Certs to get in the door, check
and linkedin? cool, thanks for the advice, I have avoided it as just another darn social networking overload site, but I'll definitely check it out now...

Oh and another random question: what are some good keywords? I have been checking out the major defense sites, but have been troubling narrowing down the jobs. Still getting just a lot of IT maintenance jobs... I've used keywords like cyber, security, penetration, information assurance/IA, CEH, CISSP, other cert acronyms, embedded, assembly, real time. Any other good tips?  I suppose I am looking for a dynamic job, not one securing one site's system, but one securing/breaking many. (I think, heh - still figuring this out...)

Thanks for the reply/help!
Yeah, I sort of figured the one company that (says they) put no weight on certs was a fluke...
I'm definitely glad to have found this site and I bet I'll be using it a ton, like you recommend.  Thanks for the motivation and the advice.

So this is the usual sort of 'I'm looking for advice' thread.  My specific questions though are about how/where I can get started in offensive computing when I already have a TS clearance (EDIT: And I am in the US).  I'm in my 20's, but have been using computers since floppies were floppy, so I have a wide but shallow background (smattering of knowledge in some languages, some networking stuff, but nothing to impress).  

So does anyone else have experience in Top Secret jobs? Specifically, I guess, what do they need, and what might be a "ok, you can learn that on the job since you have a clearance" sort of thing.  

I talked to one company that was very interesting, and they seemed to scoff at certifications (they poo-pooed CEH as likely to be out of date once completed) so I am currently not too concerned with certifications.  Is this folly, or is this a cross-industry attitude?

Right now I am setting up some virtual machines and going to look through crackmes.de (which I saw here, in a post by SynJunkie - Thanks!) I was thinking to supplement this with other tutorial/poke around packages I find in the Tutorial section in the forums, and free books.  Is this a good way to learn? Any other tips or ways that have worked for you?

Also, what other sites do you recommend? This might just devolve into a favorites posting, but winnowing down the field of sites I've collected from here would be appreciated.

Thanks for the read-through and any advice! Also, if this post is scattered please feel free to ask questions, I am still pretty scattered and trying to figure all this out.