Work experience is a plus.  But since you are new to the topic, at least one cert will show that you are serious about the field.  Even helping out with charitable organizations will build your resume.
Anything to get more experience is key to me.

Keep focused and you will get to where you want to be.  It may take time...but you will get there.   

Welcome to the board!

Thanks for the positive feedback guys!

Yeah, I was a little sketchy about CPTS/CPTE as well; it's just that it's hard to find an affordable cert in PenTesting. Not to offend anyone but I'm sort of anti-EC Council...they just look like a scam. I had considered A+ and Network+, and they're definitely on my to-do list, but my thought process was that I would jump straight to Security+ since that's the field I want to go into. I'm not completely new at this; I mean, I'm great with computers, and I definitely know good chunks about the topics that are covered in Network+ and A+...I may do those first just to be safe.

So...if CPTS and CPTE aren't legit...what is? I looked at GPEN and GSEC but they're so expensive! Any suggestions?

                                         crk

I may have gone too far when I stated that I was "anti-ECC". I obviously don't have much of a clue at this point, but I haven't heard very good things about them from friends who have certified with them. A friend of mine was laughed at in an interview for listing CEH on his resume. I looked into getting my CEH cert as well but was disappointed to see that the test was mainly just an introduction to tools, and no real application. I also don't want to be known as a "hacker". I know they have an alternative course...but still. Just little things.
As far as being 'great with computers', I've been building and upgrading PC's since I was little. My stepfather worked in IT (and later security) and bestowed upon me little gems of inspiration here and there. I have a strange love for wifi technology as well- I later set up a WLAN for his office. I'm not great by your standards by any means but for someone with no work experience or certifications I feel like I'm okay.
My budget isn't very impressive. I do have a small bit in savings that I'm going to dedicate to training but see, I'm a prep cook at a pizza restaurant- I don't make much.

Yup, I have an LPT as well

There was actually a recent discussion in the EC-Council members portal regarding the TT, I'll just quote what was posted on behalf of EC-Council for you to read:


That being said, EGS was formed last year, so it's still getting off the ground. I believe that once it does, the TT may come into play a bit more. As of now (to the best of my knowledge), not much has been done in that aspect.

Hope that helps.

BillV

Hmm, in a way it's like that I guess. My view of it is more like sub-contracting with ECC-GS who is the prime consultant for security services. Though I'm not quite sure how they'll have to do that or have the paperwork written for that to work properly.

If you haven't already, you might want to glance at the ECCGS website: here. They have some information there (but keep in mind this is still a newly formed group).

Also recently formed was the LPT Governing Board to oversee LPT designations and so forth. I think we'll see some good things coming from this group in the future as well as the other boards. Specifically, I expect the LPT to gain more acceptance throughout the industry as the board makes their changes and as EC-Council becomes fully ANSI accredited (which they are in the process of doing now).

As for the certs holding credibility, I think they have certainly helped me. Hopefully some other CEH holders can share their experiences as well - I'm still fairly early on in my career.

I can say that they definitely played a role in getting me promoted at my previous position and they surely caught the interest of the people interviewing me for my current job - I'm not directly doing penetration testing (I'm in more of a system admin role) but they noticed the security certifications and thought the knowledge would be beneficial.

Like I said earlier, I don't have any personal experience with CPTS/CPTE (in fact, the only person I'm aware that I know that holds one of these is Chris Gates - maybe he'll chime in about it), but I definitely think that the CEH stands out more than either of those.

You certainly didn't come across offensive and I respect criticism, but I will obviously question or challenge any comments as needed

Hopefully my rambling gave you what you were looking for, but if not feel free to keep asking until I get it right

BillV

Entry-level ethical hacking, yes, not entry-level computer security. You'll take a lot more from the course if you have experience/familiarity with general security concepts like those found in Security+ or GSEC.

You can certainly fill out the application for the exam and be accepted to take the exam (I believe they look at that on a case-by-case basic). There are some other threads here of people stating they've done just that, try the forum search. I would highly encourage a thorough self-study plan if you decide to go that route.

The application is available here: CEH Exam App.

BillV