Resident Coli Lords of the IT world get in here

[Kid McNamara]

For you youngsters looking to get into IT, security is the way to go right now. 5 - 7 years in the field you will be able to be employed globally from your experience on the job. Try some of these certs out, if you want, friends.

1. CPTC – Certified Penetration Testing Consultant
2. CPTE – Certified Penetration Testing Engineer
3. CompTIA – Security+
4. CSTA – Certified Security Testing Associate
5. GPEN – GIAC Certified Penetration Tester
6. OSCP – Offensive Security Certified Professional
7. CEH – Certified Ethical Hacker
8. ECSA – EC-Council Certified Security Analyst
9. CEPT – Certified Expert Penetration Tester

List is a bit out of order. Besides, you'll want a foundation before attacking any of the higher level security certifications. What good is a Pen Tester if he can only follow guides, you should be able to develop your own exploits, in order to do that you must understand how nodes communicate.

- Get that Security+/A+
- Move on to Cisco CCNP or CCNP Security
- Some Microsoft/Linux stuff
- Python/Metasploit/Wireshark/Assembler or C
- Pen Testing/Exploit Development

 

[Shameonyou]

If you have a Cisco cert (at least CCNP and up) you can wipe your ass with an A+ certification breh. You don't need the A+ for networking. They're two different fields though an expert knowledge in computers in general is always a plus.

As far as this deal, thats a DAMN GOOD deal however like others are saying basically, if its too good to be true, its possible there is a catch.

what if the individual isnt familiar with IT in general? would you still advice them to jump into networking?

 

[Kid McNamara]

you ain't lying. Cyber security is the way to go. I'm a cyber intel analyst and got a TS security clearance. Now if I had these certs to go with that it wouldn't even be fair how good I'd be eatin

What does this mean? I'm guessing you comb through packets looking for suspicious signatures that were defined by someone else, correct?

TS clearances are given out like cough drops these days.

 

[krexzen]

Dont expect to be able to get certified with that training package. Get the books that the test revolves around, LEARN THE BOOK, take the pass4sure tests, master them and get the virtual lab software and master that. You'll be good.

Reading the books is good advice but, pass4sure is a brain dump (which ends up lowering the value of certs). Cheating is demonic friend.

 

[krexzen]

what if the individual isnt familiar with IT in general? would you still advice them to jump into networking?

I wouldn't. The odds of a newbie getting a networking job is slim to none. Your starting ground would mostly likely be the help desk.

 

[Kid McNamara]

what if the individual isnt familiar with IT in general? would you still advice them to jump into networking?

Familiarity? Look man, who cares what you're familiar with. Put your best foot forward and learn how it works from the bottom up, then learn how to design it from the top down. Technology changes often enough so that there is always a new standard, architecture, or platform to learn. However, the fundamentals of all this are based in engineering and most of the protocols have been around since the 60's/70's.

If you have a good grasp, you're unstoppable.

 

[Mr. Somebody]

Reading the books is good advice but, pass4sure is a brain dump (which ends up lowering the value of certs). Cheating is demonic friend.

You're sounding desperate to push a demonic exchange between friends and thats not something i appreciate.

You can use the trancender/pass4sure tests to cheat but its pointless to do this because you are going to expose yourself when you get on the job and they are expecting you to know things that you do not know. Use the tests to help you Understand what you're learning instead of cheating to pass and in effect doing what you said, rendering your cert useless.

Please find better ways to communicate with friends instead of taking demonic angles to attack people who are just trying to help. Lets not get our jollies being demonic but instead, get them helping one another. Copy? Friend?

 

[Dr. Acula]

what if the individual isnt familiar with IT in general? would you still advice them to jump into networking?

IT is weird, and I'm sure many others can attest to this fact. You'll find people in certain fields in IT, say mainframe support, that might have what others would consider basic trouble with local desktop issues.

You can get into networking without having to know all the IRQ codes for PCs for example (this is A+ material). If you feel you have at least an intermediate understanding of PCs you can get into networking. Its a specialized field and the only knowledge you'll need is the knowledge related to that field more times than not.


Edit: @krexzen is right though. If you never held a job in IT you will need to find a way to gain some experience to put on your resume. Experience goes further than any degree. I guess to clarify, you can get the knowledge and not feel lost but yeah if you dont have any experience your first job will end up being help desk.

 

[Mr. Somebody]

I wouldn't. The odds of a newbie getting a networking job is slim to none. Your starting ground would mostly likely be the help desk.

If you know what you're doing you can get a job. You may start out in helpdesk but on the job there will be issues that come up that will give you more than enough opportunities to shine and to show them that you know what you're doing. If you are going to be a average network administrator, you will be stuck because average doesnt cut it, in todays job market for people who are trying to reach the top of the food chain in their respective fields. Obtain the knowledge, its everywhere.

 

[Shameonyou]

I wouldn't. The odds of a newbie getting a networking job is slim to none. Your starting ground would mostly likely be the help desk.

so basically help desk with a cisco cert would be better than help desk with comptia? or does it not matter?

 

[Kid McNamara]

I wouldn't. The odds of a newbie getting a networking job is slim to none. Your starting ground would mostly likely be the help desk.

Eh, one of these guys?

Most people, no matter how talented, start at the help desk. Even if you get a "networking job," chances are you will be in some type of help desk role throughout the first few years of your career.

Don't ever be afraid to plunge into IT. These guys aren't high-level engineers, most of the folks grab a job and learn on-the-fly.

Go to ebay and grab a few routers/switches, throw together a lab, read a CCNA book, understand the fundamentals of LAN/WAN technology, learn how to subnet, learn how packets/frames are passed.

Pass the test, move onto CCNP and pass that.

 

[Mr. Somebody]

List is a bit out of order. Besides, you'll want a foundation before attacking any of the higher level security certifications. What good is a Pen Tester if he can only follow guides, you should be able to develop your own exploits, in order to do that you must understand how nodes communicate.

- Get that Security+/A+
- Move on to Cisco CCNP or CCNP Security
- Some Microsoft/Linux stuff
- Python/Metasploit/Wireshark/Assembler or C
- Pen Testing/Exploit Development

I didnt put it in order. I just put it out there. Those are some of the top security certs but thank you for coming up with a blueprint for a path for friends. Lets not push one another out of the way to say *hey im the authority you should listen to* Thank you for building on statements from friends, friend.

 

[Kartel13]

Familiarity? Look man, who cares what you're familiar with. Put your best foot forward and learn how it works from the bottom up, then learn how to design it from the top down. Technology changes often enough so that there is always a new standard, architecture, or platform to learn. However, the fundamentals of all this are based in engineering and most of the protocols have been around since the 60's/70's.

If you have a good grasp, you're unstoppable.

I think what he meant is how are you suppose to get the experience in the work field without the basics (which many consider is A+). The most common advice here or anyone in IT is you have to start at the bottom which is working at a help desk and move your way up.

 

[Kid McNamara]

so basically help desk with a cisco cert would be better than help desk with comptia? or does it not matter?

Government or Private Industry?

What are your career goals, where do you see yourself in five years (honestly). Are you in school, do you plan to go?

 

[Mr. Somebody]

Eh, one of these guys?

Most people, no matter how talented, start at the help desk. Even if you get a "networking job," chances are you will be fielding some type of help desk role throughout the first few years of your career.

Don't ever be afraid to plunge into IT. These guys aren't high-level engineers, most of the folks grab a job and learn on-the-fly.

Go to ebay and grab a few routers/switches, throw together a lab, read a CCNA book, understand the fundamentals of LAN/WAN technology, learn how to subnet, learn how packets/frames are passed.

Pass the test, move onto CCNP and pass that.

These days you have to be a jack of all trades this is true. You may be a network specialist but you wont be sitting in a chair like homer simpson waiting for networking issues to pop up when calls are coming in for simple tasks. Most employers expect you to to be able to handle a lot of these tasks from the networking, to the firewall administration to the helpdesk support. Guys who started out with years of helpdesk experience make great network engineers and can often put people out of jobs as a jack of all trades because the years of experience allows them to address helpdesk issues in a flash while doing the same on the networking side. Issues a new associate may spend hours on takes the multi faceted employee less time to take care of.