Hi everyone,

After reading a few posts this morning, especially the one about the success ajohnson and hayabusa on their OSCE exam, I felt I should "Try Harder" and work on a cert early in 2013.

But then, I realized I felt this way because I was reading about these success stories on this web site! That, in turn, made me realized that I have pushed myself a lot more because of EthicalHacker.net.

So here is the reason why I love this discussion forum:

1) It keeps me motivated!!! Reading about the other member's stories puts me in perspective with the rest of the world. I may be good at some things but I lack big time on others. So for me, looking at the others help me set new goals and objectives. But above all, seeing others succeed help me think that me too, I can achieve something...

2) It makes me feel I am not alone. We are almost all in the same boat: we study alone at home with barely anyone understanding what we do. After a while, I feel I am the only one on earth reading computer books, so seeing that I am not the only one busting my ass kind of makes me feel better.  

3) Tips We all get good tips and help on this site. That's of great value too!

So that's it for me. Thanks again Don for this site. I wanted to highlight that I get way more than advice from your site: I get the motivation to keep pushing forward.

I know what you mean. TTurner's signature alone motivates me

I've been a member here for a little over four years now. I had a decent IT foundation when I joined, but I was fairly green in terms of offensive/penetration testing techniques.

Just stick with it; persistence will pay off. If I can do it, anyone can.

They are like Pokemon... Gotta Catch 'Em All! I have a problem, I really do. Is there a Certaholics Anonymous? (CA - Infosec Acronym Collision Alert!)

But seriously this is one of the friendliest, most helpful communities I've been a privilege of being part of and EH.net attracts real professionals, not the script kiddie havens that so many other forums boast. Sure we have some of those as well, but the guys I admire and respect in the industry show up here from time to time and I've learned so much from you guys. I'm proud to be a member of this community, and have even referenced it in job interviews where people in the know gained respect for me from that relationship as well. The free training doesn't hurt either

A decade or so ago I was a newsie and hardware reviewer for a prominent PC Mod forum called pimprig.com (I went by another name I won't mention here but if you really want to dox me have fun at archive.org because that site fell off the net years ago) famous for the awesome Caffeine Machine coffeemaker PC. I was also active in several other overclocking, gaming and sysadmin type forums. But I have to say hands down that this is the most awesome and open forum for learning I've found. That's saying a lot because I've been fortunate enough to find some really great communities on the web. I'm here for the long haul. I may go inactive for a couple weeks at a time as priorities realign but I always come back here.

For those of you new to EH.net and wondering if it's worth it to stick around, if you are looking for a career in the technical aspects of security, especially in security testing don't even second guess it. This is where you want to be. Don't overlook the other awesome communities like the PDC mailing lists, intern0t, OWASP and elsewhere but you will always be welcome here as long as you can be respectful and ethical in your quest for knowledge.

So two very talented guys not working full time in infosec?? WOW!!!

Just to add my .02, this site actually got me started and for that I am very thankful. I remember when I was thinking about doing the CEH, I actually called Don for advice.

I also agree with what others have said, here you can ask just about anything without getting flamed. You guys are VERY helpful and are always willing to give a listening ear.

I am currently doing the OSCE and I get more support HERE than anywhere else.

To the newbies you are at the right place.

What I like about this site is the maturity. It's nice to read discussions and tips without having to filter out flame wars and trolls. I'm a security enthusiast (and a sysadmin by trade), working towards someday getting into the pentesting gig. Like H1t M0nk3y, it keeps me motivated to keep learning and pushing myself.

I love this site because you can find a little bit of everything.

You can find success storiest that motivates you, you can find different technical discutions, you can find help, and, most important, you can really find decent smart guys to talk to.

Have a nice year my EH friends!