my gig cause Idk what type of SOC it will be. The SOC is brand new so I can't do my due diligence

 

[Lord Bison]

Anyone have any NOC experience and can tell me the pros and cons? Been grinding away at this CCNA for a bit and I need to have as much ammunition as I can so I can smash that interview ya digg

 

[Julius Skrrvin]

@Broletariat I agree 100%. If you can find a SOC with a good reputation, has room for growth, and will sponsor your SANS training then you winning.

I was more so referring to my situation. It would be a gamble to leave my gig cause Idk what type of SOC it will be. The SOC is brand new so I can't do my due diligence

Ask if you can see the place and go visit. Ask what a normal day there is like from an analyst. Perfectly normal questions

 

[Lord Z]

How long is the average sales cycle in security? Does it take a few months to court and close?

I have thought about security sales. However, working contract on the technical side seems more appealing.

I would say it depends. I will take 3 cases :

• 1 to 3 months with Leads : Customers that contact the manufacturer (Symantec, Kaspersky, Bitdefender...you get the picture) to express interest. The manufacturer forwards them to their regional partner for more information. Those customers are interested and want to try the product asap, but some of them just wnat a quote to have an idea, It's a free-throw most of the time.

• 3-6 months potential interest : These are customers you cold call and you happen to reach them at the right time. whatever solution/firewall that you offer is something they will be evaluating in the upcoming months because they are not happy with their current shyt. So you come in and position your stuff hoping it will be the right fit for their environment. that's a 3 pointer

• 6 months to infinity : These are people you cold call and there's nothing of interest at the time. So all you can do is maintain the relationship and hope that the day they are looking for something, they will be thinking about you. This is an half-court shot.

I haven't been in sales that long but I can tell you this has been MY experience. My company, once again is small and we invest zero dollars in Marketing, so the salesteam has to go all out.

Now big thing to know, Only the bosses favorites and the best salespeople get the Leads. so, you can imagine the bullshyt.

And don't get me started on how quick you can get fired and how competitive the cybersecurity sales industry is, this shyt is some take no prisoners shyt.

Hope it gives you a real view of what you might be getting yourself into.

 

[xXMASHERXx]

Not necessarily bruh it's a lot of really good SOC/monitoring positions out there that teach well and offer higher level skills work in intrusion analysis and incident handling

Most tier 1 SOC is trash no doubt

Where I work this is pretty much our SOC. They do a little bit of helpdesk work as far as making sure any security related tickets get to the right team but for the most part they are monitoring the SIEM and a taking action on any suspicious activity. I agree with Broletariat, see if you can check the work environment and get a feel for it. That extra drive might be worth it in the long run.

 

[GollyImGully]

Anyone have any NOC experience and can tell me the pros and cons? Been grinding away at this CCNA for a bit and I need to have as much ammunition as I can so I can smash that interview ya digg

My last job was a NOC paying 53k in NYC

it was interesting because we had our hands on everything. Networking, monitoring, servers, scripting, aws, sql, virtualization, AD, server maintenace just anything u could think of.

Problem is we couldnt go that in depth as far as troubleshooting and implementation. Since i wanted to do networking i immediatelyy introduced myself to the network team and got to work close with them on some projects. The job is mostly monitoring and became really boring and easy for me at least after month 3.

Keep in mind, no two nocs are the same. I know ppl who work a noc and they actual get to configure shyt and not feel like a next level helpdesk.

i had a goal to be out in a year and it worked out i left in 10 months. I came in with a CCNA and left there with my CCNP for this network engineer role im at now. It def helped because i got to see how things worl on that end in a corporate setting instead of GNS3.

 

[Lord Bison]

My last job was a NOC paying 53k in NYC

it was interesting because we had our hands on everything. Networking, monitoring, servers, scripting, aws, sql, virtualization, AD, server maintenace just anything u could think of.

Problem is we couldnt go that in depth as far as troubleshooting and implementation. Since i wanted to do networking i immediatelyy introduced myself to the network team and got to work close with them on some projects. The job is mostly monitoring and became really boring and easy for me at least after month 3.

Keep in mind, no two nocs are the same. I know ppl who work a noc and they actual get to configure shyt and not feel like a next level helpdesk.

i had a goal to be out in a year and it worked out i left in 10 months. I came in with a CCNA and left there with my CCNP for this network engineer role im at now. It def helped because i got to see how things worl on that end in a corporate setting instead of GNS3.

Thanks breh

My boy worked in a NOC and I got a chance to shadow him for a lil bit and all he really did was just monitor the networks to make sure nothing goes down.

The boring part is what I'm looking forward to. The best part of IT is the downtime

I plan on using that downtime to study for my CCNA security and then the CCNP. Ultimately my endgame is network engineer at around 75-100K.