Rising college freshman

Hi,

I'm 17 years old, I currently have my MCP and am working towards my CCNA and Security+. I've applied to GMU here in northern Virginia and plan on majoring in Network Security.

I have two questions:

1. Which certifications would you guys recommend getting/staying away from as a stepping stone to CISSP? Are higher-level cisco certifications (CCNP, CCIE) useful in Infosec?

2. I was awarded an internship at a digital forensics company, and they've actually offered to employ me throughout college and help pay for part of my tuition and housing. GMU also has an internship program where tech companies "apply" to get interns, which means I could get direct experience working in network security (albeit very entry-level), the only pitfall being that the pay won't be nearly as good. Will the digital forensics company be good on my resume as well?

In other words, how important will the experience as an intern be?

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veritas_libertas

rapyoke wrote: »

I was awarded an internship at a digital forensics company, and they've actually offered to employ me throughout college and help pay for part of my tuition and housing. GMU also has an internship program where tech companies "apply" to get interns, which means I could get direct experience working in network security (albeit very entry-level), the only pitfall being that the pay won't be nearly as good. Will the digital forensics company be good on my resume as well?

Let me just say that I am jealous! Digital forensics is a specialty that is usually difficult to get into with out military or law enforcement experience. I would hold as tightly as you can to that job. If you are lucky enough to get employed there you will have a bright future.

kriscamaro68

rapyoke wrote: »

Hi,

I'm 17 years old, I currently have my MCP and am working towards my CCNA and Security+. I've applied to GMU here in northern Virginia and plan on majoring in Network Security.

I have two questions:

1. Which certifications would you guys recommend getting/staying away from as a stepping stone to CISSP? Are higher-level cisco certifications (CCNP, CCIE) useful in Infosec?

2. I was awarded an internship at a digital forensics company, and they've actually offered to employ me throughout college and help pay for part of my tuition and housing. GMU also has an internship program where tech companies "apply" to get interns, which means I could get direct experience working in network security (albeit very entry-level), the only pitfall being that the pay won't be nearly as good. Will the digital forensics company be good on my resume as well?

In other words, how important will the experience as an intern be?

This will probably be the most important decision you make. That experience will be priceless to you in the end. If I where you I would take this in a heart beat. Also having cisco specific certs are very valuable as well. A lot of companies use cisco as there network infrastructure and knowing the ins and outs will be a huge help in doing a forensic or security related response. There are also cisco specific security certs as well that may be interesting to you.

Paul Boz on the site here is in info sec and could probably tell you better if cisco certs have helped him in his career. Either way its what you learn that will benefit not the cert itself.