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Getting into the industry


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Hello everyone i'm new to the forums and just got my new TETRA loving it.

I have been slowly but steadily educating myself in hacking over the last 2 years last year went to Defcon and this august i plan to again the reason being is i would love to get a job in the IT industry (FYI i poor coffee weight now at america's Favorite shit coffee house) but every night i come home and work on my CCNA figure it would be a good first credential to pick up to move into a IT job i guess why i'm posting this i would love to hear from others on tip as far as moving towards a decent job at least one that pays me better then 10.25hr and i don't burn myself on a daily bases for minimum wage:dry:. In the long run i would love to be a professional pen tester going to Defcon so far has been well worth it have met like minded people and made friends.

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If I were you, I'd go to smaller cons where it is easier to talk/get to know people and make friends. Having friends in the industry tends to lead to opportunities. That or start writing tools and putting them out there, even if they're shit, people will see you are trying and opportunities will come. 

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Exactly this.

You'll want to (also) go to small(er) cons, 2600 meetups, OWASP meetups, BSides events, learn what you can from others there and teach yourself when you're not there. Gain an understanding of stuff that interests you - not because work in that area pays better but because you love doing it. It's what keeps you motivated. When you feel you understand something well that others might not (just ask people: "would it make sense for me to do a talk on this?"), do a presentation on that topic at one of those smaller events. You'll build communication skills, people will learn from you (which will get you noticed, which does help with getting work) and others might approach you with cool questions you never thought of asking.

It's good to keep in mind that the goal of security work isn't to find problems but to explain to whomever is running some kit/software what the consequence of this issue can be, how it can be mitigated and how it can be fixed. Sometimes a problem can't be fixed or patched for some reason and you need to give them useful, actionable advice on how to best handle that risk. Being able to communicate well helps a lot here. Being able to put on your resume that you've presented on (preferably relevant to the work you're applying for) topics at %EVENT% gives you a leg-up on the competition.

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On 25/05/2016 at 4:34 AM, tomsquire said:

Hello everyone i'm new to the forums and just got my new TETRA loving it.

I have been slowly but steadily educating myself in hacking over the last 2 years last year went to Defcon and this august i plan to again the reason being is i would love to get a job in the IT industry (FYI i poor coffee weight now at america's Favorite shit coffee house) but every night i come home and work on my CCNA figure it would be a good first credential to pick up to move into a IT job i guess why i'm posting this i would love to hear from others on tip as far as moving towards a decent job at least one that pays me better then 10.25hr and i don't burn myself on a daily bases for minimum wage:dry:. In the long run i would love to be a professional pen tester going to Defcon so far has been well worth it have met like minded people and made friends.

SOunds like the start of a new hacking tv spin off show :) By day he pours coffee and by night he cracks servers :) Am only playing.

Personly i think the possative attitude is most of the struggle as with pen testing network security things change very quickly and what nce worked today might not work tomorrow.  I would say go for the smaller CONs tbh as like others have said its all about networking, regardless if your a begginer or a expert its all networking.

I would also say take a look at a Kali course as for myself this really did open my eyes to a lot of things, and my skill level would not be anywhere near as it is now if it wasnt for OSCP, but again there are many other courses paid or free available just have to look and do your homework.

As for a job in IT, what do you mean? As a job in IT can be anything from sales, account managment, IT manager, systmes manager, engineer, help desk, CRM. the list really goes on. What i think you might of ment is a job at network security / Pen testing and in that case i would say the above. Smaller CONS, mingle with the crowd and network, educate yourself in a area or areas you have interest in and take if from there.

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You could also do a specific degree in cyber sercurity and get a low level gov/military gig. In the UK its 9k a year and takes three years to complete. Most the people that come through this way aren't people I'd want to hirer, as they very rarely have any real interest in the subject (chasing money), but it ticks a lot of the boxes for gov and mil work and will get your foot in the door, as they are racing to fill voids in defences. 

Edited by metatron
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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry for the hijack but just had to say hi and wow - haven't been back here for a while but last time I was here Metatron had been MIA for sometime  - this is the Metatron from way back isn't it? And cooper as well!

re; the IT jobs field. Learn to code, Java, C, python whatever and make sure your Linux skills are good. Head over to Edx.org and Coursera - both have good quality free courses on these topics.

 

Edited by tabath
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On 6/13/2016 at 1:50 AM, cooper said:

If you come to SteelCon you can say hi to the both of us. Hell, I'll throw in a beer. :lol:

Yep it's us, from the very start. I stopped watching the show years ago, but noticed a few of the old guys on when I was seeing what had changed. Apparently IRC is good now, but the forums seem to be mostly a support system for the products they sell.  As Cooper said, we will both be at SteelCon. 

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