certifications?

[AntiHero]

I wasn't 100% sure where to stick this post, I'm looking for some input from people already in the industry or have experience with information security, mostly about what industry certifications are most important for entry level. I have the CompTIA a+ cert already with exams scheduled for security+ and networking+ as well. I addition to these what else should I consider and are the CompTIA certs as valuable as I've been lead to believe?

[Lurick]

Define 'entry level' first/what types of positions because that can be a lot of different things for many different roles. For help desk or grunt labor in a data center then CompTIA certs might be fine to get your foot in the door to start working on more stuff but if you want to get into more network admin type work then you don't necessarily need certs but Juniper or Cisco entry level certs can definitely get you past the HR red tape whereas a CompTIA A+ cert will get you just about nowhere. Having a cert might get you the interview but not being able to talk to what you've studied at the very least will just lead to nothing either. You don't have to know advanced networking in depth but if you put 'CCNA' on your resume you better be able to talk to it well enough depending on the position you're going for and the level of expertise they want. If you put "I know XYZ" on your resume and the only thing is you know how to spell "XYZ" then you're going to quickly be turned away from that interview.

[Oshino Shinobu]

Kind of depends who you talk to. 

 

Some people think any cert has some value, even if the content's not the advanced. On the other hand, I know some people at the company I work for are pretty picky when it comes to certs. CompTIA is one where I know people who laugh at it, in particular networking guys, but that's likely because of the level that Cisco certs go to, as well as Juniper and Palo Alto but to a lesser extent. 

 

The A+ cert is kind of useless if you ask me. There's a lot of outdated and useless information that rarely ever gets used. That said, it doesn't hurt to have it. 

 

For networking in particular, CCNA is seen as the starting point for most network specific roles. You can do it as one cert or do ICND1 and 2, which gives you CCNA when you get both. 

 

The most difficult part for most people is getting into a starting position to begin with. CompTIA will definitely help with that, but after that it's mostly experience and your reputation if you ask me, especially for moving within a company. There's a lot you can learn through experience that's never covered in an exam or cert. Some of the most technical people in the company I work at don't have any certs but their knowledge is valued and practical. If they sat an exam without prepping they'd probably fail it, but in terms of real world knowledge and skills in the subject, they're better than most. 

[AntiHero]

Well I'm already doing help desk work, not ideal but its something. The CCNA is another one that was strongly suggested I pursue. I've never personally had issue talking about what it is I know or don't know, but, I need to score the interview in the first place to be given that chance; kinda looking to make that step abit easier.

[Lurick]

3 minutes ago, AntiHero said:

Well I'm already doing help desk work, not ideal but its something. The CCNA is another one that was strongly suggested I pursue; I've never personally had issue talking about what it is I know or don't know, but, I need to score the interview in the first place to be given that chance; kinda looking to make that step abit easier.

If you want to get into networking the CCNA or JNCIA is a great start as both give you great knowledge of a lot of different topics. If you want to take it a step further, VMWare/Azure/AWS certs are super hot right now so even being able to talk at a basic level is great. The CCNA covers basically all topics now as they no longer have different entry level exams for each track so there is more to learn but can give you more experience and knowledge on each (wireless, routing/switching, data center, collaboration, etc) and you branch into more specialized certs at the next level.

[Oshino Shinobu]

8 minutes ago, AntiHero said:

Well I'm already doing help desk work, not ideal but its something. The CCNA is another one that was strongly suggested I pursue. I've never personally had issue talking about what it is I know or don't know, but, I need to score the interview in the first place to be given that chance; kinda looking to make that step abit easier.

If you're specifically looking for networking roles, CCNA is definitely the one to go for to start with. 

 

I'd recommend doing ICND1 and then ICND2. It makes it easier to study and pass rather than doing it all at once. 

 

EDIT: Nevermind, they retied the exams early this year, didn't realise that

[Lurick]

Just now, Oshino Shinobu said:

If you're specifically looking for networking roles, CCNA is definitely the one to go for to start with. 

 

I'd recommend doing ICND1 and then ICND2. It makes it easier to study and pass rather than doing it all at once. 

ICND have both been retired actually. I just realized that myself but as of Feb this year they are no more and it's all rolled into the CCNA.

[Akolyte]

If you're interested in security, you can get into it by either working in the industry as service-desk/systems engineer and just upgrade to security (recommended), or just go straight for a security job. 

 

Every IT job incorporates some level of security, the only deal is that you're not entirely accountable for risks.  As a systems engineer as part of a team who owns a specific platform, you have to still communicate with security teams and be the middle man, but you don't have to do anything other than make sure the security teams are well informed, and you apply their suggestions. 

 

If you want to work immediately in cyber-security you're probably going to want to work for a firm that does penetration testing, consulting or something along those lines.  You'd probably want a degree in computer science in that case, or a lot of experience, ideally volunteering for IT security companies or doing bug bounties. 

 

My recommended certifications would not be on the line of anything CompTIA, although they do make security certifications.  

 

I would suggest learning about a lot of IT systems, because you will never have a good understanding of the threat landscape until you understand all of the systems usually used in business.  My advice on certifications would be: 

 

• RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) - show you understand the Linux platform, esspecially red-hat technologies like Ansible, Satellite Server, etc. 
• Microsoft Certifications - these aren't required per se, but knowledge of Active Directory and Windows domain technologies like GPO and their default settings would be required.  Just build a lab and learn it yourself. 
• Programming terminology- best one for this would be Python, it's used a lot in security, but understanding  HOW programming works and how to use any programming language and learn it, is the key skill here. 
• Networking Certifications - You'd want to go for Cisco Certifications, but once again, if you have a solid amount of other certifications people assume networking understanding.  Just play around with routers, switches and build yourself a lab and just learn some stuff. 

 

A lot of this is just learned as you work in IT.  Don't rush for it, go for something you enjoy.  The world  is moving toward hybrid cloud rapidly, so having an understanding of devops or perhaps cloud migration from more of an architecture point of view would be beneficial to have. 

 

Hope this isn't too complicated, and is helpful. 

[Oshino Shinobu]

Just now, Lurick said:

ICND have both been retired actually. I just realized that myself but as of Feb this year they are no more and it's all rolled into the CCNA.

Really? Had some friends that took them last year, didn't realise they've removed them. Just reading now, yep. That sucks. 

 

3 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Azure/AWS certs

I hate this. Half of Azure stuff so far has just been trying to remember what stupid name Microsoft has come up with for already existing technologies. 

[AntiHero]

Good input so far, thanks guys. Seems like CCNA is deff one to go after, another people CEH (or so i've been told, but that requires some experience first).

3 minutes ago, Akolyte said:

 

• Microsoft Certifications - these aren't required per se, but knowledge of Active Directory and Windows domain technologies like GPO and their default settings would be required.  Just build a lab and learn it yourself. 

I'm actually in a course for this now as part of my cyber security/digital forensics major.

As far as coding languages go, I have a good bit of java under my belt but java seems to be abit dated, I'm defiantly going to be picking up python in the very near future.