The Ethical Hacker Network - Asking for some career help/advice

Rakurai

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Asking for some career help/advice

« on: February 02, 2009, 03:52:52 PM »

I am hoping some of you will be able to help form my career, which ever I decide to take up permanently, later on in life.

To start out, I am a IT Systems Spec. in the Army, nearing my 4 year mark. Currently studying up for Network+ and Security+ so I can take them once I get back from Iraq (<50 days left out here). Besides that, I plan on getting my CCNA and CCDA within the next year. And hopefully progress to my CCNP/CCDP within a very short time after that, and getting both CCIE's prior to me getting out. My first question for advice is where should i fit in CEH or any other classes/cert's in for pen testing. I'm trying not to make me getting CEH a big fuss with the Army (they don't like the fact of hackers in the Army.....). And also wondering if it would be worth taking CISSP, although I'm not trying t mainly focus my career on security.

Second thing I am wondering about, is a good reputable on-line college/university for networking degrees (associates/bachelors/masters, i haven't had time to look due to work load out here..... long story with that). And unfortunately, yes it has to be on-line. My next duty station, White House Communications Agency, will have me traveling 180 days/year.

I would very appreciate any help or advice with anything regarding careers in pen testing or networking (engineer/design) that is out of the Army.


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sgt_mjc

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Re: Asking for some career help/advice

« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2009, 07:56:56 AM »

Welcome to the forum. We are all here to help and share our knowledge. The certs you have planned out are a good start for the network side of things. You also need to look more towards the host side of the house. Being military, I'm sure you have seen plenty of Windows systems and are pretty comfortable there so I would suggest looking at the Linux side of the house. CompTIA offers a Linux+ cert. As far as the CEH goes, I took the class and the exam while I was AD in the AF. Now the nice part here is that you can get CNDA (I think) at the same time because EC recognizes that not everyone like the term "hacker" ethical or otherwise. Check out the forum on the CEH exam to find out more about it as well as study tips.

I earned both my bachelors and masters online and I enjoyed it. Though I wasn't traveling at the time, I did have a family. I went to CTU Online for both degrees. You can also look at Kaplan, University of Phoenix, Walden University, etc. Just about every school has an online program these days. The only caution I throw out is look at the school's accreditation. If you are not sure that you are going to finish or you want to go for an advanced degree (Masters, Doctorate) then you are going to want a regionally accredited school.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Mike


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Mike Conway
CISSP
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crk

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Re: Asking for some career help/advice

« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2009, 03:22:12 PM »

I had two friends who attended college online. One went to Devry, one went to ITT Tech, both majored in Information Systems Security. Apparently they're quite happy with their choice; you should look into those.

It's my opinion that CISSP is just good to have no matter what field you're trying to go into. It's very broad and though it's focused mainly on security, it definitely shows professionalism.


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Ketchup

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Re: Asking for some career help/advice

« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2009, 05:11:57 PM »

Quote

Second thing I am wondering about, is a good reputable on-line college/university for networking degrees (associates/bachelors/masters, i haven't had time to look due to work load out here..... long story with that). And unfortunately, yes it has to be on-line. My next duty station, White House Communications Agency, will have me traveling 180 days/year.

I never finished school, partially because I was dumb enough to triple major. I thought that was the logical thing if you had no idea what you wanted to do.

I did a lot of research on this, and I basically narrowed it down to two programs, one of I which I plan to start soon. Drexel University has an online BS in Information Security: http://www.drexel.com/online-degrees/bachelors-degrees/bs-gs-tech/index.aspx UMass had a similar program, but I can't seem to find my bookmark on it.

Oh and CISSP is definitely a good cert to have. It will open doors for you.


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