Hello everyone,

I am new at this forum and hope to find some answers that will help me to make the right choices.

I don't have any university degree and never had a job in IT in general.
My plan is to start with an ethical hacker certification and try to get an IT job with that.I will make it clear......AM I DREAMING?

Thank you for your time!!!

Gerry.

gt86,

Without having more information on your background it will be hard to say if you're dreaming or not. What kind of experience do you have with computers over all? How do you think you should get the cert? What do you know about different operating systems and networks? Etc, and etc.

There are easier ways to get an IT job than getting the C|EH first. Like A+, and Net+ and then build off those. Even then, if you have a cert with no experience you'll still most likely get passed over.

What kind of IT job are you looking for?

gt86,

SephStorm has a good post over in this thread talking about cert progression relating to pen testing.  There's a couple other links in that thread that link to reviews, etc also.

I'd recommend reading through some threads in the Network Pen Testing forum.  There's lots of threads there talking about various certs pertaining to pen testing that have helped me plan my course/certification path that'll hopefully lead into a career in pen testing

Just wanted to echo what some of the others have stated. To do a good job in security you really need to understand how operating systems and protocols work and work together.

Someone I met before took a cut in pay to work first level helpdesk and studied his butt off the entire time. That job taught him what troubles to expect and what he was learning (mainly Cisco classes) brought in the networking knowledge that he needed. After three years he was making double what he had before, had a couple of certs under his belt, and working on a couple of others.

And yes, learn some programming. I have not done much in... well, a long time and if I do not change that it will hold me back. Once you start getting a solid understanding of networking and the basics of security things will make more sense as you move deeper into the security realm.

While having a goal to work toward to is great, be sure to keep your mind open to what is going on around you. I originally wanted to do PenTesting and some of the really neat stuff that others talk about but I have ended up making the biggest impact on the administrative side. While not as "glamorous" it is necessary and gives security a very public face within an agency/business.

Another book to add to the list (IMHO):
Counter Hack Reloaded by Skoudis and Liston

Read it after going through the Security + material.

Good luck and let us know what ends up working for you.

+ 1 for "Counter Hack Reloaded."

When I was first getting into security that was the book that made me think..."OH, so thats how this stuff works..."