student who may be over ambitious

poiuytrewq11

Hi, i'm new here but its seems like the prefect forums for what i'm looking for! I would appreciate any advice you guys could offer. Im a computer forensics graduate and I am trying to gather as many certifications as I can to further my career and actually help me get a job! Money is an issue as i dont have a lot therefore that tends to rule out a lot of cert but I would like to study for some. I have seen the CEH and CHFI and they look really good certifications. I have a fundemental knowledge of ethical hacking but Im not sure how long it would relistically take to self study for these certs. Additionally I would like to expand my knowledge into additional OS's like MAC and linux but I dont know any certs that may be useful to me.

I guess what I was hoping for is some advice from you guys who may be already out there in the working world that could advise a new graduate on how to make themselves more employable. I would really like ur advice on any certs which you guys find really good


thanks in advance for any advice you guys can offer

msteinhilber

Are you already working at all in an IT field? If not, that would probably be your best starting point to become more marketable. I would look for anything you can get, you very likely won't jump right into the position you desire immediately as many of us have started out with at least some helpdesk type role to get our feet wet. Look for something to get you some experience and continue to pursue the certifications, ideally if you can obtain certifications that will be useful to your career down the line that would also apply to the work you are doing professional that would be even better.

Around in my market what I find is there can be difficulty getting past some first screenings of your resume if you lack certain certifications (MCSE being a big one around by me). But if you hold the certifications and get past HR, the IT managers will be hesitant to employ you unless you can really sell yourself with a lack of experience so it's a combination of both that make you the most marketable. I would also look into local groups you can join, this will help you reach out to others in similar industries to gain some knowledge as well as to network - both of the jobs I've held the past 10 years I acquired largely due to who I knew.

dynamik

You might want to check out these threads:
http://www.techexams.net/forums/general-certification/30361-digital-forensics-certification.html#post206180

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/20667-digital-forensics.html#post134169

http://www.techexams.net/forums/security-certifications/37245-forensic.html

http://www.techexams.net/forums/security-certifications/37847-forensic-certifications-how-get-experience.html

Welcome to the forums

JDMurray

If you've already gone through the computer forensics course work then you should definitely get several forensic certifications for the additional recognition of your knowledge. The CCE and GCFA certs are two of the more recognized computer forensics certs. You can challenge the GCFA without taking the class, but the exam items are based heavily on the associated SANS course work, so you better know your stuff.