New to this whole Cyber security/IT deal

Hi all!
I'm new to the forums and sort of new to this whole field. I've worked with computers my whole life primarily building them (mostly for gaming or performance based reasons). I graduated from a four year college in NYC and got my BA is crime law and social justice (CJ degree with a fancy name) and really am interested in getting into IT. I see that certifications are sort of the track to building up a solid resume and I was wondering what you guys recommended first. A+ seems to be the go to but in all honesty it looks a little easy should I shoot right for the networking+ instead? I was looking at the institute of information technology in long island city but cant find too much info on it.

any help is greatly appreciated. I know you guys probably see questions like this pretty often.

thanks
-Dan

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PocketLumberjack

What is the Best Security Certification Path - Get Certified Get Ahead I like this idea...

cbtnuggets

Getting into the field of IT work can be pretty daunting, but if you want to get started in training to take some certification exams, we can help you out. On our blog, we have some posts on some of the best entry-level IT certifications, how to elevate your IT career using your certs, and why you just might want to make CompTIA’s Security+ the first certification you tackle. If we got your attention, and you want to start training with us, we’ll give you your first week of training free.

Chinook

@CBTNuggets

Welcome to the forums. Not to hijack this thread but I'm a 6 year subscriber (through myself or my company) and I wanted to comment. 1. Sad to see James Conrad leaving. He's a good teacher and in my opinion superior to others you have. Secondly, your O365, PowerShell & Azure nuggets disappointed me.

@OP: With regards to CBT nuggets, I would definitely recommend Keith Barker's Security+ training and his Kali Linux training. In my opinion Keith is their top trainer & gets to the point. It's clear this guy is SMART. He just presented a path to "getting into the security side of things" which CBT has hosted.

As for the path to security, here's what I did/would recommend

- MS security essentials
- Security+
- SSCP
- A bunch of online training (Udemy, etc) for SQL injection, port scanning, Nessus (Tenable) , Network Detective, Wireshark (there is a cert), Burp Suite, Maltego, etc). And learn Google "Fu"
- CEH
- PowerShell

At this point you'll have a good foundation for the industry. You'll be able to decide where you want to go in the industry. Security is a general term that encompasses a great number of potential career paths. You can get into management, threat management, malware forensics, digital forensics, pen-testing, etc, etc.

I will add that being an overall good "generalist" in IT is a huge plus. Understanding how many things work allows you to seek out faults in them. Learning security made me a better administrator too. I started looking at things from a security standpoint & pointed out the flaws to clients & those who paid me. Doesn't always go over well but that's how you know when you're in the zone.

PCTechLinc

@cbtnuggets

Disclaimer: This is my own opinion, as I do not know how many others would share my thoughts.

While I can appreciate advice on the availability of different training materials, especially from users without a vested interest, I do think it is in bad taste to self-promote on a forum such as this. Perhaps sharing generalized information until you have the ability to send Private Messages, unless you can already?

636-555-3226

Security+ is the starter for getting your feet wet and learning a little bit about the entire breadth of the infosec-realm. I recommend hitting that up and, if you like it and pass the exam, hit us back up and let us know where your interests lean now that you've learned more about it