hey lblake,

welcome to the forums!

You seem to be leading more towards the OSCP course than the others you listed off. I think it's a big plus you've had years with programming and linux.


If you were really aiming for PWB, I'd suggest taking the time to familiarize with some penetration testing. Maybe build a home lab to practice in. I think if you walk in having little familiarity with some of the tools in BackTrack your lab days get spent learning the syntax usages as oppose to getting your hack on. 90 day option is great, you'd learn a ton but it's best to get comfortable with what your going to be using in the course before signing up for it - especially for the OSCP course!


eLearnSecurity is as hands-on as you make it. I took the pro courses which came with tons of interactive slides, labs attached to the slides for you to do at your own pace, and video demos. To get the most out of the course, I'd suggest going through and completing all of the labs. Plus they're only working on making their courses better. Check the link below to see what the folks at eLS are working on getting into the course (if they haven't added it in already):
http://www.ethicalhacker.net/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,54/topic,6872.0/

Some more positives about eLearnSecurity, EthicalHacker members get a 5% discount here. Your also given 120 days to go through the course which is great and gives you a lot of time to get things done.

Can't really speak for Hacking Dojo or SANS except all of the training vendors you listed off are great. SANS certifications are well respected in the industry but they're quite pricey!


This is a field where you need the experience and the certifications/education to get hired. I'm OSCP and eCPPT certified but I'm far from being ready to pen-test in an enterprise environment.

In my opinion, I'd say go the eLearnSecurity or HackingDojo route. These will give you a solid foundation then maybe you could venture off into PWB even more prepared.

I am doing the Hackindojo course and I love it the only fault I would say with the course is that its part time so my lesson are once a week every Tuesday.

This of course does not stop you learning off your own back.

Searches at Dice return the following:

OSCP - 4 hits http://goo.gl/dWs0J

OSCE - 6 hits http://goo.gl/O5Kll

eCPPT - 0 job (got hits but none actually referenced the cert)

GPEN - 9 hits http://goo.gl/bY2xr

CEH - 89 hits http://goo.gl/uw4KO

CISSP - 1387 hits http://goo.gl/1R3dc

So if you aren't having much luck with CEH, you probably won't have a lot more luck with the other hacking-centric certs from an HR standpoint, but I'd daresay you will probably gain some credibility with technical security folks in the know. Bottom line, I would not advise investing in any cert other than the CISSP if your objective is bypassing an HR filter. Not much value for a pentester true, but that's just how it is. Now going the OSCP/OSCE route to actually learn something useful? That sounds like a much more worthwhile endeavor.

Clarification:

The online classes are held once a week; however videos of all the classes for the Novice (Mukyu) and Foundational (Shodan) courses are online and can be viewed and worked on at any time... for those individuals who want to accelerate the pace of their learning.