My story,help.

Fou'ad

Hi guys, I've been looking into posts here for the past 3 days and I thought about registering and asking you some questions

I'm a 21 year old man taking my Applied Linguistics bachelor degree at the moment ( I know I should get out of here since I'm not an IT dude )

so in 2013 I started college with the Computer Science major, I wasn't lucky due to the very complicated mathematical subjects in the major ( well at least they are THAT complicated to me ) so I switched to Applied Linguistics instead 'cuz that's all I could study CS or Applied Linguistics.

well, thing is I've been into IT security since I was 14 years old ( too young ikr ? ) it's been my passion since then.

by the time I was 15 I was able to deal with metasploit,nmap,Backtrack ( at that time instead of Kali now ).

by the time I was 17 I started pentesting web applications finding different kind of vulnerabilities

XSS,SQL Injection,CSRF,LFI,RFI and many other web application related exploits

succeeded in pentesting many governmental organisations and websites online and kept that as a secret to myself.

so since school started I couldn't land my hands on any IT related stuff, so now here I am coming back and I didn't lose much information.

my questions are:

Will taking courses like OSCP,CISSP,OSWP,OSWE help me in getting a job in the future regarding my major atm ?

what's the salary a person holding these certificates get ?

is it actually wanted from companies to have those stuff ?

what types of jobs I can get ?

Thank you so much for giving me your time in advance.

( sorry if I posted in the wrong section still my first post )

BlackBeret

Certs? You don't need no stinkin' certs. Just put on your resume that you've successfully pentested several governmental organizations in secret. They'll be impressed by that. Sit back and watch the money roll in...

Fou'ad

well, you know people care about certifications a lot and when they see that you have one they go impressed.

that's what I'm thinking about, I'm really clueless on my future atm lol

BlackBeret

Really outside of the government organizations certs are optional (contrary to what people around here believe). You can always apply to jobs without them, just talk up yourself on your resume, write a cover letter telling them how bad-A you are.

Fou'ad

BlackBeret wrote: »

Really outside of the government organizations certs are optional (contrary to what people around here believe). You can always apply to jobs without them, just talk up yourself on your resume, write a cover letter telling them how bad-A you are.

well, at least to get the chance for an interview your resume should have at least something interesting don't you think ? I believe that I'm taking your time while discussing such thing sorry for that

5ekurity

Fou'ad, welcome to the board!

Geographically speaking, where are you located or trying to apply for jobs at? Depending upon this, your biggest barrier to entry into a company will likely be the HR department. If you can get past the initial screen and get to a technical interview, you'd probably be good to go.

Fou'ad

5ekurity wrote: »

Fou'ad, welcome to the board!

Geographically speaking, where are you located or trying to apply for jobs at? Depending upon this, your biggest barrier to entry into a company will likely be the HR department. If you can get past the initial screen and get to a technical interview, you'd probably be good to go.

I live in Jordan, if you know where that is and thank you for welcoming me !

I'm considering to work in UAE or USA or EUROPE

what do you think ?

MrAgent

My opinion is that if you're going to work in security professionally, you need to learn how to represent and present yourself better.

• Stay away from illegal activities, and definitely do not brag about it. That's a serious red flag.
• Better communication skills.
• Show your passion for security. Start a blog, build a lab and practice what you preach.

Unfortunately to get passed the HR screens you will need a few certifications. If you want to get into penetration testing, then start with CEH and OSCP.

Fou'ad

MrAgent wrote: »

My opinion is that if you're going to work in security professionally, you need to learn how to represent and present yourself better.

• Stay away from illegal activities, and definitely do not brag about it. That's a serious red flag.
• Better communication skills.
• Show your passion for security. Start a blog, build a lab and practice what you preach.

Unfortunately to get passed the HR screens you will need a few certifications. If you want to get into penetration testing, then start with CEH and OSCP.

will do sir ! thanks.

but is my bachelor major is going to be a stop for me ?

+

I've read that CEH is so useless and full of **** lol

5502george

Well it works this way for the most part.

1. Business needs a security guy
2. HR gathers the requirements and position description
3. HR posts the job with required minimums
4. Anyone who does not meet those minimums does not pass the screen

So yes certs are your best route to a job. I don't agree with it, but it is what it is.

If you feel you are ready for OSCP that would be a wonderful cert to list for a pen testing role.

As far as degree...Well you will run into the same problem. Some jobs require a CS or equivalent.

Fou'ad

5502george wrote: »

Well it works this way for the most part.

1. Business needs a security guy
2. HR gathers the requirements and position description
3. HR posts the job with required minimums
4. Anyone who does not meet those minimums does not pass the screen

So yes certs are your best route to a job. I don't agree with it, but it is what it is.

If you feel you are ready for OSCP that would be a wonderful cert to list for a pen testing role.

As far as degree...Well you will run into the same problem. Some jobs require a CS or equivalent.

that's really my biggest fear.

5502george

Its the gripe of the IT community. Businesses are more apt to take a recent CS college grad rather than an experienced and functional employee. But, there is something to be said of someone that can push through and receive a CS degree ha ha.

Fou'ad

5502george wrote: »

Its the gripe of the IT community. Businesses are more apt to take a recent CS college grad rather than an experienced and functional employee. But, there is something to be said of someone that can push through and receive a CS degree ha ha.

didn't actually get what you're saying, sorry.

5ekurity

What he is saying is, businesses are more likely to go with someone that has a Computer Science degree vs. someone that has an abundance of experience that may not have a Computer Science degree.

Fou'ad

5ekurity wrote: »

What he is saying is, businesses are more likely to go with someone that has a Computer Science degree vs. someone that has an abundance of experience that may not have a Computer Science degree.

Well, that sucks.

Fou'ad

any others ?