I've been working in the IT industry for around 10 years. 5 of those years have been as my own small business consulting firm.  About a year ago I decided to increase my understanding of security and security tools.  Last fall I completed SANS 401GSEC.

My issue is, I have this information I've learned, but no real world to apply and enhance the skills. I can work on some stuff on my home network and in a test environment at one of my client's, but I really feel like I need some real world in the wild experience to properly nurture these skills. Furthermore, as the sole employee of my consulting firm I do not get the opportunity to learn from others around me.

Does anyone have a recomendation for a place I can intern or volunteer at for a few hours a week to enhance my Pen Testing skills and other security techniques, helping out and learning from folks who do this stuff every day? I live and work in Chicago so I would prefer that this happened in the city, but if the opportunity was right I would consider traveling to a near suburb.

Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

Hiya.  I've been working in IT for about 10 years and running my own small consulting firm for about 5 of those years.  I started increasing my focus on Security and Security Tools about a year ago.  Last fall I took SANS 401GSEC. 

The problem I am up against now is getting some valuable real world experience.  Running my own company has many advantages, unfortunately working in a team of people is not one of them.  So I am put in a strange position where I have some rudimentary skills and understanding of tools and technics, but no one to learn from and not too many situations to apply.  I can run some test environments at home and with a client, but I really would like to get some honest-to-god hands on experience with Pen Testing as well as some intrustion detection, forensics, etc. 

Can anyone recommend a place that maybe handles interns or volunteer positions where I could learn from someone or someones doing this stuff for real and in the field?  I am pretty busy with my clients and other business stuff, but I would LOVE to make time for a few (3-5, possibly more if absolutely necessary) hours a week working with someone or someones and really using some of these skills I have.

I'm in Chicago and would prefer to do this somewhere in Chicago, though I would consider travelling to the suburbs if the match is right.

Any help is very much appreciated!