CEH : Achievement Unlocked
Hello World,
So very recently I've accomplished a goal of mine, I'm officially a Certified Ethical Hacker. What that means is I studied and now have the academic knowledge to be a Pen Tester / Entry level Information Security Analyst.
I am excited and frustrated at the same time, here is why.
I'm excited because I've accomplished this task which I've been wanting to do for a while now (a little over a year), and it does give me a boost in my confidence, I won't lie about that.
I'm frustrated because I keep running into a couple of things at this point when trying to get into this field. Thing #1: Most of the jobs that are posted require Top Secret clearance, which I don't have. Thing #2: The rare "entry level" positions that I do find that don't require a clearance are either far from where I live, or ask for 2 years experience.
Its at this point when I start worried a little, because I've run into this situation before. A decade ago, the hot cert to get was the CCNA, well I got it, but ran into a similar situation which I didn't have the 2 or 5 year experience for the "entry level" positions. I ended up working in the IT field using my A+ cert, but that mainly deals with break/fix situations. Now I'm seeing a slightly similar pattern with getting the CEH. But I have a little bit of hope.
The difference between the CCNA and the CEH is accessibility, after I walked out of the CCNA exam room as a "certified" professional, it stopped there. I didn't have access to Cisco routers to practice or try and do things. BUT, with the CEH, many of the tools we learned are free and available. So the plan now is to get active with it (in a good way of course).
I have a couple of friends who are actually studying Cyber Security, they actually helped me study for my exam. One of them now is encouraged to get his CEH cert, so the 3 of us are planning to have a couple of study nights a week, one lecture and one lab. That way we can keep on top of things, as well as gain some experience. Wish us luck, I'll keep you updated on that as we progress forward.
So my advice is, if you are interested in getting an IT Certificate, do some quick research on it, see if its something that you can utilize on your own, or if its something that can help you move forward with your current career. If its a career change, than make sure you do some more research. It would also be helpful to have friends (or make friends) who are interested in the same field, that way you can have someone to practice with.
Good luck to you.
Your n00b Ethical Hacker,
-Ash
So very recently I've accomplished a goal of mine, I'm officially a Certified Ethical Hacker. What that means is I studied and now have the academic knowledge to be a Pen Tester / Entry level Information Security Analyst.
I am excited and frustrated at the same time, here is why.
I'm excited because I've accomplished this task which I've been wanting to do for a while now (a little over a year), and it does give me a boost in my confidence, I won't lie about that.
I'm frustrated because I keep running into a couple of things at this point when trying to get into this field. Thing #1: Most of the jobs that are posted require Top Secret clearance, which I don't have. Thing #2: The rare "entry level" positions that I do find that don't require a clearance are either far from where I live, or ask for 2 years experience.
Its at this point when I start worried a little, because I've run into this situation before. A decade ago, the hot cert to get was the CCNA, well I got it, but ran into a similar situation which I didn't have the 2 or 5 year experience for the "entry level" positions. I ended up working in the IT field using my A+ cert, but that mainly deals with break/fix situations. Now I'm seeing a slightly similar pattern with getting the CEH. But I have a little bit of hope.
The difference between the CCNA and the CEH is accessibility, after I walked out of the CCNA exam room as a "certified" professional, it stopped there. I didn't have access to Cisco routers to practice or try and do things. BUT, with the CEH, many of the tools we learned are free and available. So the plan now is to get active with it (in a good way of course).
I have a couple of friends who are actually studying Cyber Security, they actually helped me study for my exam. One of them now is encouraged to get his CEH cert, so the 3 of us are planning to have a couple of study nights a week, one lecture and one lab. That way we can keep on top of things, as well as gain some experience. Wish us luck, I'll keep you updated on that as we progress forward.
So my advice is, if you are interested in getting an IT Certificate, do some quick research on it, see if its something that you can utilize on your own, or if its something that can help you move forward with your current career. If its a career change, than make sure you do some more research. It would also be helpful to have friends (or make friends) who are interested in the same field, that way you can have someone to practice with.
Good luck to you.
Your n00b Ethical Hacker,
-Ash
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