First of all welcome to EH . Since you are starting your career I would like you too watch the market closely since there are quite some problems with jobs out there . I know couple of people who are doing OSCE or other related certifications who are idle or doing just basic level jobs .... when it comes to the job market you should know a couple of things apart from OSCP course outline . So you must keep this thing in mind because there are a lot of people jumping into this with a hope they would be able to support families nicely which is wrong I believe .


When it comes to OSCP it is a certification with some excellent technical stuff , the prerequisites mentioned are not much in the website but I must tell you that there are couple of knowledge required to go through this including but not limited to Linux, DNS , DHCP , Firewalls , Python/Perl ( optional ) , tcp/ip , content inspections, assembly . Having knowledge of these stuff will help you go through the course easily since these things are normally covered in the dark side of networking . I would also like to add at this point that OSCP is different then other courses where they wont teach you how to perform all task , rather they would just give you an intro and you need to do a lot of research . Research is not that hard but since internet is changing day by day and there are new things popping up each day there are times when solutions doesnt works or scripts dosent works etc. so be prepared for that


When it comes to certification I would highly recommend the Security+ by Comptia depending on the factor where you live since Comptia is much recognized in USA and other Europe rather then Gulf region . There days there are couple of free stuff coming out on almost every topic ( basic - intermediate ) , so you can check them out even using youtube or google videos for reference which would save you a lot of $$$ . Having some Cisco Security , Juniper Security , Microsoft Security certs along with OSCP helps since you need to think out of the box when learning in this course . And there are more jobs of Deployments products and would make you one day a sucessful Network Engineer .



I hope this helps

Welcome.

Something that struck me immediately was that your Dad is running Linux on his main computer. Sounds like he's a techie and willing to support you if you show initiative. Not knowing more, I would ask him to be your mentor. If he's not that much of a techie, then he might be a great partner in your learning, as it may be something he's always wanted to do.

Check out the pinned topics in the Network Pen Testing Board. Lots of detailed info on where to start.


In a nutshell, learn the basics... OSs, TCP/IP, programming in something easy at first like Python. Then take that base knowledge and keep building on top of it. You may even want to start with CompTIA certs like Network+, Linux+ and Security+. Then try something like the Windows 7 cert and then Cisco CCENT. Even if you don't take the actual exams, at least you're giving yourself a study plan. Then try the book Hello World! Computer Programming for Kids and Other Beginners.

That's 6 books. If you do a book a week (plus a little extra time per book just in case), you'll be ready to start hacking with a much better level of understanding during the Christmas break. That would also be plenty to show your Dad you're serious about OSCP. But I would strongly consider making OSCP your ultimate goal for the end of your project in July. It is not easy.

Good luck and keep us posted. We're here to help,
Don