** Official IT Thread ** - Come in for some tech!

[jerzyfit]

You have to remember that CEH and Security+ are only 10,000 views on security and hacking "concept". There's no hands on the keyboard stuff.

OSCP is all practical application and documentation. The test is you literally breaking into boxes and producing a report for your "client".

I'm merely pointing out that OSCP actually teaches you to "hack" and then asks you to do it yourself. If you're going to be an incident response analyst, you don't necessarily need to be able to do what hackers do. You just need to know how they do it and what traces they leave. For that, tests like CEH, CHFI, CISSP, and Sec+ are just fine.

Now, if you want to actually become an auditor/red teamer, you're going to have to prove to prospective employers that you know what the **** you're doing. That's where the OSCP comes in.

I'm not saying everyone should get an OSCP because CEH is worthless, but the CEH will NOT teach you how to "hack" or will it prove to other people that you can hack,

Bruh, please correct me if I'm wrong. Sec+ and CEH are good places to START, right? Meaning a person new to InfoSec. To learn the basics, get the experience, and build up to OSCP level. Or, is there a better route to gain the entry level knowledge?

[DLM012]

In my opinion, I'd apply. I mean, what do you have to lose? Nothing bad is going to happen from applying. You'll either get it, or you won't. Just keep busting your arsh and you'll get in there bro. In the mean time, you can apply to other jobs as well.

It looks like they set us all up (the competent ones out of all of us it seems) for interviews anyways lmao. I got a random invitation to a meeting for an interview. I thought I was selected to be on the panel to assist in asking questions for some completely new people lel.

Peer interview next Friday brahs.

[sknot1454]

Bruh, please correct me if I'm wrong. Sec+ and CEH are good places to START, right? Meaning a person new to InfoSec. To learn the basics, get the experience, and build up to OSCP level. Or, is there a better route to gain the entry level knowledge?

PC Answer? Yes, it's a good place to start if you want employment.

If you want to learn, I mean really learn, they're pretty useless. There are so many free videos and blogging sites that will teach you more than any CEH book.

[EpicenterRex]

I guess this is the right thread to ask this in;

What's the better BA degree between Information Tech or Internet Security. Both on the government job sites are growing faster than average, with making decent money.

My only fear is getting an IT degree and getting stuck doing something like phone/call support rather than working in something like database admin, etc... I'd honestly be okay doing anything in the tech world that makes a decent amount of money.

What would be the best route if I wanted to do stuff like Computer systems analyst, database administration, etc... Is that an IT degree or something else? I'm leaning to information security analyst since that's more specific and won't be at a call center or repairing computer for 12 dollars an hour.

Any advice or insight would help big time.

[C Project]

You have to remember that CEH and Security+ are only 10,000 views on security and hacking "concept". There's no hands on the keyboard stuff.

OSCP is all practical application and documentation. The test is you literally breaking into boxes and producing a report for your "client".

I'm merely pointing out that OSCP actually teaches you to "hack" and then asks you to do it yourself. If you're going to be an incident response analyst, you don't necessarily need to be able to do what hackers do. You just need to know how they do it and what traces they leave. For that, tests like CEH, CHFI, CISSP, and Sec+ are just fine.

Now, if you want to actually become an auditor/red teamer, you're going to have to prove to prospective employers that you know what the **** you're doing. That's where the OSCP comes in.

I'm not saying everyone should get an OSCP because CEH is worthless, but the CEH will NOT teach you how to "hack" or will it prove to other people that you can hack,

I appreciate the insight. I figure I'm on the right track as it is. Waiting until school is out to seek a more rigorous position. I keep getting told that 30-31 is too old but whatever. I doubt they fire you when you turn 26.

[jerzyfit]

PC Answer? Yes, it's a good place to start if you want employment.

If you want to learn, I mean really learn, they're pretty useless. There are so many free videos and blogging sites that will teach you more than any CEH book.

But don't you need to learn the basics first? It's like telling someone to learn Snort without telling them what an IPS actually is. If you don't know the basics, how do you build up to things like OSCP?

[JayC24]

Just got back from my interview, felt like I killed it. Had a good answer for every technical question. Seen 6 people that signed in before me in the lobby already today that had "interview" as the reason also though, I knew I wasn't the only one being interviewed of course but it was an "aw fuk" moment when I seen it lol.

Hiring manager said I should hear something back either way next week.

[jerzyfit]

Just got back from my interview, felt like I killed it. Had a good answer for every technical question. Seen 6 people that signed in before me in the lobby already today that had "interview" as the reason also though, I knew I wasn't the only one being interviewed of course but it was an "aw fuk" moment when I seen it lol.

Hiring manager said I should hear something back either way next week.

You got this bruh! Stay positive.

[SynapticCleft]

I guess this is the right thread to ask this in;

What's the better BA degree between Information Tech or Internet Security. Both on the government job sites are growing faster than average, with making decent money.

My only fear is getting an IT degree and getting stuck doing something like phone/call support rather than working in something like database admin, etc... I'd honestly be okay doing anything in the tech world that makes a decent amount of money.

What would be the best route if I wanted to do stuff like Computer systems analyst, database administration, etc... Is that an IT degree or something else? I'm leaning to information security analyst since that's more specific and won't be at a call center or repairing computer for 12 dollars an hour.

Any advice or insight would help big time.

Calls are not going to go away. Even if you do become a database admin you will still have to deal with calls. Hell Im usually answering the phones and or on conference calls everyday.

[EpicenterRex]

Calls are not going to go away. Even if you do become a database admin you will still have to deal with calls. Hell Im usually answering the phones and or on conference calls everyday.

What's the name of your degree? Is it just an IT degree?

[dcbone30]

I guess this is the right thread to ask this in;

What's the better BA degree between Information Tech or Internet Security. Both on the government job sites are growing faster than average, with making decent money.

My only fear is getting an IT degree and getting stuck doing something like phone/call support rather than working in something like database admin, etc... I'd honestly be okay doing anything in the tech world that makes a decent amount of money.

What would be the best route if I wanted to do stuff like Computer systems analyst, database administration, etc... Is that an IT degree or something else? I'm leaning to information security analyst since that's more specific and won't be at a call center or repairing computer for 12 dollars an hour.

Any advice or insight would help big time.

The best route? Start at helpdesk with an organization that embraces internal promotion and training. Srs. Unless you get some sort of crazy practical experience at a part time job or internship at school and some really good connections, you won't be jumping into a Security Analyst or DBA job fresh out of college when your competing with people who have a binder full of certs and related, practical experience. Even a Junior SQL DBA job would likely require years of hands on experience.

Not trying to burst your bubble, but entry level phone support/helpdesk/desktop support is, in my opinion, your best chance to network with other teams in an organization since you will likely be interacting with them on a regular basis. You might get opportunities to cross-train, earn certs and see the ins-and-outs of how an organization is run (or at least how the IT portion functions) when you are the front line support and liaison between the customers and the specialized IT teams. This also gives you a chance to be exposed to the other parts of IT, like systems/network administration, VMWare, compliance, project management, dev etc and decide that maybe DB is not your thing and your interest is in something else. Nothing is worse than getting into a job you thought you would like and end up hating it.

edit: As Synaptic said above, those other admins and back end support types still get phone calls, whether it's internal or external depending on how the organization is run, it still happens.

[SynapticCleft]

What's the name of your degree? Is it just an IT degree?

My degree was in network technology and administration. I now work in a noc for a big fortune 500 tech company. It sucks being on the phones all day, just last night I was on a conference call with a German ISP since my company was trying to trouble shoot an outage at our branch in Berlin.

[jerzyfit]

My degree was in network technology and administration. I now work in a noc for a big fortune 500 tech company. It sucks being on the phones all day, just last night I was on a conference call with a German ISP since my company was trying to trouble shoot an outage at our branch in Berlin.

This. You're going to be on the phone no matter what. I'm a Sysadmin, think I'm not on the phone working with severs all day? Brb applications are loading slow, brb slow connectivity, brb roaming profiles aren't working, brb shares on the server aren't working... I'm always on the phone.

[MarathonerDude]

IT Guy here,

I've been working IT for about almost 3 years at a local govt as desktop support but I really do everything networking,servers,phones. Before then I used to work at a computer lab at a community college changing ink toners and helping people print and cleaning desks.

I think people need to realize a couple things. Degrees do look nice to get your foot in the door but experience is highly regarded. Right now my boss is looking for an network engineer and he's seeing tons of resumes with degrees but hardly any experience. We don't want to job train you all the way otherwise we'd do it ourselves.

With that said apply everywhere even if you think your under-qualified. Some places fluff up their requirements in order to get qualified candidates but it doesn't hurt to take five minutes of your life to be interviewed. If its not the right fit move on. You only need to be hired once. I had so many interviews I lost count. Every week I would be traveling to multiple locations for interviews. I had little experience,no degree (and I still don't) But once I got that entry level helpdesk job and worked for a year or two I'd move up or on. I was lucky I got a desktop support job and I will be taking over when my boss retires in a few years.

Also talk to recruiters. They do help tremendously working tooth and nail to get you a job (of course for their own benefit as well)

[SynapticCleft]

IT Guy here,

I've been working IT for about almost 3 years at a local govt as desktop support but I really do everything networking,servers,phones. Before then I used to work at a computer lab at a community college changing ink toners and helping people print and cleaning desks.

I think people need to realize a couple things. Degrees do look nice to get your foot in the door but experience is highly regarded. Right now my boss is looking for an network engineer and he's seeing tons of resumes with degrees but hardly any experience. We don't want to job train you all the way otherwise we'd do it ourselves.

With that said apply everywhere even if you think your under-qualified. Some places fluff up their requirements in order to get qualified candidates but it doesn't hurt to take five minutes of your life to be interviewed. If its not the right fit move on. You only need to be hired once. I had so many interviews I lost count. Every week I would be traveling to multiple locations for interviews. I had little experience,no degree (and I still don't) But once I got that entry level helpdesk job and worked for a year or two I'd move up or on. I was lucky I got a desktop support job and I will be taking over when my boss retires in a few years.

Also talk to recruiters. They do help tremendously working tooth and nail to get you a job (of course for their own benefit as well)

+1 for experience.

The only way I got hired without certs was because I interned as a network engineer during college. If any of you folks in this thread are in uni/college right now, you better be hitting up your school's career counselors and talking with them about getting an internship.

[jerzyfit]

IT Guy here,

I've been working IT for about almost 3 years at a local govt as desktop support but I really do everything networking,servers,phones. Before then I used to work at a computer lab at a community college changing ink toners and helping people print and cleaning desks.

I think people need to realize a couple things. Degrees do look nice to get your foot in the door but experience is highly regarded. Right now my boss is looking for an network engineer and he's seeing tons of resumes with degrees but hardly any experience. We don't want to job train you all the way otherwise we'd do it ourselves.

With that said apply everywhere even if you think your under-qualified. Some places fluff up their requirements in order to get qualified candidates but it doesn't hurt to take five minutes of your life to be interviewed. If its not the right fit move on. You only need to be hired once. I had so many interviews I lost count. Every week I would be traveling to multiple locations for interviews. I had little experience,no degree (and I still don't) But once I got that entry level helpdesk job and worked for a year or two I'd move up or on. I was lucky I got a desktop support job and I will be taking over when my boss retires in a few years.

Also talk to recruiters. They do help tremendously working tooth and nail to get you a job (of course for their own benefit as well)

I agree. My IT diploma maybe gave me... 20 percent of what I needed. It's all about that experience and finding a good job.

[HarryfromCali]

IT brah here, glad to see that this thread exists as I've enjoyed reading everyone's feedback and what they do on the day to day at work. I myself have worked in IT for 5+ years doing several positions which have involved help desk, from working to a really well known company to call center work and to what I do now which is doing helpdesk for a smaller company. I have to agree with the brahs here, I answer the majority of the phone calls but even our sys admin and our network administrator, answer phone calls (usually on the phone with ISP's or employees when the network is down) and they even back me up when my workload is quite a bit (since I'm the only one doing what I do at my company).

[Ace Thedics]

Can vouch that being on call sucks. Worked in a SOC, brb 3am calls, brb pager on hand at all times.

Made sure to steer my career away from that.

[jerzyfit]

Can vouch that being on call sucks. Worked in a SOC, brb 3am calls, brb pager on hand at all times.

Made sure to steer my career away from that.

Sadly, all the jobs I like have on call shifts.

[SwiftRick]

+1 for experience.

The only way I got hired without certs was because I interned as a network engineer during college. If any of you folks in this thread are in uni/college right now, you better be hitting up your school's career counselors and talking with them about getting an internship.

I currently work for an apple repair shop.

I eventually want to move into windows with having A+ and network+. Will working at an apple repair shop be considered as experience?

[jerzyfit]

I currently work for an apple repair shop.

I eventually want to move into windows with having A+ and network+. Will working at an apple repair shop be considered as experience?

Absolutely.

[HarryfromCali]

I currently work for an apple repair shop.

I eventually want to move into windows with having A+ and network+. Will working at an apple repair shop be considered as experience?

Brah, it definitely would be considered an experience... it seems like the fine art of knowing apple products and especially knowing how to fix them is a great skill to have... I've seen SO many jobs that I can't apply to eventhough I have all the skills they want except for experience with Macs and have offered support to them.

[omnip0tent]

Can vouch that being on call sucks. Worked in a SOC, brb 3am calls, brb pager on hand at all times.

Made sure to steer my career away from that.

BUT being on call for the first 5-10 years of your career does net you a nice extra chunk of change. As long as at some point you can stop taking on call shifts.

[jerzyfit]

Anyone know any good Kali Linux for beginner videos? Free or paid.

[SynapticCleft]

Anyone know any good Kali Linux for beginner videos? Free or paid.

^^Here is the basic linux commands but using Kali distro cli.

This one is a little bit more in depth and you will need to have a good grasp on how DHCP servers work.


There isnt much difference to Kali than any other Debian based distributions. The only thing separating Ububntu and Kali are the applications that come prepackaged on it. I highly suggest just looking at whatever applications are installed on Kali, like ettercap, sslstrip and airmon-ng and learning how to use them. I used to setup rogue AP using ubuntu with Airmon-ng.

[jerzyfit]

I ended up buying the course by Jerry on Udemy. It's a complete hacking course, pretty cool.

[jerzyfit]

FYI, if anyone is interested in a beginners hacking course with Kali, check this out.

The Complete Hacking Course: Go from Beginner to Advanced! on Udemy.com

[kundalinii]

IT guy checking in
network engineer in a linux based academic setting

it's chill

[jerzyfit]

IT guy checking in
network engineer in a linux based academic setting

it's chill

Nice bruh

[sknot1454]

But don't you need to learn the basics first? It's like telling someone to learn Snort without telling them what an IPS actually is. If you don't know the basics, how do you build up to things like OSCP?

The CEH and Sec+ are proprietary exams and the books you buy prep you to pass those exams.

You don't need to pass the CEH/Sec+ or study for them to learn about computer security. You read CEH/Sec+ books to learn how to pass the test.

Like I said, you can learn all about computer security for free by using the web. There's hundreds, if not thousands, of videos out there explaining it all. There are blogs out the ass.

It's like wanting to learn *Nix and someone tells you to pass the Red Hat exam. Sure, you could do that, but it's not required to learn *Nix. You can learn it for free by installing it and going through some online tuts. Hands on is how you learn in IT. You can read 100 books on Python, but if you never bust out your interpreter and write some code, you haven't learned ****.

Getting your CEH/Sec+ is good for employment and I would recommend getting those certs, but the only thing you'll really learn is how to pass the exams. Exams aren't real life. I know too many retards with certs to ever trust them as a sole reason to hire somebody.